Title 13 . Public Safety

Chapter 40 . General Provisions

Section 10. Definitions

13 AAC 40.010. Definitions

(a) In Chapters 02, 04, 06, and 08 of this title, and in AS 28, unless otherwise provided

(1) "alley" means a street or highway intended to provide access to the rear or side of lots or buildings in urban districts and not intended for use by through vehicular traffic;

(2) "arterial street" means a United States or state numbered route, controlled-access highway, or other major radial or circumferential street or highway designated by a municipality within its respective jurisdiction as part of an interlocking system of streets or highways;

(3) "authorized emergency vehicle" means a vehicle equipped as required by 13 AAC 04.090, 13 AAC 04.095, and 13 AAC 04.210 and which is used by a publicly maintained fire or police department, airport security police, a public or private ambulance service, a vehicle of a federal agency which is designated as an emergency vehicle by that agency, or other vehicles designated by the commissioner; the term does not include a person's private vehicle equipped as provided by 13 AAC 04.100;

(4) "authorized flagman" means every person who is directing or regulating traffic as required by statute, regulation or ordinance, or by contract or agreement, and who is wearing and equipped with the warning devices set out in the Alaska Traffic Manual, published by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities;

(5) "bicycle" means a vehicle propelled exclusively by human power upon which a person may ride, having two tandem wheels or three wheels in contact with the ground, except scooters and similar devices;

(6) "bus" means every motor vehicle designed to transport 16 or more passengers including the driver;

(7) "business district" means the territory contiguous to and including a highway, other than a controlled-access highway, when within any 600 feet along the highway there are buildings in use for business or industrial purposes, including, but not limited to, hotels, banks, office buildings, railroad stations or public buildings other than schools which occupy at least 300 feet of frontage on one side or 300 feet collectively on both sides of the highway; however, if the highway is physically divided into two or more roadways, only those buildings facing each roadway separately may be regarded;

(8) "centerline" means the line, marked or unmarked, parallel to and approximately equidistant from the sides of a roadway or highway, or a plainly marked dividing line on a roadway between lanes of traffic traveling in opposite directions which may or may not be equidistant from the sides of the roadway or highway;

(9) "controlled-access highway" means every highway, street, or roadway where access to or from the highway is determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over the highway, street or roadway;

(10) "cowling" means the forward or rear portion of a snowmobile surrounding the motor and clutch assembly;

(11) "crosswalk" means that portion of a roadway at an intersection which is between an extension of a sidewalk which ends on the opposite side of the roadway or, in the absence of a sidewalk, that portion of the roadway which is an extension of the edge of the roadway to the opposite side of the roadway and between a parallel line 10 feet from that extension in a direction away from the intersection, except as modified by a marked crosswalk on a portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere which is distinctly indicated by lines or other markings on the surface of the roadway;

(12) "dazzle" means to cause a person to lose clear vision due to the effect of a brilliantly shining light;

(13) "dismantle" means the taking, removing, or stripping of parts of a vehicle so that the vehicle cannot be used for its primary function without substantial repair or reconstruction;

(14) "divided highway" means a highway divided into two or more roadways by leaving an intervening space or by a physical barrier or by a clearly indicated dividing section;

(15) "driveaway-towaway operation" means an operation in which a motor vehicle or a trailer, singly or in combination, constitutes the commodity being transported, when one or more sets of wheels of the towed vehicle are on the roadway during the course of transportation, whether or not the towed vehicle furnishes motive power;

(16) "emergency lifesaving or medical services" means medical assistance given to a person whose circumstances, in the opinion of a reasonably prudent person, are such that his life or well-being is endangered;

(17) "explosives" means a chemical compound or mechanical mixture that is commonly used or intended for the purpose of producing an explosion, and which contains oxidizing and combustible units or other ingredients in proportions, quantities, or packing that an ignition by fire, friction, concussion, percussion, or detonation of a part of the compound or mixture may cause a sudden generation of highly heated gases which are capable of producing destructive effects on objects, life or limb;

(18) "flammable liquid" means a liquid which has a flashpoint of 60 degrees centigrade (140 degrees Fahrenheit), or less, as determined by tagliabue or equivalent closed-cup test device, and having a vapor pressure not exceeding 40 pounds per square inch (absolute) at 37.8 degrees centigrade (100 degrees Fahrenheit); it includes a Class IIIA "combustible liquid" as defined in the National Fire Code, Volume I, 1967-68, and "cutback" or heated asphalt which has or assumes a flashpoint of less than 93.3 degrees centigrade (200 degrees Fahrenheit);

(19) "historic vehicle" means a motor vehicle 30 years or more in age which is driven or moved upon a highway for the primary purpose of historical exhibition or similar activity;

(20) "implement of husbandry" means a vehicle designed or adapted and used primarily for agricultural, horticultural or livestock-raising operations and is only incidentally moved upon the highway; it includes farm tractors used primarily for drawing plows and mowing machines;

(21) "intersection" means the area within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curblines or, if none, the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two highways which join one another approximately at right angles, or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle meet; where a highway includes two roadways 30 feet or more apart, every crossing of each roadway by an intersecting highway is a separate intersection; if intersecting highways include two roadways 30 feet or more apart, every crossing of the roadways of the highways is a separate intersection; the junction of an alley with a street or highway is not an intersection;

(22) "laned roadway" means a roadway which is divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for vehicular traffic;

(23) "loading zone" means a space reserved for the use of vehicles during the loading or unloading of passengers or property;

(24) "manufacturer" means a person in the business of construction or assembling vehicles required to be registered under AS 28.10;

(25) "manufacturer's statement of origin" means a statement or certificate of origin and subsequent ownership of a vehicle until title to the vehicle is issued;

(26) "metal tire" means a tire or wheel whose surface in contact with the highway is wholly or partly metal or other hard, nonresilient material, except a pneumatic tire manufactured with metal studs attached to the surface to improve traction on ice or snow, if the metal in contact with the roadway does not exceed three percent of the total tire area in contact with the roadway;

(27) "mobile home" means a trailer in excess of either 28 feet in length or eight feet in width that is designed, constructed, and equipped for use as a dwelling or as a place of business, storage or other off-highway purpose;

(28) "motor home" means a motor vehicle designed, constructed, or used primarily as a dwelling, office or commercial space;

(29) "new vehicle" means a vehicle that has not been sold or registered in this or another jurisdiction; it does not include a vehicle sold by a manufacturer or transporter to a dealer or sold by a dealer to another dealer;

(30) "off-highway vehicle" means a vehicle designed or adapted for cross-country operation over unimproved terrain, ice or snow, and which has been declared by its owner at the time of registration and determined by the department to be unsuitable for general highway use, although the vehicle may make incidental use of a highway as provided in this title; it does not include implements of husbandry and special mobile equipment;

(31) "park" or "parking" mean the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not; it does not include the stopping temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading property or passengers;

(32) "passenger car" means a motor vehicle, except motorcycles, motor-driven cycles, and off-highway vehicles designed for carrying 10 passengers or less, and used primarily for the transportation of persons;

(33) "pedestrian" means any person afoot; it includes a person on skis or snowshoes;

(34) "pneumatic tire" means a tire in which compressed air is designed to support the load;

(35) "pole trailer" means a vehicle without motive power designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach, pole, or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, pipes, or structural members capable generally of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections;

(36) "police officer" means a person authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrest or issue a citation for violations of traffic regulations;

(37) "private road or driveway" means a way or place in private ownership used for vehicular travel by the owner or those having express or implied permission from the owner;

(38) "railroad" means a carrier of persons or property upon cars, other than streetcars, operated upon stationary rails;

(39) "railroad sign or signal" means a sign, signal or device erected by a state or local official or by a railroad, and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks or the approach of a railroad train;

(40) "railroad train" means a diesel, steam, electric or other motorized unit operated upon rails; it does not include streetcars;

(41) "reconstructed vehicle" means a vehicle required to be registered under AS 28.10 which is materially altered from its original construction by the removal, addition, or substitution of equipment which tends to conceal the identity of the vehicle or substantially alters its appearance, model, type, or mode of driving or movement;

(42) "residence district" means the territory contiguous to and including a highway except a controlled-access highway and not comprising a business district, if the property fronting the highway for a continuous distance of 300 feet or more is in the main improved with residences, or residences and buildings in use for business;

(43) "right-of-way" means the right of one vehicle or pedestrian to proceed in preference to another vehicle or pedestrian approaching under circumstances of direction, speed and proximity which give rise to danger of collision unless one grants precedence to the other;

(44) "rotary traffic island" means an island located in the center of a roundabout;

(45) "safety zone" means the area of space officially set apart within a roadway for the exclusive use of pedestrians, and which is protected or marked by signs which are plainly visible at the time it is used as a safety zone;

(46) "school bus" means every motor vehicle that complies with the color and identification requirements set forth in the edition of Minimum Standards for School Buses and Minimum Standards for Alaska School Buses, which is in effect on the effective date of this section, and is used to transport children to or from school or in connection with school activities; it does not include buses operated by common carriers for the urban transportation of school children;

(47) "semitrailer" means a vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property, drawn by a motor vehicle, and constructed so that part of its weight rests upon or is carried by another vehicle;

(48) "sidewalk" means that portion of a street between the curblines or the lateral lines of a roadway and the adjacent property lines, and intended for use by pedestrians;

(49) "snowmobile" means a motor vehicle designed to travel over ice or snow, and supported in part by skis, belts, cleats, or low-pressure tires;

(50) "solid rubber tire" means a tire of rubber or other resilient material which does not depend upon compressed air for the support of the load;

(51) "specially constructed vehicle" means a vehicle required to be registered under AS 28.10, which is not originally constructed under a distinctive name, make, model, or type by a generally recognized manufacturer of vehicles and which is not materially altered from its original construction;

(52) "special mobile equipment" means a vehicle which is not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property and only incidentally operated or moved over a highway, including but not limited to ditch digging apparatus, well boring apparatus, construction and maintenance machinery such as asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, tractors other than truck tractors, ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, road rollers, scarifers, earthmoving carryalls and scrapers, power shovels and drag lines, and self-propelled cranes and earthmoving equipment; it does not include house trailers, mobile homes, off-highway vehicles, dump trucks, truck-mounted transit mixers, cranes, or shovels, or other vehicles designed for the transportation of persons or property to which machinery has been attached;

(53) "stand" or "standing" means the halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers;

(54) "stop" or "stopping" means a complete cessation from movement, or the halting, even momentarily, of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer or traffic-control sign or signal;

(55) "street" means a highway as defined in AS 28;

(56) "through highway" means a highway or portion of highway on which vehicular traffic has preferential right-of-way, the entrances to which vehicular traffic from intersecting highways is required by law to yield the right-of-way to vehicles on the highway in obedience to a stop sign, yield sign, or other official traffic-control device;

(57) "tow car" means a motor vehicle which is equipped for towing vehicles by means of a crane, hoist, tow bar, tow line or dolly, and is used primarily for towing or otherwise rendering assistance to other vehicles;

(58) "trailer" means a vehicle, with or without motive power, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle; it includes semitrailers and pole trailers;

(59) "transporter" means a person in the business of delivering vehicles which are required to be registered under AS 28.10 when the delivery is from a manufacturing, assembling, or distributing plant to a dealer or sales agent of a manufacturer;

(60) "truck" means every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property;

(61) "truck-camper" means a structure designed, used or maintained primarily to be loaded on, or affixed to, a motor vehicle to provide a mobile dwelling, sleeping place, office or commercial space;

(62) "truck-tractor" means a motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing other vehicles, which is not designed or constructed to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and load being drawn;

(63) "urban district" means the territory contiguous to and including a street with structures devoted to business, industry or dwelling houses situated at intervals of less than 100 feet for a distance of at least a quarter of a mile;

(64) "vehicle identification number" means the numbers and letters or other distinguishing marks designated by the department for the purpose of identifying a vehicle or its parts, placed on an engine, transmission, or other equipment by its manufacturer or by authority of the department, or in accordance with the laws of another jurisdiction;

(65) "wrecked vehicle" means a vehicle which is so disabled that the whole vehicle cannot be used for its primary function without substantial repair or reconstruction;

(66) "roundabout" means a circular intersection around a rotary traffic island, where two or more roadways join and the vehicular traffic is directed to travel in a single specified direction around the perimeter of the rotary traffic island.

(b) In the defined term "highway work zone" in AS 28.40.100 (a)(12), "an area identified by advanced signing" means that portion of a highway contained within the double-fine zone signs described in 17 AAC 99.010, revised as of 7/1/99 and adopted by reference, and as amended from time to time.

History: Eff. 6/28/79, Register 70; am 10/2/92, Register 123; am 7/2/99, Register 150; am 12/14/2002, Register 164

Authority: AS 28.05.011

AS 28.40.070

AS 28.40.100