2021 Georgia Code
Title 40 - Motor Vehicles and Traffic
Chapter 8 - Equipment and Inspection of Motor Vehicles
Article 1 - Equipment Generally

- Ga. L. 1982, p. 165, which repealed and reenacted Parts 1 through 4 of this article, contained a legislative intent provision in § 11, not codified by the General Assembly, which stated: "The General Assembly finds that properly equipped and serviced vehicles contribute to the public welfare and safety of the citizens of Georgia through the reduction of motor vehicle accidents resulting from mechanical failure. The General Assembly also finds that it is the responsibility of all motorists to maintain their motor vehicles in proper working condition. It is the intent of this Act to encourage all citizens to maintain their motor vehicles in safe operating condition. It is furthermore the intent of this Act to encourage the Department of Human Resources to promulgate rules and regulations specifying minimum safety standards for motor vehicles used to transport persons to and from day care centers or child care centers licensed by said department."

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Vehicle retains "automobile" status regardless of operability.

- Wheeled vehicle, designed to be self-propelled and to serve as a means of transportation, does not gain or lose status as an "automobile" depending upon whether at any given time it is or is not fully capable of being operated as such. Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Statiras, 157 Ga. App. 169, 276 S.E.2d 853 (1981).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Basis for vehicular distinctions.

- Legislature based its vehicular distinctions not solely upon the load carried but upon the manner in which the defined load is carried by the vehicle under consideration. 1968 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 68-308.

- Type of unit which is secured by a flexible, welded joint is a single unified motor vehicle and not two separate vehicles. As such, it is subject to the braking inspection requirements imposed by law on motor vehicles. 1968 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 68-308.

- Legislature intended to classify as pole trailers only those vehicles in which the load thereupon carried was utilized to carry the trailer's own weight between the supporting connections. 1968 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 68-308.

- Golf cart was a vehicle other than a tractor, not operated upon a track, and propelled by other than muscular power and thus fell within the definition of "motor vehicle." If it was to be operated upon a public road, the operator must comply with registration and inspection requirements and all equipment requirements of former Code 1933, Ch. 68-17. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U72-78.