Terms Used In California Codes > Vehicle Code > Division 15 > Chapter 4 - Length

• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• axle: is a structure or portion of a structure consisting of one or more shafts, spindles, or bearings in the same vertical transverse plane by means of which, in conjunction with wheels mounted on said shafts, spindles, or bearings, a portion of the weight of a vehicle and its load, if any, is continuously transmitted to the roadway when the vehicle is in motion. See California Vehicle Code 230
• B-train assembly: is a rigid frame extension attached to the rear frame of a semitrailer which allows for a fifth wheel connection point for a second semitrailer. See California Vehicle Code 230.5
• bus: is a ny vehicle, including a trailer bus, designed, used, or maintained for carrying more than 15 persons including the driver. See California Vehicle Code 233
• business: includes a proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and any other form of commercial enterprise. See California Vehicle Code 234
• camper: is a structure designed to be mounted upon a motor vehicle and to provide facilities for human habitation or camping purposes. See California Vehicle Code 243
• City: includes every city and city and county within this State. See California Vehicle Code 255
• County: includes every county and city and county within this State. See California Vehicle Code 270
• Dealer: is a person not otherwise expressly excluded by Section 286 who:

  California Vehicle Code 285

• Department: means the Department of Motor Vehicles except, when used in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 2100) of Division 2 and in Divisions 11 (commencing with Section 21000), 12 (commencing with Section 24000), 13 (commencing with Section 29000), 14 (commencing with Section 31600), 14. See California Vehicle Code 290
• drawbar: is a rigid structure forming a connection between a trailer and a towing vehicle, securely attached to both vehicles by nonrigid means and carrying no part of the load of either vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 300
• driver: is a person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 305
• fifth-wheel travel trailer: is a vehicle designed for recreational purposes to carry persons or property on its own structure and so constructed as to be drawn by a motor vehicle by means of a kingpin connecting device. See California Vehicle Code 324
• Freeway: is a highway in respect to which the owners of abutting lands have no right or easement of access to or from their abutting lands or in respect to which such owners have only limited or restricted right or easement of access. See California Vehicle Code 332
• Highway: is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See California Vehicle Code 360
• house car: is a motor vehicle originally designed, or permanently altered, and equipped for human habitation, or to which a camper has been permanently attached. See California Vehicle Code 362
• Local authorities: means the legislative body of every county or municipality having authority to adopt local police regulations. See California Vehicle Code 385
• motor vehicle: includes a recreational vehicle as that term is defined in subdivision (a) of §. See California Vehicle Code 415
• motortruck: is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See California Vehicle Code 410
• owner: is a person having all the incidents of ownership, including the legal title of a vehicle whether or not such person lends, rents, or creates a security interest in the vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 460
• Person: includes a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, limited liability company, or corporation. See California Vehicle Code 470
• pilot car: is a motor vehicle, except a motorcycle, motorized bicycle, or motorized quadricycle, which is used to escort one or more other vehicles, when required, due to the vehicles' size or character of load, in accordance with conditions set forth in a permit issued by the appropriate state agency or by a local authority. See California Vehicle Code 472
• pole or pipe dolly: is a vehicle, other than a motor vehicle, having one or more axles which axles, if there be more than one, are not more than 54 inches apart, and two or more wheels, used in connection with a motor vehicle solely for the purpose of transporting poles, timbers, pipes, or integral structural materials and connected with the towing vehicle both by chain, rope, cable, or drawbar, and by the load, without any part of the weight of the dolly resting upon the towing vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 475
• representative: is a ny person regularly employed by a manufacturer or distributor for the purpose of negotiating or promoting the sale of the manufacturer's or distributer's vehicles to their franchisees or for regularly supervising or contacting franchisees or prospective franchisees in this state for any purpose. See California Vehicle Code 512
• Road: means any existing vehicle route established before January 1, 1979, with significant evidence of prior regular travel by vehicles subject to registration pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 4000) of Chapter 1 of Division 3. See California Vehicle Code 527
• schoolbus: is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained for the transportation of any school pupil at or below the 12th grade level to or from a public or private school or to or from public or private school activities, except the following:

  California Vehicle Code 545

• Sell: includes offer for sale, expose for sale, possess for sale, exchange, barter, or trade. See California Food and Agricultural Code 44
• semitrailer: is a vehicle designed for carrying persons or property, used in conjunction with a motor vehicle, and so constructed that some part of its weight and that of its load rests upon, or is carried by, another vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 550
• Terminal: is a place where a vehicle of a type listed in Section 34500 is regularly garaged or maintained, or from which the vehicle is operated or dispatched. See California Vehicle Code 595
• tow truck: is a motor vehicle which has been altered or designed and equipped for, and primarily used in the business of, transporting vehicles by means of a crane, hoist, tow bar, tow line, or dolly or is otherwise primarily used to render assistance to other vehicles. See California Vehicle Code 615
• traffic: includes pedestrians, ridden animals, vehicles, street cars, and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using any highway for purposes of travel. See California Vehicle Code 620
• trailer: includes a semitrailer when used in conjunction with an auxiliary dolly, if the auxiliary dolly is of a type constructed to replace the function of the drawbar and the front axle or axles of a trailer. See California Vehicle Code 630
• transit bus: is a ny bus owned or operated by a publicly owned or operated transit system, or operated under contract with a publicly owned or operated transit system, and used to provide to the general public, regularly scheduled transportation for which a fare is charged. See California Vehicle Code 642
• trolley coach: is a vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails. See California Vehicle Code 650
• truck tractor: is a motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load, other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and the load so drawn. See California Vehicle Code 655
• vehicle: is a device by which any person or property may be propelled, moved, or drawn upon a highway, excepting a device moved exclusively by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See California Vehicle Code 670
• wheelbase: means the longitudinal distance between the vertical centerlines of the front and rear wheels. See California Vehicle Code 378