2019 Georgia Code
Title 40 - Motor Vehicles and Traffic
Chapter 8 - Equipment and Inspection of Motor Vehicles
Article 1 - Equipment Generally
Part 4 - Horns, Exhaust Systems, Mirrors, Windshields, Tires, Safety Belts, Energy Absorption Systems
§ 40-8-74. Tires
(a) No vehicle equipped with solid rubber tires shall be used or transported on the highways, unless every solid rubber tire on such vehicle shall have rubber on its entire traction surface at least one inch thick above the edge of the flange on the entire periphery.
(b) No person shall operate or move on any highway any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer having any metal tire in contact with the roadway.
(c) No tire on a vehicle moved on a highway shall have on its periphery any block, stud, flange, cleat, or spike or any other protuberance of any material other than rubber which projects beyond the tread of the traction surface of the tire, except that it shall be permissible to use:
(1) Farm machinery with tires having protuberances which will not injure the highway; and
(2) Tire chains of reasonable proportions or tires equipped with safety metal spike studs upon any vehicle when required for safety because of snow, ice, or other conditions tending to cause a vehicle to skid.
(d) The transportation board and local authorities in their respective jurisdictions may in their discretion issue special permits authorizing the operation upon a highway of traction engines or tractors having movable tracks with transverse corrugations upon the periphery of such movable tracks, or of farm tractors or other farm machinery, the operation of which upon a highway would otherwise be prohibited under this Code section.
(e) All tires:
(1) Shall have not less than 2/32 inch tread measurable in all major grooves except that school buses and commercial vehicles shall have not less than 4/32 inch tread measurable in all major grooves on the front tires and school buses shall have not less than 4/32 inch tread measurable in all major grooves on the rear tires when there are only two tires on the rear; such measurements shall not be made where tie bars, humps, or fillets are located;
(2) Shall be free from any cuts, breaks, or snags on tread and sidewall deep enough to expose body cord; and
(3) Shall be free from bumps, bulges, or separations.
(f) No motor vehicle shall be operated on a public street or highway with tires that have been marked "not for highway use," "for racing purposes only," or "unsafe for highway use."
(g) Retreaded, regrooved, or recapped tires shall not be used upon the front wheels of buses.
Ga. L. 1927, p. 226, § 17; Code 1933, § 68-404; Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 556, § 120; Ga. L. 1970, p. 628, § 1; Code 1933, § 68E-405, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 165, § 4; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 40; Code 1981, § 40-8-74, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 165, § 10; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2785, § 28; Ga. L. 1993, p. 727, § 1; Ga. L. 2011, p. 479, § 17/HB 112.
