THEATTORNEYGENEFCAL
OF XAS
AUSTIN 11. TEXAS
April 9, 1962
Hon. Doyle J. Borchers Opinion No. WW-1297
County Attorney
Bosque County Re: Whether operating a two-
Meridian, Texas wheel farm trailer, under
4000 pounds, upon the
highways without a tail
light and under the facts
submitted, violates Article
6701d, V.C.S.; and whether
said trailer is subject to
Dear Mr. Borchers: registration?
Your request for an opinionsets forth the follow-
ing facts:
"A farmer was the owner of a two-
wheel farm trailer with a gross weight
not exceeding 4000 pounds. Said trailer
was being towed at night, between the
hours of one-half hour after sunset and
one-half hour before sunrise, and was
being used to transport two horses to a.
'horse-show' at the Meridian Riding Club
facilities, from the farmer's farm, over
the public highway. The trailer was only
equipped with red reflectors on the rear.
The farmer was stopped by a Texas highway
patrolman and given a ticket for failing
to have a tail light on said trailer.
The horse show at Meridian was a sporting
and/or an entertainment event."
Section 108(c) of Article 6701d, V.C.S., makes it
a misdemeanor for any person to drive or move any vehicle
or combination of vehicles which is in an unsafe condition
as to endanger any person or is not at all times equipped
with such lamps and other equipment as required by Article
XIV of the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways.
Subsection (c) of Section 108 provides, however, as follows:
"The provisions of this Article with
respect to equipment on vehicles shall
not apply to implements of husbandry,
road machinery, raod rollers, or farm
Hon. Doyle J. Borchers Page 2 Opinion No. WW-1297
tractors except as herein made applicable."
Section Ill(a)(b) provides as follows:
"Every motor vehicle, trailer, semi-
trailer, and pole trailer, and any other
vehicle which is being drawn at the end
of a train of vehicles shall be equipped
with at least one tall lamp mounted on
the rear, which when lighted as herein-
before reauired. shall emit a red light
plainly visible-from a distance of five
hundred (500) feet to the rear, provided
that in the case of a trainof vehicles
only the tail lamp on the rear-most
vehicle need actually be seen from the
distance specified.
"(b) . . . Any tail lamp or tail lamps,
together with separate lamp for illuminat-
ing the rear registration plate, shall be
so wired as to be lighted whenever the head
lamps or auxiliary driving lamps are lighted."
Section 122 of Article 6701(d), V.C.S., provides as
follows:
"All vehicles, including animal-drawn
vehicles and including those referred to
in Section 108(c) not herelnbefore speci-
fically required,to be equipped with lamps,
shall at the times specified in Section
109 hereof be equipped with at least one
lighted lamp or lantern exhibiting a white
light visible from a distance offive hun-
dred (500) feet to the front of such
vehicle and with a lamp or lantern exhibit-
ing a rehTight visible from a distance of
five hundred (500) feet to the rear."
The two-wheel trailer in question, therefore, falls
within the provisions of Section Ill(a) or Section 122 of
Article 6701(d), Vernon's Civil Statutes. If the trailer
in question is an "im lement of husbandry" as that term is
used in Section 108(cP it would be exempt from the provi-
sions of Section Ill(a), but would fall within the provi-
sions of Section 122.
Hon. Doy1e.J. Borchers Page 3 Opinion No. W!.i-1297
Your opinion request states that the two-wheel
trailers in question was equipped only with red reflectors
on the'rear of said trailer and, therefore, in our opinion
the trailer was not equipped in conformity with Article
6701(d).
Article 6675a-2, V.C.S., is the Texas Registration
Law requiring the owner of a motor ,vehicle,trailer, or
semi-trailer, used or to be used on the public highways
of this State, to register such vehicle. The Act exempts
"owners of farm tractors, farm trailers, and farm semi-
trailers with,a gross weight not exceeding 4000 pounds
. . . operated and moved temporarily upon the highways."
Section (q) of Article 6675a-1, states as follows:
"By 'operated or moved temporarily upon
the highways' is meant the operation or con-
veying between different farms, and the
operation or conveyance from the owner's
farm to the place where his farm produce is
prepared for ilarketor where same is actu-
ally marketed and return."
Your letter states that the trailer described was
being used to transport horses to a "horse-show" at the
Meridian Riding Club. If this was a~sporting and/or
entertainment event, as.your letter states, the trailer
would not be "operated or moved temporarily upon the
highways" as that term is defined by Section (q) of
Article 6675a-1.
House Bi.111082, Acts 57th Legislature, R.S. 1961,
Chdpter 259, page 554,amended Article 6675a-2, and pro-
vides in Sub-section (f) that the exemption shall not apply
to any farm trailer or farm semi-trailer which is not
operated and e ui ed in conformity with all other provi-
sions of the fiction 2(q), as amended, reads as
~follows:
"Any vehicle exempt from registration
under Subsection (b) hereof or from regular
fees under Subsection (c) hereof and
operated and moved upon the public high-
ways of this State in violation of this
Section shall be deemed to be operated or
moved unregistered and shall immediately
be subject to the regular registration fees
and penalties as prescribed by law."
Hon. Doyle J. Borchers Page 4 Opinion No. WW-1297
As noted previously in this opinion, Section Ill(a)
of Article 6701d requires every motor vehicle, trailer.
or semi-trailer to be equipped with a red tail light. The
only exceptions to this are implements of husbandry, road
machinery, road rollers, and farm tractors. Section 122
of Article 6701d requires these vehicles to be equipped
with a rear red lamp or lantern.
It is our opinion, therefore, that the trailer de-
scribed was not equipped in compliance with either Section
Ill(a) or Section 122 of Article 6701d, V.C.S., and was
subject to immediate registration and uenalties as nrovided
by Section 2(q) of Article 6675a-2, V.C.S., as amended by
the 57th Legislature.
SUMMARY
A two-wheel farm trailer with a gross
weight not exceeding 4000 pounds, and be-
ing operated at night without a tail light,
and being used to transport horses to a
sporting and/or entertainment event at
which the animals are neither prepared for
market nor marketed is in violation of
Article 6701-ld, V.C.S., and was subject
to immediate registration and penalties
under Section 2(q) of Article 6675a-2, V.C.S.
Yours very truly,
WILL WILSON
Attorney Genesal opxas
-Marvin F. Sentell
,MFS:sh Assistant
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE:
W.V. Geppert, Chairman
John Reeves
Arthur Sandlin
Vernon Teofan
REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY: Houghton Brownlee,Jr.