(a) No person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle shall permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, and effectively setting the brake thereon and, when standing upon any grade, turning the front wheels to the curb or side of the highway.

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class A misdemeanorup to 11 monthsup to $2,500
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-8-162

  • ADS-operated vehicle: means a vehicle equipped with an automated driving system. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Driver: means :
    (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way when any part thereto is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Owner: means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle, or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof, with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter and chapter 10, parts 1-5 of this title. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Person: means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or an engaged ADS. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Truck: means every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
(b)

(1) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, no person shall leave unsecured and unattended any truck, tractor-trailer or tractor-semitrailer combination, with a rated capacity of more than one (1) ton, containing “medical waste,” as defined in rules promulgated under §§ 68-211-101 – 68-211-122, or “hazardous waste,” as defined in § 68-212-104, in any residential area, or within one thousand feet (1,000′) of any church, school or park.
(2)

(A) Except as provided in subdivision (b)(2)(B), a violation of subdivision (b)(1) is a Class A misdemeanor punishable only by a fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000). The fine imposed by this subdivision (b)(2)(A) shall be upon the owner of the truck, tractor-trailer or tractor-semitrailer combination. Each day of continued violation constitutes a separate violation.
(B) In addition to any fine imposed upon the owner pursuant to subdivision (b)(2)(A), the driver‘s license to drive shall be suspended for six (6) months.
(C) Suspension of the driver’s commercial driver license pursuant to subdivision (b)(2)(B) shall not alter the driver’s eligibility to maintain a Class D driver license.
(3) Nothing in this chapter shall alter the liability imposed by any other provision of law for unlawful disposal of medical waste.
(4) This section shall only apply to persons operating any truck, tractor-trailer or tractor-semitrailer combination and transporting materials found to be hazardous under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act, which requires the motor vehicle to be placarded.
(c)

(1) Subsection (b) shall not apply to any utility.
(2) As used in subdivision (c)(1), “utility” means any person, municipality, county, metropolitan government, electric cooperative, telephone cooperative, board, commission, district or any entity created or authorized by public act, private act, or general law to provide electricity, natural gas, water, waste water services, telephone services, or any combination thereof, for sale to consumers in any particular service area.
(d) Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to an ADS-operated vehicle.