SB 448

This bill makes changes related to the permissible width of, and other matters

pertaining to, implements of husbandry and agricultural commercial motor vehicles

(agricultural CMVs) operated or transported on highways.

Current law defines an implement of husbandry as a self-propelled or towed

vehicle that is manufactured, designed, or reconstructed to be used and that is

exclusively used in the conduct of agricultural operations. An implement of

husbandry may include a farm tractor, a towed vehicle such as a manure trailer, or

other farm equipment such as a combine, harvester, or other vehicles harvesting

farm products, applying fertilizer, spray, or seeds, or distributing feed to livestock.

An implement of husbandry may include a combination of vehicles. An agricultural

CMV is a commercial motor vehicle that 1) is substantially designed or equipped, or

materially altered from its original construction, for the purpose of agricultural use;

2) was designed and manufactured primarily for highway use and, with an

exception, was manufactured to meet federal motor vehicle highway safety

standards; and 3) is used exclusively in the conduct of agricultural operations and

for specified agricultural purposes, including applying fertilizer, spray, or seeds to a

farm field, assisting another vehicle harvesting farm products, or distributing feed

to livestock. An agricultural CMV is not an implement of husbandry.

Current law imposes certain lighting and marking requirements for vehicles

operated on highways, including requirements specifically applicable to implements

of husbandry that are more than 15 feet wide or that partly extend over the center

of the roadway (wide implements of husbandry). With an exception, a person may

not operate on a highway a wide implement of husbandry manufactured before

January 1, 2014, unless it is equipped with all of the following: 1) at least two amber

flashing warning lamps, visible from both the front and rear; 2) red retroreflective

conspicuity material, visible to the rear; 3) at least two strips of yellow retroreflective

conspicuity material, visible to the front; and 4) at least two red tail lamps. The

required lamps must be lighted and visible when the wide implement of husbandry

is operated on a highway and the lamps and conspicuity material must generally be

mounted so as to indicate the lateral extremities of the implement of husbandry.

Under the exception, if the wide implement of husbandry manufactured before

January 1, 2014, is operated during daylight hours, it may be operated if it is

accompanied by an escort vehicle with hazard lights activated and it has attached

to the rear two orange or red flags marking the extreme left and extreme right of the

implement of husbandry. A wide implement of husbandry manufactured before

January 1, 2014, must also display on the rear a slow moving vehicle (SMV) emblem.

In addition, a self-propelled implement of husbandry manufactured before January

1, 2014, that is more than 12 feet wide may not be operated on a highway unless it

is equipped with a yellow or amber strobe or beacon light, or two flashing amber

lights, which are activated. An implement of husbandry manufactured on or after