No person shall operate on any highway any vehicle which travels at a normal rate of speed of not more than fifteen miles per hour, when transporting persons for hire or when transporting three or more persons for pleasure purposes, whether or not for hire, unless he has obtained a permit from the traffic authority of each city, town and borough in which the vehicle is to be operated. Such permit shall include reasonable restrictions and may require the temporary installation and use of such additional lighting equipment as such traffic authority deems to be essential for the safety of the persons being transported from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise or whenever smoke or weather conditions render it impossible to see at least two hundred feet ahead of such vehicle. Violation of any provision of this section shall be an infraction.