DIVISION 1: STATE
MOTOR VEHICLE ACT
Chapter 1: General
Provisions
§101. Title.
§102. Definitions.
§103. Transition.
Division 1, that includes chapters 1
through 7 of this title, shall be known and may be cited as the "State
Motor Vehicle Act".
Source: YSL 1-93 §1, modified.
The following words and phrases when
used in Division 1 of this title shall have the meanings respectively
ascribed to them in this section:
(a) "Chief" means the Chief of Police or chief of public safety or his designee.
(b) "Crosswalk" means that portion of a roadway ordinarily included within the prolongation or connection of curb lines or lateral boundary lines of highways and property lines at intersections, or any other portion of a roadway clearly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface.
(c) "Foreign vehicle" means every motor vehicle or trailer which shall be brought into the State and which has not been registered therein.
(d) "Intersection" means the area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines or, if none, then of the lateral boundary lines of two or more highways which join one another at an angle, whether or not one highway crosses the other.
(e) "Metal tires" means all tires the surface of which in contact with the highway are wholly or partly of metal or other hard, nonresilient material.
(f) "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle, as defined in this section, which is self-propelled.
(g) "Official traffic signs" mean all signs and markings not inconsistent with Division 1 of this title placed or erected by authority of a public body or official having jurisdiction, for the purpose of guiding, directing, warning or regulating traffic.
(h) "Operator" means every person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway.
(i) "Owner" means a person or a government agency who holds the legal title to a vehicle. 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 such conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of Division 1 of this title.
(j) "Person" means any natural person, firm, co-partnership, association or corporation.
(k) "Policeman" means any member of the State police.
(l) "Right-of-way" means the privilege of the immediate use of the highway.
(m) "School bus" means a motor vehicle used to transport children to or from school or in connection with school activities.
(n) "Street or highway" means every way or place of whatever nature open to the use of the public, as matter of right, for purposes of vehicular travel.
(o) "Trailer" means every vehicle without motor power designed to carry property or passengers wholly on its own structure and to be drawn by a motor vehicle.
(p) "Vehicle" means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
Source: YSL 1-93 §2, definitions put into alphabetical order and section modified.
(a) Vehicle registration cards, numbered plates, operator's licenses issued pursuant to Title 83 of the Trust Territory Code prior to the effective date of Division 1 of this title shall remain valid as if issued pursuant to Division 1 of this title until revoked, superseded, or expired.
(b) Regulations promulgated pursuant to Title 83 of the Trust Territory Code shall remain in effect to the extent they are consistent with Division 1 of this title, as if promulgated pursuant to the provisions of Division 1 of this title, until superseded, amended, or revoked pursuant to regulations issued pursuant to the provisions of Division 1 of this title.
(c) Division 1 of this title do not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.
Source: YSL 1-93 §64, modified.
Commission Comment: The effective date of Division 1 of this title is June 1, 1981.