Texas Laws: Transportation Code
Chapter 541 Definitions
Subchapter C Vehicles, Rail Transportation, and Equipment
Texas Laws > Transportation Code > Chapter 541 > Section 541.201
Section 541.201. Vehicles
Section: Previous 524.044 524.051 525.001 541.001 541.002 541.101 541.102 541.201 541.202 541.203 541.301 541.302 541.303 541.304 541.401 Next§ 541.201. VEHICLES. In this subtitle: (1) "Authorized emergency vehicle" means: (A) a fire department or police vehicle; (B) a public or private ambulance operated by a person who has been issued a license by the Texas Department of Health; (C) a municipal department or public service corporation emergency vehicle that has been designated or authorized by the governing body of a municipality; (D) a private vehicle of a volunteer firefighter or a certified emergency medical services employee or volunteer when responding to a fire alarm or medical emergency; (E) an industrial emergency response vehicle, including an industrial ambulance, when responding to an emergency, but only if the vehicle is operated in compliance with criteria in effect September 1, 1989, and established by the predecessor of the Texas Industrial Emergency Services Board of the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas; or (F) a vehicle of a blood bank or tissue bank, accredited or approved under the laws of this state or the United States, when making emergency deliveries of blood, drugs, medicines, or organs. (2) "Bicycle" means a device that a person may ride and that is propelled by human power and has two tandem wheels at least one of which is more than 14 inches in diameter. (3) "Bus" means: (A) a motor vehicle used to transport persons and designed to accommodate more than 10 passengers, including the operator; or (B) a motor vehicle, other than a taxicab, designed and used to transport persons for compensation. (4) "Farm tractor" means a motor vehicle designed and used primarily as a farm implement to draw an implement of husbandry, including a plow or a mowing machine. (5) "House trailer" means a trailer or semitrailer, other than a towable recreational vehicle, that: (A) is transportable on a highway in one or more sections; (B) is less than 40 feet in length, excluding tow bar, while in the traveling mode; (C) is built on a permanent chassis; (D) is designed to be used as a dwelling or for commercial purposes if connected to required utilities; and (E) includes plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems. (6) "Implement of husbandry" means a vehicle, other than a passenger car or truck, that is designed and adapted for use as a farm implement, machinery, or tool for tilling the soil. (7) "Light truck" means a truck, including a pickup truck, panel delivery truck, or carryall truck, that has a manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of 2,000 pounds or less. (8) "Moped" means a motor-driven cycle that cannot attain a speed in one mile of more than 30 miles per hour and the engine of which: (A) cannot produce more than two-brake horsepower; and (B) if an internal combustion engine, has a piston displacement of 50 cubic centimeters or less and connects to a power drive system that does not require the operator to shift gears. (9) "Motorcycle" means a motor vehicle, other than a tractor, that is equipped with a rider's saddle and designed to have when propelled not more than three wheels on the ground. (10) "Motor-driven cycle" means a motorcycle equipped with a motor that has an engine piston displacement of 250 cubic centimeters or less. The term does not include an electric bicycle. (11) "Motor vehicle" means a self-propelled vehicle or a vehicle that is propelled by electric power from overhead trolley wires. The term does not include an electric bicycle or an electric personal assistive mobility device, as defined by Section 551.201. (12) "Passenger car" means a motor vehicle, other than a motorcycle, used to transport persons and designed to accommodate 10 or fewer passengers, including the operator. (13) "Pole trailer" means a vehicle without motive power: (A) designed to be drawn by another vehicle and secured to the other vehicle by pole, reach, boom, or other security device; and (B) ordinarily used to transport a long or irregularly shaped load, including poles, pipes, or structural members, generally capable of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections. (14) "Road tractor" means a motor vehicle designed and used to draw another vehicle but not constructed to carry a load independently or a part of the weight of the other vehicle or its load. (15) "School activity bus" means a bus designed to accommodate more than 15 passengers, including the operator, that is owned, operated, rented, or leased by a school district, county school, open-enrollment charter school, regional education service center, or shared services arrangement and that is used to transport public school students on a school-related activity trip, other than on routes to and from school. The term does not include a chartered bus, a bus operated by a mass transit authority, or a school bus. (16) "School bus" means a motor vehicle that was manufactured in compliance with the federal motor vehicle safety standards for school buses in effect on the date of manufacture and that is used to transport pre-primary, primary, or secondary students on a route to or from school or on a school-related activity trip other than on routes to and from school. The term does not include a school-chartered bus or a bus operated by a mass transit authority. (17) "Semitrailer" means a vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer: (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and to transport persons or property; and (B) constructed so that part of the vehicle's weight and load rests on or is carried by another vehicle. (18) "Special mobile equipment" means a vehicle that is not designed or used primarily to transport persons or property and that is only incidentally operated on a highway. The term: (A) includes ditchdigging apparatus, well boring apparatus, and road construction and maintenance machinery, including an asphalt spreader, bituminous mixer, bucket loader, tractor other than a truck tractor, ditcher, levelling grader, finishing machine, motor grader, road roller, scarifier, earth-moving carryall and scraper, power shovel or dragline, or self-propelled crane and earth-moving equipment; and (B) excludes a vehicle that is designed to transport persons or property and that has machinery attached, including a house trailer, dump truck, truck-mounted transit mixer, crane, and shovel. (19) "Towable recreational vehicle" means a nonmotorized vehicle that: (A) is designed: (i) to be towable by a motor vehicle; and (ii) for temporary human habitation for uses including recreational camping or seasonal use; (B) is permanently built on a single chassis; (C) may contain one or more life-support systems; and (D) may be used permanently or temporarily for advertising, selling, displaying, or promoting merchandise or services, but is not used for transporting property for hire or for distribution by a private carrier. (20) "Trailer" means a vehicle, other than a pole trailer, with or without motive power: (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and to transport persons or property; and (B) constructed so that no part of the vehicle's weight and load rests on the motor vehicle. (21) "Truck" means a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily to transport property. (22) "Truck tractor" means a motor vehicle designed and used primarily to draw another vehicle but not constructed to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the other vehicle and its load. (23) "Vehicle" means a device that can be used to transport or draw persons or property on a highway. The term does not include: (A) a device exclusively used on stationary rails or tracks; or (B) manufactured housing as that term is defined by Chapter 1201, Occupations Code. (24) "Electric bicycle" means a bicycle that: (A) is designed to be propelled by an electric motor, exclusively or in combination with the application of human power; (B) cannot attain a speed of more than 20 miles per hour without the application of human power; and (C) does not exceed a weight of 100 pounds. Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995. Amended by Acts, 75th Leg., ch. 1020, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1438, § 8, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 663, § 1, eff. June 18, 1999; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 797, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1085, § 5, eff. Sept. 1, 2001; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1318, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2003; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1276, § 14A.833, eff. Sept. 1, 2003; Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 558, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 2005.