2020 Regular Session

ByRepresentatives Klippert and Shewmake

Prefiled 12/04/19.Read first time 01/13/20.Referred to Committee on Transportation.

AN ACT Relating to uncovered tires; amending RCW 46.37.500; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. By addressing gaps in current law, the legislature intends to protect pedestrians, drivers, and vehicles from rocks and debris that can be jettisoned by vehicles with uncovered tires.

Sec. 2. RCW 46.37.500 and 2016 c 22 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as authorized under subsection (2) of this section, no person may operate any motor vehicle, trailer, cargo extension, or semitrailer that is not equipped with fenders, covers, flaps, or splash aprons adequate for minimizing the spray or splash of water ((or)), mud, or rocks from the roadway to the rear of the vehicle. All such devices shall be as wide as the tires behind and above which they are mounted and extend downward at least to the center of the axle. If there is no preventative device for minimizing the spray or splash of water, mud, or rocks from the roadway, tires may not be wider than the wheel well of the vehicle and may not extend outside of the wheel well.

(2) A motor vehicle that is not less than forty years old or a street rod vehicle that is owned and operated primarily as a collector's item need not be equipped with fenders when the vehicle is used and driven during fair weather on well-maintained, hard-surfaced roads.