(a)  No person shall operate a motor vehicle upon the public highways with any unsealed alcoholic beverage container within the passenger section of the vehicle.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 31-22-21.1

  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Motor vehicle: means any vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power for use on the public streets, roads, and highways;

    (2)  "Odometer" means an instrument for measuring and recording the actual distance a motor vehicle travels while in operation;

    (3)  "Person" means any individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or business trust including, but not limited to, private individuals and motor vehicle dealers, both wholesale and retail, whether the private individual or dealer is a dealer in the ordinary course of business or not;

    (4)  "Repair and replacement" means to restore to a sound working condition by replacing the instrument or any part thereof or by correcting what is inoperative;

    (5)  "Transfer" means to acquire ownership by purchase, gift, bequest, or any other means. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-23.2-2

  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6

(b)  Any person found in violation of this section may be fined not more than two hundred dollars ($200) or have his or her driver’s license suspended for up to six (6) months, or both, for the first violation, and for each subsequent violation may be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500) or have his or her driver’s license suspended for up to one year, or both.

(c)  The operator of a rented limousine or bus shall not be subject to the provisions of this section provided neither the operator nor any passenger under the age of twenty-one (21) is in possession of any unsealed alcoholic beverage container.

(d)  The original jurisdiction of this section shall be exclusively in the traffic tribunal.

History of Section.
P.L. 1999, ch. 382, § 2.