2011 Wyoming Statutes
TITLE 31 - MOTOR VEHICLES
CHAPTER 5 - REGULATION OF TRAFFIC ON HIGHWAYS
31-5-102. Definitions.

(a) Except as otherwise provided, as used in this act:

(i) Repealed by Laws 2002, Ch. 68, 2.

(ii) "Authorized emergency vehicles" means:

(A) Vehicles of fire departments, fire patrols, game and fish law enforcement personnel, livestock board law enforcement personnel, brand inspectors, law enforcement agencies, public and private ambulances, medical rescue units and extrication rescue units;

(B) Privately-owned vehicles used by members of a fire department or emergency service organization while performing or traveling to perform assigned fire fighting or emergency service duties are authorized emergency vehicles if:

(I) Authorized in writing by the appropriate governing body of the city, town or county in which the emergency services organization is located;

(II) Equipped with at least one (1) flashing red, white or amber light visible from the front of the vehicle; and

(III) Equipped with a marker on the front of the vehicle indicating the department or organization with which affiliated.

(iii) "Bicycle" means every vehicle propelled solely by human power upon which any person may ride, having two (2) tandem wheels except scooters and similar devices;

(iv) "Bus" means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than ten (10) passengers and used for the transportation of persons and every motor vehicle, other than a taxicab, designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation;

(v) "Business district" means the territory contiguous to and including a highway when within any six hundred (600) feet along the highway where there are buildings in use for business or industrial purposes, including but not limited to hotels, banks or office buildings, railroad stations and public buildings, which buildings occupy at least three hundred (300) feet of frontage on one (1) side or three hundred (300) feet collectively on both sides of the highway;

(vi) "Commission" means the Wyoming transportation commission;

(vii) "Controlled-access highway" means every highway, street or roadway in respect to which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have no legal right of access to or from the same except at such points only and in such manner as may be determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over the highway, street or roadway;

(viii) "Crosswalk" means:

(A) That part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway, and in the absence of a sidewalk on one (1) side of the roadway, that part of a roadway included within the extension of the lateral lines of the existing sidewalk at right angles to the centerline;

(B) Any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface.

(ix) "Department" or "highway department" means the department of transportation of the state of Wyoming;

(x) "Driver" means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle;

(xi) "Explosives" means any chemical compounds, mixtures or devices, the primary or common purpose of which is to function by explosion, e.g., with substantially instantaneous release of gas and heat, unless the compounds, mixtures or devices are otherwise specifically classified. Explosives are classified as follows, commensurate with the degree of hazard:

(A) Class A -- detonating, or otherwise of maximum hazard, e.g. black powder;

(B) Class B -- rapid combustion rather than detonation, e.g. igniter;

(C) Class C -- minimum hazard, e.g. fireworks.

(xii) "Farm tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and used exclusively as a farm implement for drawing implements of husbandry;

(xiii) "Flammable liquid" means any liquid which has a flash point below one hundred degrees Fahrenheit (100 F) and has a vapor pressure not exceeding forty (40) pounds per square inch (absolute) at one hundred degrees Fahrenheit (100 F);

(xiv) "Repealed by Laws 1991, ch. 241, 4.

(xv) "House trailer" means:

(A) A trailer or semitrailer which is designed, constructed and equipped as a dwelling place, living abode or sleeping place (either permanently or temporarily) and is equipped for use as a conveyance on streets and highways; or

(B) A trailer or a semitrailer whose chassis and exterior shell is designed and constructed for use as a house trailer, as defined in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, but which is used instead permanently or temporarily for advertising, sales display or promotion of merchandise or services, or for any other commercial purpose except the transportation of property for hire or the transportation of property for distribution by a private carrier.

(xvi) "Implement of husbandry" means a vehicle designed and used exclusively for agricultural operations and only incidentally operated or moved upon a highway;

(xvii) "Intersection" means:

(A) The area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines, or, if none, then the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two (2) highways which join one another at, or approximately at, right angles, or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle may come in conflict;

(B) Where a highway includes two (2) roadways thirty (30) feet or more apart, then every crossing of each roadway of such divided highway by an intersecting highway shall be regarded as a separate intersection. In the event such intersecting highway also includes two (2) roadways thirty (30) feet or more apart, then every crossing of two (2) roadways of such highway shall be regarded as a separate intersection;

(C) The junction of an alley with a street or highway does not constitute an intersection.

(xviii) "Laned roadway" means a roadway which is divided into two (2) or more clearly marked lanes for vehicular traffic;

(xix) "Local authorities" means every county, municipal and other local board or body having authority to enact laws relating to traffic under the constitution and laws of this state;

(xx) "Metal tire" means every tire the surface of which in contact with the highway is wholly or partly of metal or other hard nonresilient material;

(xxi) "Moped" means a motor-driven cycle both with foot pedals to permit muscular propulsion by human power and with a motor which produces no more than two (2) brake horsepower and which is capable of propelling the vehicle at a maximum speed of no more than thirty (30) miles per hour on a level road surface. If an internal combustion engine is used, the displacement shall not exceed more than fifty (50) cubic centimeters and the moped shall have a power drive system that functions directly or automatically without clutching or shifting by the driver after the drive system is engaged;

(xxii) "Motorcycle" means any motor vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more than three (3) wheels in contact with the ground, excluding off-road recreation vehicles as defined in W.S. 31-1-101(a)(xv)(K), but including a motor vehicle designed as a recreational vehicle primarily for off-road use to be ridden astride and to travel on four (4) wheels;

(xxiii) "Motor-driven cycle" means any motorcycle, including motor scooters and motorized bicycles having an engine with less than one hundred fifty (150) cubic centimeters displacement or with five (5) brake horsepower or less but does not include motorized skateboards;

(xxiv) "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle which is self-propelled except vehicles moved solely by human power and motorized skateboards as defined by paragraph (a)(lxii) of this section;

(xxv) "Official traffic-control devices" means all signs, signals, markings and devices not inconsistent with this act placed or erected by authority of a public body or official having jurisdiction, for the purpose of regulating, warning or guiding traffic;

(xxvi) "Owner" means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle or if a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee, or if a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this act;

(xxvii) "Park" when prohibited, means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading;

(xxviii) "Pedestrian" means any person afoot;

(xxix) "Pedestrian vehicle" means any self-propelled conveyance designed, manufactured and intended for the exclusive use of persons with a physical disability, but in no case shall the vehicle:

(A) Exceed forty-eight (48) inches in width.

(B) Repealed by Laws 1989, ch. 155, 2.

(C) Repealed by Laws 1989, ch. 155, 2.

(xxx) "Physical disability" means any bodily impairment which precludes a person from walking or otherwise moving about easily as a pedestrian;

(xxxi) "Pneumatic tire" means every tire in which compressed air is designed to support the load;

(xxxii) "Pole trailer" means every vehicle without motive power designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach, or pole, or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads as poles, pipes or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections;

(xxxiii) "Police officer" means every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations;

(xxxiv) "Private road or driveway" means every way or place in private ownership and used for vehicular travel by the owner and those having express or implied permission from the owner, but not by other persons;

(xxxv) "Railroad" means a carrier of persons or property upon cars, other than streetcars, operated upon stationary rails;

(xxxvi) "Railroad sign or signal" means any sign, signal or device erected by authority of a public body or official or by a railroad and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks or the approach of a railroad train;

(xxxvii) "Railroad train" means a steam engine, electric or other motor, with or without cars coupled thereto, operated upon rails, except streetcars;

(xxxviii) "Residence district" means the territory contiguous to and including a highway not comprising a business district when the property on the highway for a distance of three hundred (300) feet or more is in the main improved with residences or residences and buildings in use for business;

(xxxix) "Right-of-way" means the right of one (1) vehicle or pedestrian to proceed in a lawful manner in preference to another vehicle or pedestrian approaching under such circumstances of direction, speed and proximity as to give rise to danger of collision unless one grants precedence to the other;

(xl) "Roadway" means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the sidewalk, berm or shoulder. In the event a highway includes two (2) or more separate roadways the term "roadway" as used herein shall refer to any such roadway separately but not to all such roadways collectively;

(xli) "Safety zone" means the area or space officially set apart within a roadway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and which is protected or is so marked or indicated by adequate signs as to be plainly visible at all times while set apart as a safety zone;

(xlii) "School bus" means every motor vehicle that complies with the color and identification requirements set forth in the most recent edition of "Minimum Standards for School Buses" and is used to transport children to or from school, but not including buses operated by common carriers in urban transportation of school children;

(xliii) "Semitrailer" means every vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that some part of its weight and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle;

(xliv) "Sidewalk" means that portion of a street between curb lines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property lines, intended for use of pedestrians;

(xlv) "Snowmobile" means any mechanically driven vehicle of a type which utilizes sleet type runners, or skis or any endless belt tread or combination of these, designed primarily for operation over snow;

(xlvi) "Solid tire" means every tire of rubber or other resilient material which does not depend upon compressed air for the support of the load;

(xlvii) "Stop" when required means complete cessation from movement;

(xlviii) "Stop, stopping or standing" when prohibited means any stopping or standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer or traffic-control sign or signal;

(xlix) "Street or highway" means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained or if not publicly maintained, dedicated to public use when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel;

(l) "Superintendent" means the director of the department of transportation;

(li) "Through highway" means every highway or portion thereof on which vehicular traffic is given preferential right-of-way, and at the entrances to which vehicular traffic from intersecting highways is required by law to yield the right-of-way to vehicles on the through highway in obedience to a stop sign, yield sign or other official traffic control devices, when the signs or devices are erected as provided in this act;

(lii) "Traffic" means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel;

(liii) "Traffic-control signal" means any device, whether manually, electrically or mechanically operated, by which traffic is alternately directed to stop and permitted to proceed;

(liv) "Trailer" means every vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that no part of its weight and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle;

(lv) "Truck" means every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property;

(lvi) "Truck tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and load so drawn;

(lvii) "Urban district" means the territory contiguous to and including any public street or highway which is built up with structures devoted to business, industry or dwelling houses situated at intervals of less than one hundred (100) feet for a distance of a quarter of a mile or more;

(lviii) "Vehicle" means every device, in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks;

(lix) "This act" means W.S. 31-5-101 through 31-5-1601;

(lx) "Emergency services" means fire fighting, first aid, medical services, rescue, transportation and other related activities necessary to ensure the health or safety of a person or property in imminent peril;

(lxi) "Golf cart" means a motor vehicle which:

(A) Has not less than three (3) wheels in contact with the ground;

(B) Has an unladen weight of less than one thousand three hundred (1,300) pounds;

(C) Is designed to be or is operated at not more than fifteen (15) miles per hour;

(D) Is designed to carry golf equipment and not more than four (4) persons including the driver; and

(E) Is being used to transport an occupant directly to, or from or on a golf course, or is being used for special events or circumstances authorized by the city, town or county.

(lxii) "Motorized skateboard" means a self-propelled device which has a motor or engine, a deck on which a person may ride and at least two (2) wheels in contact with the ground and which is not otherwise defined in this act as a "motor vehicle", "motorcycle", "motor-driven cycle" or "pedestrian vehicle";

(lxiii) "Multipurpose vehicle" means as defined in W.S. 31-1-101(a)(xv)(M);

(lxiv) "Paved" means a roadway which is covered by hot-rolled asphalt or concrete but is not constructed solely of recycled asphalt;

(lxv) "Unpaved" means a roadway which is not paved;

(lxvi) "Subdivision" means a portion of land for which a subdivision permit has been issued pursuant to W.S. 18-5-304.