(a) No person shall operate on any public highway any motor vehicle with a passenger or commercial registration which is not equipped with fenders on all wheels which come into contact with the highway unless the body of the vehicle or attachments thereto afford adequate protection to effectively minimize the spray or splash of water or mud to the rear of the vehicle.

(b) No person shall operate or cause to be operated any bus, truck, truck-tractor, full trailer or semitrailer of registered gross weight exceeding three tons on any public highway unless the same is equipped with suitable metal protectors or substantial flexible flaps behind the rearmost wheels, and, in case the rear wheels are not covered at the top and rear by fender, body or other parts of the vehicle, the rear wheels shall be covered at the top and rear by protective means of such standard type or design and so installed as to reduce, as far as practicable, such wheels from throwing dirt, water or other materials on the windshields of following vehicles, except in cases in which the motor vehicle is so designed and constructed that the above requirements are accomplished by reason of the fender or body construction or other means of enclosure.

(c) Violation of any provision of this section shall be an infraction.

(1953, 1955, S. 1340d; February, 1965, P.A. 448, S. 13; 1969, P.A. 576; P.A. 76-381, S. 6; P.A. 90-263, S. 65, 74; P.A. 99-268, S. 5; P.A. 00-169, S. 22.)

History: 1965 act added “truck tractor” to first sentence of Subsec. (b) and deleted provision exempting vehicles requiring complete freedom around the wheel area from last sentence of Subsec. (b); 1969 act amended Subsec. (a) to require fenders on all wheels in contact with highway unless vehicle is equipped to minimize spray or splash of mud or water and specified applicability to passenger or commercial motor vehicles and motorcycles; P.A. 76-381 replaced provision re fine and/or imprisonment with statement that violation is an infraction; P.A. 90-263 amended Subsec. (a) to substitute phrase “motor vehicle with a passenger or commercial registration” for “passenger or commercial motor vehicle or motorcycle”; P.A. 99-268 amended Subsec. (b) to delete exemption for farm vehicles; P.A. 00-169 revised effective date of P.A. 99-268 but without affecting this section.

Cited. 30 CA 263.