Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 36 > Chapter 11 - Department of Transportation and Development

• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Autocycle: means a three-wheeled motorcycle on which the driver and all passengers ride in either a partially or completely enclosed seating area or in a side-by-side seating area that is equipped with a rollbar or roll cage, safety belts for all occupants, and is designed to be controlled with a steering mechanism and pedals. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Bicycle: means every device upon which any person or persons, if the design accommodates passengers, may ride, propelled exclusively by human power, or an electric-assisted bicycle as defined in this Section, having a saddle or seat for each rider, and having two tandem wheels, either of which is sixteen inches or more in diameter, or three wheels, any one of which is twenty inches or more in diameter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Commissioner: means the secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Crosswalk: means : (a) That part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks, shoulders, or a combination thereof on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway or if there is neither a sidewalk nor shoulder, a crosswalk is the portion of the roadway at an intersection that would be included within the prolongation of the lateral lines of the sidewalk, shoulder, or both on the opposite side of the street if there were a sidewalk or shoulder. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Transportation and Development. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Driver: means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Height: means the total vertical dimension of any vehicle above the ground surface including any load and load-holding devices thereon. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place of whatever nature publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for the purpose of vehicular travel, including bridges, causeways, tunnels and ferries; synonymous with the word "street". See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Intersection: means : The area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines, or, if none, then the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two highways which join one another at, or approximately at, right angles, or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle may come in conflict. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Motor driven cycle: means every motorcycle, including every motor scooter, with a motor of not to exceed five horsepower. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Motor vehicle: means every vehicle which is self-propelled, and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails, but excluding a motorized bicycle and an electric-assisted bicycle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Motorcycle: means every motor vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground, but excluding a tractor, a motorized bicycle, and an electric-assisted bicycle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Motorized bicycle: means a pedal bicycle which may be propelled by human power or helper motor, or by both, but excluding an electric-assisted bicycle, with a motor rated no more than one and one-half brake horsepower, a cylinder capacity not exceeding fifty cubic centimeters, an automatic transmission, and which produces a maximum design speed of no more than twenty-five miles per hour on a flat surface. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Operator: means every person, other than a chauffeur, who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Police officer: means every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• roll cage: shall mean supports that will bear the vehicle's weight and are so designed as to protect the occupants when the vehicle is resting on the supports. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• School bus: means every motor vehicle that is used to transport students to and from school or in connection with school activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development or his delegated or authorized representative. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Shoulder: means the portion of the highway contiguous with the roadway for accommodation of stopped vehicles, for emergency use, pedestrian use, mobility aid use, bicycle use, and for lateral support of base and surface. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• stopping: means , when prohibited, any halting, even momentarily of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer, weights and standards police officer, or traffic control sign or signal. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.