§291C-1 - Definitions.
PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
§291C-1 Definitions. As used in thischapter:
"Alley" means a street or highwayintended to provide access to the rear or side of lots or buildings and notintended for the purpose of through vehicular traffic.
"Arterial street" means any United States or state numbered route, controlled-access highway, or other major radial orcircumferential street or highway designated by counties within theirrespective jurisdictions as part of a major arterial system of streets or highways.
"Authorized emergency vehicle"includes fire department vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances, ocean safetyvehicles, public safety law enforcement vehicles, and conservation andresources enforcement vehicles authorized and approved pursuant to section291-31.5 that are publicly owned and other publicly or privately owned vehiclesdesignated as such by a county council.
"Bicycle" means every vehiclepropelled solely by human power upon which any person may ride, having twotandem wheels, and including any vehicle generally recognized as a bicyclethough equipped with two front or two rear wheels except a toy bicycle.
"Bicycle lane" means that portion ofany highway which has been set aside for the preferential or exclusive use ofbicycles.
"Bicycle path" means any facility setaside for the preferential or exclusive use of bicycles and physicallyseparated from a highway.
"Bicycle route" means any highwaythat is designated to be shared by bicycles and pedestrians or motor vehicles,or both.
"Bikeway" means a bicycle lane,bicycle path, or bicycle route, or any traffic control device, shelter, parkingfacility, or other support facility to serve bicycles and persons usingbicycles.
"Bodily injury" means physical pain,illness, or any impairment of physical condition.
"Bus" means every motor vehicledesigned for carrying more than ten passengers and used for the transportationof persons; and every motor vehicle, other than a school bus or a taxicab,designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation.
"Business district" means theterritory contiguous to and including a highway when within any six hundredfeet along such highway there are buildings in use for business or industrialpurposes, including but not limited to hotels, banks, or office buildings, andpublic buildings which occupy at least three hundred feet of frontage on oneside or three hundred feet collectively on both sides of the highway.
"Controlled-access highway" meansevery highway, street, or roadway in respect to which owners or occupants ofabutting lands and other persons have no legal right of access to or from thesame except at such points only and in such manner as may be determined by thepublic authority having jurisdiction over such highway, street, or roadway.
"Crosswalk" means:
(1) That part of a roadway at an intersectionincluded within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks onopposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence ofcurbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway; or
(2) Any portion of a roadway at an intersection orelsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or othermarkings on the surface.
"Driver" means every person whodrives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle.
"Electric personal assistive mobilitydevice" means a self-balancing, two-wheeled, non-tandem-wheeled device,designed to transport only one person, using an electric propulsion system thatlimits the maximum speed of the device to twelve and a half miles per hour orless.
"Highway" means the entire widthbetween the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained and those privatestreets, as defined in section 46-16, over which the application of thischapter has been extended by ordinance, when any part thereof is open to theuse of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
"House trailer" means:
(1) 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 onstreets and highways; or
(2) A trailer or a semitrailer whose chassis andexterior shell is designed and constructed for use as a house trailer, asdefined in paragraph (1), but which is used instead permanently or temporarilyfor the advertising, sales, display, or promotion of merchandise or services,or for any other commercial purpose except the transportation of property forhire or the transportation of property for distribution by a private carrier.
"Intersection" means the areaembraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines, or,if none, then the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two highways whichjoin one another at, or approximately at, right angles, or the area withinwhich vehicles traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle maycome in conflict.
Where a highway includes two roadways thirtyfeet or more apart, then every crossing of each roadway of such divided highwayby an intersecting highway shall be regarded as a separate intersection. Inthe event such intersecting highway also includes two roadways thirty feet ormore apart, then every crossing of two roadways of such highways shall beregarded as a separate intersection. The junction of an alley with a street orhighway shall not constitute an intersection.
"Laned roadway" means roadway whichis divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for vehicular traffic.
"Moped" means a device upon which aperson may ride which has two or three wheels in contact with the ground, amotor having a maximum power output capability measured at the motor outputshaft, in accordance with the Society of Automotive Engineers standards, of twohorsepower (one thousand four hundred ninety-two watts) or less and, if it is acombustion engine, a maximum piston or rotor displacement of 3.05 cubic inches(fifty cubic centimeters) and which will propel the device unassisted, on alevel surface at a maximum speed no greater than thirty miles per hour; and adirect or automatic power drive system which requires no clutch or gear shiftoperation by the moped driver after the drive system is engaged with the powerunit.
"Motorcycle" means every motorvehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travelon not more than three wheels in contact with the ground but excludes a farmtractor and a moped.
"Motor scooter" means everymotorcycle which produces not more than five horsepower, and excludes a moped.
"Motor vehicle" means every vehiclewhich is self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric powerbut not operated upon rails but excludes a moped.
"Neighborhoodelectric vehicle" means a self-propelled electrically powered motorvehicle to which all of the following apply:
(1) The vehicleis emission free;
(2) The vehicleis designed to carry four or fewer persons;
(3) The vehicleis designed to be and is operated at speeds of twenty-five miles per hour orless;
(4) The vehiclehas at least four wheels in contact with the ground;
(5) The vehiclehas an unladen weight of less than one thousand eight hundred pounds; and
(6) The vehicleconforms to the minimum safety equipment requirements as adopted in the FederalMotor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 500, Low Speed Vehicles (49 C.F.R. 571.500).
"Official traffic-control devices"mean all signs, signals, markings, and devices not inconsistent with thischapter placed or erected by authority or with the consent of a public body orofficial having jurisdiction, for the purpose of regulating, warning, orguiding traffic.
"Owner" means a person, other than alien holder, having the property in or title to a vehicle. The term includes aperson entitled to the use and possession of a vehicle subject to a securityinterest in another person, but excludes a lessee under a lease not intended assecurity.
"Park" or "parking" meansthe standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarilyfor the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloadingmerchandise or passengers.
"Pedestrian" means any person afoot,in an invalid chair, or in a vehicle propelled by a person afoot.
"Police officer" means every officerauthorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations oftraffic regulations.
"Private road or driveway" meansevery way or place in private ownership and used for vehicular travel by theowner and those having express or implied permission from the owner, but not byother persons.
"Railroad" means a carrier of personsor property upon cars operated upon stationary rails.
"Railroad sign or signal" means anysign, signal, or device erected by authority of a public body or official or bya railroad and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks orthe approach of a railroad train.
"Railroad train" means a steamengine, electric or other motor, with or without cars coupled thereto, operatedupon rails.
"Residence district" means theterritory contiguous to and including a highway not comprising a businessdistrict when the property on the highway for a distance of three hundred feetor more is in the main improved with residences or residences and buildings inuse for business.
"Right-of-way" means the right of onevehicle or pedestrian to proceed in a lawful manner in preference to anothervehicle or pedestrian approaching under such circumstances of direction, speed,and proximity as to give rise to danger of collision unless one grantsprecedence to the other.
"Roadway" means that portion of ahighway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusiveof the berm or shoulder. In the event a highway includes two or more separateroadways the term "roadway" as used herein refers to any such roadwayseparately but not to all such roadways collectively.
"Safety zone" means the area or spaceofficially set apart within a roadway for the exclusive use of pedestrians andwhich is protected or is so marked or indicated by adequate signs as to beplainly visible at all times while set apart as a safety zone.
"School bus" means every motorvehicle as defined in section 286-181 and any regulations promulgated pursuantthereto by the department of education.
"Serious bodily injury" means bodilyinjury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious,permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function ofany bodily member or organ.
"Sidewalk" means that portion of astreet between the curb lines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and theadjacent property lines, intended for use of pedestrians.
"Stand" or "standing" meansthe halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarilyfor the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or dischargingpassengers.
"Stop" when required means completecessation from movement.
"Stop" or "stopping" whenprohibited means any halting even momentarily of a vehicle, whether occupied ornot, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or incompliance with the directions of a police officer or traffic-control sign orsignal.
"Street" means the entire widthbetween boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereofis open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
"Substantial bodily injury" meansbodily injury which causes: (1) a major avulsion, laceration, or penetrationof the skin; (2) a chemical, electrical, friction, or scalding burn of seconddegree severity; (3) a bone fracture; (4) a serious concussion; or (5) atearing, rupture, or corrosive damage to the esophagus, viscera, or otherinternal organs.
"Through highway" means every highwayor portion thereof on which vehicular traffic is given preferential right-of-way,and at the entrances to which vehicular traffic from intersecting highways isrequired by law to yield the right-of-way to vehicles on such through highwayin obedience to a stop sign, yield sign, or other official traffic-controldevice, when such signs or devices are erected as provided by law.
"Toy bicycle" means every devicepropelled solely by human power upon which any person may ride, having twotandem wheels, including any device generally recognized as a bicycle thoughequipped with two front or two rear wheels, which has a seat height of not morethan twenty-five inches from the ground when the seat is adjusted to itshighest position; or a scooter or similar device regardless of seat height.
"Traffic" means pedestrians, riddenor herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or togetherwhile using any highway for purposes of travel.
"Traffic-control signal" means anydevice, whether manually, electrically, or mechanically operated, by whichtraffic is alternately directed to stop and permitted to proceed.
"Urban district" means the territorycontiguous to and including any street which is built up with structuresdevoted to business, industry, or dwelling houses situated at intervals of lessthan one hundred feet for a distance of a quarter of a mile or more.
"Vehicle" means every device in,upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upona roadway or highway, including mopeds and bicycles, but excluding toybicycles, devices other than bicycles moved by human power, and devices usedexclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. [L 1971, c 150, pt of §1; am L1974, c 133, §1; am L 1975, c 187, §4; am L 1976, c 148, §2; am L 1978, c 39,§1 and c 175, §§9, 10, 11; am L 1984, c 273, §3; am L 1990, c 43, §3; am L1992, c 243, §3; am L 1995, c 173, §3; am L 1999, c 262, §3(2); am L 2003, c112, §1 and c 180, §3; am L 2007, c 109, §2]
Case Notes
Discussed: 87 H. 249, 953 P.2d 1347.