2020 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

1. 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.
2. No person shall operate or move on any highway any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer having any metal tire in contact with the roadway.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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."
7. 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.)

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1992, "transportation board" was substituted for "Transportation Board" in subsection (d).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Inspector not entitled to official immunity in wrongful death suit arising out of faulty inspection of tires.

- In a wrongful death and nuisance suit wherein the victim was killed while traveling in a taxi cab on a state highway, and the taxi cab had passed a mandatory city inspection the day prior, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the city inspector on the basis of official immunity as the inspector's act of inspecting the tires on the taxi cab was a ministerial function since the inspector was required to check for minimum tread depth and complete the inspection checklist before passing the vehicle as safe, which were simple, absolute, and definite tasks of a ministerial nature. As a result, the inspector was not entitled to official immunity and it was for the jury to determine if the inspector performed the tasks negligently. Heller v. City of Atlanta, 290 Ga. App. 345, 659 S.E.2d 617 (2008), aff'd, Ga. DOT v. Heller, 285 Ga. 262, 674 S.E.2d 914 (2009).

Decedent was killed when the taxi in which the decedent was riding spun out of control on a rain-slick road and hit a tree. The city employee who cleared the taxi for use on the roads was not shielded from liability by the doctrine of official immunity because: (1) inspection of tires was a minsterial act; (2) the employee did nothing to verify whether the taxi's badly worn tires had the legally required minimum amount of 2/32 inch of tread on the tires under O.C.G.A. § 40-8-74(e)(1); and (3) the employee had no "discretion" to ignore this minimum legal requirement. Ga. DOT v. Heller, 285 Ga. 262, 674 S.E.2d 914 (2009).

Cited in Woodard v. State, 289 Ga. App. 643, 658 S.E.2d 129 (2008).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Studded tire prohibited.

- Studded tire is a metal tire within the meaning of O.C.G.A. § 40-8-74 and may not be used on vehicles operated in this state. 1968 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 68-487.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 7A Am. Jur. 2d, Automobiles and Highway Traffic, §§ 185, 194. 8 Am. Jur. 2d, Automobiles and Highway Traffic, §§ 540 et seq., 734, 1064.

- 60 C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, § 18. 60A C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, §§ 621, 622, 978, 691, 692.