Terms used in this chapter shall be construed as follows, unless another construction is clearly apparent from the language or context in which the term is used or unless the construction is inconsistent with the manifest intention of the General Assembly:

(1) “Activity vehicle” means a student transportation vehicle that is used to transport students in connection with school-sponsored events and activities, but is not used to transport students to and from school;

(2) “Agricultural tractor” means a tractor or other form of nonmuscular motive power used for transporting, hauling, plowing, cultivating, planting, harvesting, reaping or other agricultural purposes on any farm or other private property, or used for the purpose of transporting, from one farm to another, agricultural implements and farm products, provided the agricultural tractor is not used on any highway for transporting a pay load or for some other commercial purpose;

(3) “Antique, rare or special interest motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle twenty years old or older which is being preserved because of historic interest and which is not altered or modified from the original manufacturer‘s specifications;

(4) “Apparent candle power” means an illumination equal to the normal illumination in foot candles produced by any lamp or lamps, divided by the square of the distance in feet between the lamp or lamps and the point at which the measurement is made;

(5) “Authorized emergency vehicle” means (A) a fire department vehicle, (B) a police vehicle, or (C) an authorized emergency medical services vehicle, as defined in § 19a-175;

(6) “Autocycle” means a motor vehicle that meets the requirements of a motorcycle under 49 C.F.R. part 571, and (A) does not have more than three wheels in contact with the ground, (B) is designed to be controlled with a steering mechanism and foot pedals for acceleration, braking or shifting, (C) has a seat or seats that are fully or partially enclosed and in which the occupants sit with their legs forward, and (D) is equipped with safety belts, in accordance with § 14-100a, for all occupants;

(7) “Auxiliary driving lamp” means an additional lighting device on a motor vehicle used primarily to supplement the general illumination in front of a motor vehicle provided by the motor vehicle’s head lamps;

(8) “Bulb” means a light source consisting of a glass bulb containing a filament or substance capable of being electrically maintained at incandescence;

(9) “Camp trailer” includes any trailer designed for living or sleeping purposes and used exclusively for camping or recreational purposes;

(10) “Camp trailer registration” means the type of registration issued to any trailer that is for nonbusiness use and is limited to camp trailers and utility trailers;

(11) “Camp vehicle” means any motor vehicle that is regularly used to transport persons under eighteen years of age in connection with the activities of any youth camp, as defined in § 19a-420;

(12) “Camper” means any motor vehicle designed or permanently altered in such a way as to provide temporary living quarters for travel, camping or recreational purposes;

(13) “Class 1 electric bicycle” means an electric bicycle equipped with a motor that engages only when the rider operates the electric bicycle’s foot pedals, and disengages when the rider stops pedaling or such electric bicycle reaches the speed of twenty miles per hour;

(14) “Class 2 electric bicycle” means an electric bicycle equipped with a motor that may be used exclusively to propel the electric bicycle, and disengages when the brakes are applied or such electric bicycle reaches the speed of twenty miles per hour;

(15) “Class 3 electric bicycle” means an electric bicycle equipped with a motor that engages only when the rider operates the electric bicycle’s foot pedals, and disengages when the rider stops pedaling or such electric bicycle reaches the speed of twenty-eight miles per hour;

(16) “Combination registration” means the type of registration issued to a motor vehicle used for both private passenger and commercial purposes if such vehicle does not have a gross vehicle weight rating in excess of twelve thousand five hundred pounds;

(17) “Commercial driver’s license” or “CDL” means a license issued to an individual in accordance with the provisions of sections 14-44a to 14-44m, inclusive, which authorizes such individual to drive a commercial motor vehicle;

(18) “Commercial driver’s license information system” or “CDLIS” means the national database of holders of commercial driver’s licenses established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration pursuant to Section 12007 of the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986;

(19) “Commercial motor vehicle” means a vehicle designed or used to transport passengers or property, except a vehicle used for farming purposes in accordance with 49 C.F.R. § 383.3(d), fire fighting apparatus or an emergency vehicle, as defined in § 14-283, or a recreational vehicle in private use, which (A) has a gross vehicle weight rating of twenty-six thousand and one pounds or more, or a gross combination weight rating of twenty-six thousand and one pounds or more, inclusive of a towed unit or units with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand pounds; (B) is designed to transport sixteen or more passengers, including the driver, or is designed to transport more than ten passengers, including the driver, and is used to transport students under the age of twenty-one years to and from school; or (C) is transporting hazardous materials and is required to be placarded in accordance with 49 C.F.R. § part 172, Subpart F, as amended, or any quantity of a material listed as a select agent or toxin in 42 C.F.R. part 73;

(20) “Commercial registration” means the type of registration required for any motor vehicle designed or used to transport merchandise, freight or persons in connection with any business enterprise, unless a more specific type of registration is authorized and issued by the commissioner for such class of vehicle;

(21) “Commercial trailer” means a trailer used in the conduct of a business to transport freight, materials or equipment whether or not permanently affixed to the bed of the trailer;

(22) “Commercial trailer registration” means the type of registration issued to any commercial trailer;

(23) “Commissioner” includes the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles and any assistant to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles who is designated and authorized by, and who is acting for, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles under a designation; except that the deputy commissioners of motor vehicles and the Attorney General are deemed, unless the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles otherwise provides, to be designated and authorized by, and acting for, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles under a designation;

(24) “Controlled substance” has the same meaning as provided in § 21a-240 and the federal laws and regulations incorporated in chapter 420b;

(25) “Conviction” means an unvacated adjudication of guilt, or a determination that a person has violated or failed to comply with the law in a court of original jurisdiction or an authorized administrative tribunal, an unvacated forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure the person’s appearance in court, the payment of a fine or court cost, or violation of a condition of release without bail, regardless of whether or not the penalty is rebated, suspended or probated;

(26) “Dealer” includes any person actively engaged in buying, selling or exchanging motor vehicles or trailers who has an established place of business in this state and who may, incidental to such business, repair motor vehicles or trailers, or cause them to be repaired by persons in his or her employ;

(27) “Disqualification” means a withdrawal of the privilege to drive a commercial motor vehicle, which occurs as a result of (A) any suspension, revocation, or cancellation by the commissioner of the privilege to operate a motor vehicle; (B) a determination by the Federal Highway Administration, under the rules of practice for motor carrier safety contained in 49 C.F.R. § part 386, as amended from time to time, that a person is no longer qualified to operate a commercial motor vehicle under the standards set forth in 49 C.F.R. § part 391, as amended from time to time; or (C) the loss of qualification which follows any of the convictions or administrative actions specified in § 14-44k;

(28) “Drive” means to drive, operate or be in physical control of a motor vehicle, including a motor vehicle being towed by another;

(29) “Driver” means any person who drives, operates or is in physical control of a commercial motor vehicle, or who is required to hold a commercial driver’s license;

(30) “Driver’s license” or “operator’s license” means a valid Connecticut motor vehicle operator’s license or a license issued by another state or foreign jurisdiction authorizing the holder thereof to operate a motor vehicle on the highways;

(31) “Electric bicycle” means a bicycle equipped with operable foot pedals and an electric motor of fewer than seven hundred fifty watts of power that is either a class 1, class 2 or class 3 bicycle. “Electric bicycle” does not include a dirt bike or an all-terrain vehicle;

(32) “Electric foot scooter” means a device (A) that weighs not more than seventy-five pounds, (B) that has two or three wheels, handlebars and a floorboard that can be stood upon while riding, (C) that is powered by an electric motor and human power, and (D) whose maximum speed, with or without human propulsion on a paved level surface, is not more than twenty miles per hour;

(33) “Employee” means any operator of a commercial motor vehicle, including full-time, regularly employed drivers, casual, intermittent or occasional drivers, drivers under contract and independent owner-operator contractors, who, while in the course of operating a commercial motor vehicle, are either directly employed by, or are under contract to, an employer;

(34) “Employer” means any person, including the United States, a state or any political subdivision thereof, who owns or leases a commercial motor vehicle, or assigns a person to drive a commercial motor vehicle;

(35) “Farm implement” means a vehicle designed and adapted exclusively for agricultural, horticultural or livestock-raising operations and which is not operated on a highway for transporting a pay load or for any other commercial purpose;

(36) “Felony” means any offense, as defined in § 53a-25 and includes any offense designated as a felony under federal law;

(37) “Fatality” means the death of a person as a result of a motor vehicle accident;

(38) “Foreign jurisdiction” means any jurisdiction other than a state of the United States;

(39) “Fuels” means (A) all products commonly or commercially known or sold as gasoline, including casinghead and absorption or natural gasoline, regardless of their classification or uses, (B) any liquid prepared, advertised, offered for sale or sold for use, or commonly and commercially used, as a fuel in internal combustion engines, which, when subjected to distillation in accordance with the standard method of test for distillation of gasoline, naphtha, kerosene and similar petroleum products by “American Society for Testing Materials Method D-86”, shows not less than ten per cent distilled (recovered) below 347° Fahrenheit (175° Centigrade) and not less than ninety-five per cent distilled (recovered) below 464° Fahrenheit (240° Centigrade); provided the term “fuels” does not include commercial solvents or naphthas which distill, by “American Society for Testing Materials Method D-86”, not more than nine per cent at 176° Fahrenheit and which have a distillation range of 150° Fahrenheit, or less, or liquefied gases which would not exist as liquids at a temperature of 60° Fahrenheit and a pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch absolute, and (C) any liquid commonly referred to as “gasohol” which is prepared, advertised, offered for sale or sold for use, or commonly and commercially used, as a fuel in internal combustion engines, consisting of a blend of gasoline and a minimum of ten per cent by volume of ethyl or methyl alcohol;

(40) “Garage” includes every place of business where motor vehicles are, for compensation, received for housing, storage or repair;

(41) “Gross vehicle weight rating” or “GVWR” means the value specified by the manufacturer as the maximum loaded weight of a single or a combination (articulated) vehicle. The GVWR of a combination (articulated) vehicle commonly referred to as the “gross combination weight rating” or GCWR is the GVWR of the power unit plus the GVWR of the towed unit or units;

(42) “Gross weight” means the light weight of a vehicle plus the weight of any load on the vehicle, provided, in the case of a tractor-trailer unit, “gross weight” means the light weight of the tractor plus the light weight of the trailer or semitrailer plus the weight of the load on the vehicle;

(43) “Hazardous materials” has the same meaning as provided in 49 C.F.R. § 383.5;

(44) “Head lamp” means a lighting device affixed to the front of a motor vehicle projecting a high intensity beam which lights the road in front of the vehicle so that it can proceed safely during the hours of darkness;

(45) “High-mileage vehicle” means a motor vehicle having the following characteristics: (A) Not less than three wheels in contact with the ground; (B) a completely enclosed seat on which the driver sits; (C) a single or two cylinder, gasoline or diesel engine or an electric-powered engine; and (D) efficient fuel consumption;

(46) “Highway” includes any state or other public highway, road, street, avenue, alley, driveway, parkway, place or dedicated roadway for bus rapid transit service, under the control of the state or any political subdivision of the state, dedicated, appropriated or opened to public travel or other use;

(47) “Imminent hazard” means the existence of a condition that presents a substantial likelihood that death, serious illness, severe personal injury or a substantial endangerment to health, property, or the environment may occur before the reasonably foreseeable completion date of a formal proceeding begun to lessen the risk of that death, illness, injury or endangerment;

(48) “Intersecting highway” includes any public highway which joins another at an angle whether or not it crosses the other;

(49) “Light weight” means the weight of an unloaded motor vehicle as ordinarily equipped and ready for use, exclusive of the weight of the operator of the motor vehicle;

(50) “Limited access highway” means a state highway so designated under the provisions of § 13b-27;

(51) “Local authorities” includes the board of aldermen, common council, chief of police, warden and burgesses, board of selectmen or other officials having authority for the enactment or enforcement of traffic regulations within their respective towns, cities or boroughs;

(52) “Maintenance vehicle” means any vehicle in use by the state or by any town, city, borough or district, any state bridge or parkway authority or any public service company, as defined in § 16-1, in the maintenance of public highways or bridges and facilities located within the limits of public highways or bridges;

(53) “Manufacturer” means (A) a person, whether a resident or nonresident, engaged in the business of constructing or assembling new motor vehicles of a type required to be registered by the commissioner, for operation upon any highway, except a utility trailer, which are offered for sale in this state, or (B) a person who distributes new motor vehicles to new car dealers licensed in this state;

(54) “Median divider” means an intervening space or physical barrier or clearly indicated dividing section separating traffic lanes provided for vehicles proceeding in opposite directions;

(55) “Modified antique motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle twenty years old or older which has been modified for safe road use, including, but not limited to, modifications to the drive train, suspension, braking system and safety or comfort apparatus;

(56) “Motor bus” includes any motor vehicle, except a taxicab, as defined in § 13b-95, operated in whole or in part on any street or highway in a manner affording a means of transportation by indiscriminately receiving or discharging passengers, or running on a regular route or over any portion of a regular route or between fixed termini;

(57) “Motor home” means a vehicular unit designed to provide living quarters and necessary amenities which are built into an integral part of, or permanently attached to, a truck or van chassis;

(58) “Motor-driven cycle” means any of the following vehicles that have a seat height of not less than twenty-six inches and a motor having a capacity of less than fifty cubic centimeters piston displacement: (A) A motorcycle, other than an autocycle; (B) a motor scooter; or (C) a bicycle with attached motor, except an electric bicycle;

(59) “Motor vehicle” means any vehicle propelled or drawn by any nonmuscular power, except aircraft, motor boats, road rollers, baggage trucks used about railroad stations or other mass transit facilities, electric battery-operated wheel chairs when operated by persons with physical disabilities at speeds not exceeding fifteen miles per hour, golf carts operated on highways solely for the purpose of crossing from one part of the golf course to another, golf-cart-type vehicles operated on roads or highways on the grounds of state institutions by state employees, agricultural tractors, farm implements, such vehicles as run only on rails or tracks, self-propelled snow plows, snow blowers and lawn mowers, when used for the purposes for which they were designed and operated at speeds not exceeding four miles per hour, whether or not the operator rides on or walks behind such equipment, motor-driven cycles, as defined in § 14-286, special mobile equipment, as defined in § 14-165, mini-motorcycles, as defined in § 14-289j, electric bicycles, electric foot scooters and any other vehicle not suitable for operation on a highway;

(60) “Motorcycle” means (A) an autocycle, as defined in this section, or (B) a motor vehicle, with or without a side car, that has (i) not more than three wheels in contact with the ground, (ii) a saddle or seat which the rider straddles or a platform on which the rider stands, and (iii) handlebars with which the rider controls the movement of the vehicle. “Motorcycle” does not include a motor-driven cycle, an electric bicycle or an electric foot scooter;

(61) “National Driver Registry” or “NDR” means the licensing information system and database operated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and established pursuant to the National Driver Registry Act of 1982, as amended;

(62) “New motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle, the equitable or legal title to which has never been transferred by a manufacturer, distributor or dealer to an ultimate consumer;

(63) “Nonresident” means any person whose legal residence is in a state other than Connecticut or in a foreign country;

(64) “Nonresident commercial driver’s license” or “nonresident CDL” means a commercial driver’s license issued by a state to an individual who resides in a foreign jurisdiction;

(65) “Nonskid device” means any device applied to the tires, wheels, axles or frame of a motor vehicle for the purpose of increasing the traction of the motor vehicle;

(66) “Number plate” means any sign or marker furnished by the commissioner on which is displayed the registration number assigned to a motor vehicle by the commissioner;

(67) “Officer” includes any constable, state marshal, inspector of motor vehicles, state policeman or other official authorized to make arrests or to serve process, provided the officer is in uniform or displays the officer’s badge of office in a conspicuous place when making an arrest;

(68) “Operator” means any person who operates a motor vehicle or who steers or directs the course of a motor vehicle being towed by another motor vehicle and includes a driver;

(69) “Out-of-service order” means an order (A) issued by a person having inspection authority, as defined in regulations adopted by the commissioner pursuant to § 14-163c, or by an authorized official of the United States Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration pursuant to any provision of federal law, to prohibit any motor vehicle specified in subsection (a) of § 14-163c from being operated on any highway, or to prohibit a driver from operating any such motor vehicle, or (B) issued by the United States Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, pursuant to any provision of federal law, to prohibit any motor carrier, as defined in Section 386.2 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, from engaging in commercial motor vehicle operations;

(70) “Owner” means any person holding title to a motor vehicle, or having the legal right to register the same, including purchasers under conditional bills of sale;

(71) “Parked vehicle” means a motor vehicle in a stationary position within the limits of a public highway;

(72) “Passenger and commercial motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle used for private passenger and commercial purposes which is eligible for combination registration;

(73) “Passenger motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle used for the private transportation of persons and their personal belongings, designed to carry occupants in comfort and safety, with a capacity of carrying not more than ten passengers including the operator thereof;

(74) “Passenger registration” means the type of registration issued to a passenger motor vehicle unless a more specific type of registration is authorized and issued by the commissioner for such class of vehicle;

(75) “Person” includes any individual, corporation, limited liability company, association, copartnership, company, firm, business trust or other aggregation of individuals but does not include the state or any political subdivision thereof, unless the context clearly states or requires;

(76) “Pick-up truck” means a motor vehicle with an enclosed forward passenger compartment and an open rearward compartment used for the transportation of property;

(77) “Pneumatic tires” means tires inflated or inflatable with air;

(78) “Pole trailer” means a trailer which is (A) intended for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, logs, pipes or structural members, which loads are capable of sustaining themselves as beams between supporting connections, and (B) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and attached or secured directly to the motor vehicle by any means including a reach, pole or boom;

(79) “Public passenger endorsement” means an endorsement issued to an individual, which authorizes such individual to transport passengers, including, but not limited to, passengers who are students in accordance with subsection (b) or (c) of § 14-36a;

(80) “Recreational vehicle” includes the camper, camp trailer and motor home classes of vehicles;

(81) “Registration” includes the certificate of motor vehicle registration and the number plate or plates used in connection with such registration;

(82) “Registration number” means the identifying number or letters, or both, assigned by the commissioner to a motor vehicle;

(83) “Resident”, for the purpose of registering motor vehicles, includes any person who is a legal resident of this state, as the commissioner may presume from the fact that such person occupies a place of dwelling in this state for more than six months in a year, or any person, firm or corporation owning or leasing a motor vehicle used or operated in intrastate business in this state, or a firm or corporation having its principal office or place of business in this state;

(84) “School bus” means any school bus, as defined in § 14-275, including a commercial motor vehicle used to transport preschool, elementary school or secondary school students from home to school, from school to home, or to and from school-sponsored events, but does not include a bus used as a common carrier;

(85) “Second” violation or “subsequent” violation means an offense committed not more than three years after the date of an arrest which resulted in a previous conviction for a violation of the same statutory provision, except in the case of a violation of § 14-215, 14-224, 14-227a or 14-227m, “second” violation or “subsequent” violation means an offense committed not more than ten years after the date of an arrest which resulted in a previous conviction for a violation of the same statutory provision;

(86) “Semitrailer” means any trailer type vehicle designed and used in conjunction with a motor vehicle so that some part of its own weight and load rests on or is carried by another vehicle;

(87) “Serious traffic violation” means a conviction of any of the following offenses: (A) Excessive speeding, involving a single offense in which the speed is fifteen miles per hour or more above the posted speed limit, in violation of § 14-218a or 14-219; (B) reckless driving in violation of § 14-222; (C) following too closely in violation of § 14-240 or 14-240a; (D) improper or erratic lane changes, in violation of § 14-236; (E) using a hand-held mobile telephone or other electronic device or typing, reading or sending text or a text message with or from a mobile telephone or mobile electronic device in violation of subsection (e) of § 14-296aa while operating a commercial motor vehicle; (F) driving a commercial motor vehicle without a valid commercial driver’s license in violation of § 14-36a or 14-44a; (G) failure to carry a commercial driver’s license in violation of § 14-44a; (H) failure to have the proper class of license or endorsement, or violation of a license restriction in violation of § 14-44a; or (I) a violation of any provision of chapter 248, by an operator who holds a commercial driver’s license or instruction permit that results in the death of another person;

(88) “Service bus” includes any vehicle except a vanpool vehicle or a school bus designed and regularly used to carry ten or more passengers when used in private service for the transportation of persons without charge to the individual;

(89) “Service car” means any motor vehicle used by a manufacturer, dealer or repairer for emergency motor vehicle repairs on the highways of this state, for towing or for the transportation of necessary persons, tools and materials to and from the scene of such emergency repairs or towing;

(90) “Shoulder” means that portion of a highway immediately adjacent and contiguous to the travel lanes or main traveled portion of the roadway;

(91) “Solid tires” means tires of rubber, or other elastic material approved by the Commissioner of Transportation, which do not depend on confined air for the support of the load;

(92) “Spot lamp” or “spot light” means a lighting device projecting a high intensity beam, the direction of which can be readily controlled for special or emergency lighting as distinguished from ordinary road illumination;

(93) “State” means any state of the United States and the District of Columbia unless the context indicates a more specific reference to the state of Connecticut;

(94) “Stop” means complete cessation of movement;

(95) “Student” means any person under the age of twenty-one years who is attending a preprimary, primary or secondary school program of education;

(96) “Tail lamp” means a lighting device affixed to the rear of a motor vehicle showing a red light to the rear and indicating the presence of the motor vehicle when viewed from behind;

(97) “Tank vehicle” means any commercial motor vehicle designed to transport any liquid or gaseous material within a tank that is either permanently or temporarily attached to the vehicle or its chassis, which includes, but is not limited to, a cargo tank and portable tank, as defined in 49 C.F.R. § 383.5, as amended, provided it does not include a portable tank with a rated capacity not to exceed one thousand gallons;

(98) “Tractor” or “truck tractor” means a motor vehicle designed and used for drawing a semitrailer;

(99) “Tractor-trailer unit” means a combination of a tractor and a trailer or a combination of a tractor and a semitrailer;

(100) “Trailer” means any rubber-tired vehicle without motive power drawn or propelled by a motor vehicle;

(101) “Truck” means a motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property;

(102) “Ultimate consumer” means, with respect to a motor vehicle, the first person, other than a dealer, who in good faith purchases the motor vehicle for purposes other than resale;

(103) “United States” means the fifty states and the District of Columbia;

(104) “Used motor vehicle” includes any motor vehicle which has been previously separately registered by an ultimate consumer;

(105) “Utility trailer” means a trailer designed and used to transport personal property, materials or equipment, whether or not permanently affixed to the bed of the trailer;

(106) “Vanpool vehicle” includes all motor vehicles, the primary purpose of which is the daily transportation, on a prearranged nonprofit basis, of individuals between home and work, and which: (A) If owned by or leased to a person, or to an employee of the person, or to an employee of a local, state or federal government unit or agency located in Connecticut, are manufactured and equipped in such manner as to provide a seating capacity of at least seven but not more than fifteen individuals, or (B) if owned by or leased to a regional ride-sharing organization in the state recognized by the Commissioner of Transportation, are manufactured and equipped in such manner as to provide a seating capacity of at least six but not more than nineteen individuals;

(107) “Vehicle” includes any device suitable for the conveyance, drawing or other transportation of persons or property, whether operated on wheels, runners, a cushion of air or by any other means. The term does not include devices propelled or drawn by human power or devices used exclusively on tracks;

(108) “Vehicle identification number” or “VIN” means a series of Arabic numbers and Roman letters that is assigned to each new motor vehicle that is manufactured within or imported into the United States, in accordance with the provisions of 49 C.F.R. § part 565, unless another sequence of numbers and letters has been assigned to a motor vehicle by the commissioner, in accordance with the provisions of § 14-149;

(109) “Wrecker” means a vehicle which is registered, designed, equipped and used for the purposes of towing or transporting wrecked or disabled motor vehicles for compensation or for related purposes by a person, firm or corporation licensed in accordance with the provisions of subpart (D) of part III of this chapter or a vehicle contracted for the consensual towing or transporting of one or more motor vehicles to or from a place of sale, purchase, salvage or repair.