Definitions

1. Law
2. Georgia Code
3. Motor Vehicles and Traffic
4. Registration and Licensing of Motor Vehicles
5. Motor Vehicle License Fees and Classes
6. Definitions

As used in this article, the term:

(.1) "Agricultural field use vehicle" means a commercial truck designed specifically for field applications of fertilizers, poultry litter, and crop protection chemicals which is owned and operated by a farmer or business engaged in the sale and application of fertilizers, poultry litter, and crop protection chemicals and is operated primarily off the highway.

1. "Farm truck" or "farm trailer" means a truck or trailer for which the owner submits a sworn statement as a part of the registration application to the effect that the vehicle is used primarily on and is domiciled upon a farm primarily for the carriage of unprocessed products of the farm.
2. "Farm vehicle" means a vehicle or combination of vehicles owned by a farmer or rancher, which are operated over public highways and used exclusively to transport unprocessed agricultural or livestock products raised, owned, and grown by the owner of the vehicle to market or a place of storage; and shall include the transportation by the farmer or rancher of any equipment, supplies, or products purchased by that farmer or rancher for his own use and used in the farming or ranching operation or used by a farmer or rancher partly in transporting agricultural products or livestock from the farm or ranch of another farmer or rancher that were originally grown or raised on that farm or ranch or when used partly in transporting agricultural supplies, equipment, materials, or livestock to the farm or ranch of another farmer or rancher for use or consumption on that farm or ranch but not transported for hire.
3. "Motor bus" means any passenger-carrying motor vehicle operated for hire and having a passenger seating capacity of eight or more persons exclusive of the driver.
4. "Owner declared gross vehicle weight" means the empty weight of the truck or truck-trailer fully equipped and fueled and ready for operation on the road and, in the case of combinations, means the weight when ready for operation on the road of the heaviest trailer or semitrailer with which the power unit will be placed in combination, plus the heaviest load which will be carried within the licensed period.
5. "Private truck" or "private trailer" means a truck or trailer other than a farm truck, a farm trailer, farm vehicle, or a truck or trailer operated for hire by a common or contract carrier.
6. "Trailer" means any vehicle operated over the public roads of this state without motive power when the vehicle is designed for carrying persons or property, either partially or wholly, on its own structure and is designed for being drawn by a self-propelled vehicle.

(Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 259, § 3; Ga. L. 1960, p. 998, § 1; Code 1933, § 91A-5301, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Code 1981, §48-10-1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1883, § 4; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1580, § 3; Ga. L. 2000, p. 951, § 11-2; Code 1981, §40-2-150, as redesignated by Ga. L. 2002, p. 1074, §§ 1, 4; Ga. L. 2005, p. 334, § 14-11/HB 501.)

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2002, p. 1074, § 8, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall not abate any prosecution, punishment, penalty, administrative proceedings or remedies, or civil action related to any violation of law committed prior to the effective date of this Act." This act became effective July 1, 2002.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Vehicle is any carriage or conveyance used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on land. Thompson v. Georgia Power Co., 73 Ga. App. 587, 37 S.E.2d 622 (1946).

Word "vehicle" will not ordinarily include locomotives, cars, and streetcars, which run and are operated over and upon a permanent track or fixed way. Thompson v. Georgia Power Co., 73 Ga. App. 587, 37 S.E.2d 622 (1946).

"Vehicle" does include means of travel or transportation such as automobiles, buses, trucks, or wagons. Thompson v. Georgia Power Co., 73 Ga. App. 587, 37 S.E.2d 622 (1946).

Terms "motor vehicle" and "automobile" are practically synonymous. Thompson v. Georgia Power Co., 73 Ga. App. 587, 37 S.E.2d 622 (1946).

Trackless trolleys not within definition of "motor bus."

- Since trackless trolleys do not operate upon rails but the trolley routes are limited to and coextensive with overhead electric wires, which are supported and maintained by poles, supports, guy wires, and other superstructures which extend along and over the streets and highways, do not contain any engine or motor which uses internal combustible fuel, and are used as common carriers of passengers for hire upon the public streets or public highways, trackless trolleys are not motor buses as that term is defined. Thompson v. Georgia Power Co., 73 Ga. App. 587, 37 S.E.2d 622 (1946).

Neither former Code 1933, § 92-2001 et seq. nor Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 259, imposing a registration and licensing fee, specifically refer to trackless trolleys, and since the trolleys did not come within these general definitions and so were not to be classed as "motor buses" as that term was defined, the trolleys were not included within the provisions of either section. Thompson v. Georgia Power Co., 73 Ga. App. 587, 37 S.E.2d 622 (1946).

Trackless trolley was not a motor bus within the meaning of either Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 259 or former Code 1933, § 92-2901, since the trolley cannot be said to be a motor vehicle as that term was used in either section. Thompson v. Georgia Power Co., 73 Ga. App. 587, 37 S.E.2d 622 (1946).

Trackless trolleys are not a motor vehicle or automobile.

- Since a trackless trolley is propelled by the use of power received from outside sources by means of contact with overhead electric wires, the trolley is not an automobile or a motor vehicle within the generally accepted meaning of those terms. A trackless trolley is not derived from an automobile, nor is it a kind of automobile, but is a distinct and different type of vehicle. Thompson v. Georgia Power Co., 73 Ga. App. 587, 37 S.E.2d 622 (1946).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Dump trucks working for a construction company on the highways are liable for license tags. 1948-49 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 688.

Truck used primarily in hauling eggs may be classified as a farm truck if the truck is used primarily on and is domiciled upon a farm. 1965-66 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 66-54.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 7A Am. Jur. 2d, Automobiles and Highway Traffic, § 85 et seq.

C.J.S.

- 60 C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, §§ 1 et seq., 188, 307 et seq.

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