As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the words and terms mean:

(1) “Agricultural commodities in bulk”, commodities conforming to the meaning of “commodities in bulk” as defined in this section, which are agricultural, horticultural, viticultural or forest products or any other products which are grown or produced on a farm or in a forest, and which have not undergone processing at any time since movement from the farm or forest, or processed or unprocessed grain, feed, feed ingredients, or forest products;

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(2) “Certificate”, a written document authorizing a common carrier to engage in intrastate commerce and issued under the provisions of this chapter;

(3) “Charter service”, the transportation of a group of persons who, pursuant to a common purpose and at a fixed charge for the vehicle, have acquired the exclusive use of a passenger-carrying motor vehicle to travel together as a group from a point of origin to a specified destination or for a particular itinerary, either agreed upon in advance or modified by the chartering group after having left the place of origin;

(4) “Commercial zone”, unless otherwise increased pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (4) of section 390.041, any municipality within this state together with that territory either within or without the state of Missouri, extending one mile beyond the corporate limits of such municipality and one additional mile for each fifty thousand inhabitants or portion thereof; however, any commercial zone of a city not within a county shall extend eighteen miles beyond that city’s corporate limits and shall also extend throughout any first class charter county which adjoins that zone;

(5) “Commodities in bulk”, commodities, which are fungible, flowable, capable of being poured or dumped, tendered for transportation unpackaged, incapable of being counted, but are weighed or measured by volume and which conform to the shape of the vehicle transporting them;

(6) “Common carrier”, any person which holds itself out to the general public to engage in the transportation by motor vehicle of passengers or property for hire or compensation upon the public highways and airlines engaged in intrastate commerce;

(7) “Contract carrier”, any person under individual contracts or agreements which engage in transportation by motor vehicles of passenger or property for hire or compensation upon the public highways;

(8) “Corporate family”, a group of corporations consisting of a parent corporation and all subsidiaries in which the parent corporation owns directly or indirectly a one hundred percent interest;

(9) “Division”, the division of motor carrier and railroad safety of the department of transportation;

(10) “Driveaway operator”:

(a) Any motor carrier who moves any commercial motor vehicle or assembled automobile singly under its own power or in any other combination of two or more vehicles under the power of one of said vehicles upon any public highway for the purpose of delivery for sale or for delivery either before or after sale;

(b) A person engaged in the business of furnishing drivers and operators for the purpose of transporting vehicles in transit from one place to another by the driveaway or towaway methods; or

(c) A person who is lawfully engaged in the business of transporting or delivering vehicles that are not the person’s own and vehicles of a type otherwise required to be registered, by the driveaway or towaway methods, from a point of manufacture, assembly or distribution or from the owner of the vehicles to a dealer or sales agent of a manufacturer or to any consignee designated by the shipper or consignor;

(11) “Dump truck”, any open-top vehicle, including dump trailers, and those trailers commonly referred to as hopper trailers and/or belly dump trailers, that discharges its load by tipping or opening the body in such a manner that the load is ejected or dumped by gravity but does not include tank or other closed-top vehicles, or vehicles that discharge cargo by means of an auger, conveyor belt, air pressure, pump or other mechanical means;

(12) “Household goods”, personal effects and property used or to be used in a dwelling when a part of the equipment or supply of such dwelling; new or used furniture; store or office furniture or fixtures; equipment of museums, institutions, hospitals and other establishments; and articles, which because of their unusual nature or value require specialized handling and equipment usually employed in moving household goods;

(13) “Interstate commerce”, commerce between a point in this state and a point outside this state, or between points outside this state when such commerce moves through this state whether such commerce moves wholly by motor vehicle or partly by motor vehicle and partly by any other regulated means of transportation where the commodity does not come to rest or change its identity during the movement;

(14) “Intrastate commerce”, commerce moving wholly between points within this state, whether such commerce moves wholly by motor vehicle or partly by motor vehicle and partly by any other means of transportation;

(15) “Irregular route”, the course or line of travel to be used by a motor carrier’s vehicle when not restricted to any specific route or routes within the area the motor carrier is authorized to serve;

(16) “Less-than-truckload lots”, lots of freight, other than a truckload lot, being transported on the motor vehicle at one time;

(17) “Mobile home”, house trailers, cabin trailers, bungalow trailers, mobile homes and any other transportable building unit designed to be used for residential, commercial, industrial or recreational purposes, including special equipment, wheels, tires, axles, springs, racks, undercarriages and undersupports used or useful in connection with the transportation of mobile homes when transported as part of the transportation of mobile homes;

(18) “Motor carrier”, any person engaged in the transportation of property or passengers, or both, for compensation or hire, over the public roads of this state by motor vehicle. The term includes both common and contract carriers;

(19) “Motor vehicle”, any vehicle, truck, truck-tractor, trailer, or semitrailer, motor bus or any self-propelled vehicle used upon the highways of the state in the transportation of property or passengers;

(20) “Party”, any person admitted as a party to a division proceeding or seeking and entitled as a matter of right to admission to a division proceeding;

(21) “Permit”, a permit issued under the provisions of this chapter to a contract carrier to engage in intrastate or interstate commerce or to a common carrier to engage in interstate commerce;

(22) “Person”, any individual or other legal entity, whether such entity is a proprietorship, partnership, corporation, company, association or joint-stock association, including the partners, officers, employees, and agents of the person, as well as any trustees, assignees, receivers, or personal representatives of the person;

(23) “Private carrier”, any person engaged in the transportation of property or passengers by motor vehicle upon public highways, but not as a common or contract carrier by motor vehicle; and includes any person who transports property by motor vehicle where such transportation is incidental to or in furtherance of his commercial enterprises;

(24) “Public highway”, every public street, road, highway or thoroughfare of any kind used by the public, whether actually dedicated to the public;

(25) “Regular route”, a specific and determined course to be traveled by a motor carrier’s vehicle rendering service to, from or between various points or localities in this state;

(26) “School bus”, any motor vehicle while being used solely to transport students to or from school or to transport students to or from any place for educational purposes or school purposes;

(27) “Taxicab”, any motor vehicle performing a bona fide for-hire taxicab service having a capacity of not more than five passengers, exclusive of the driver, and not operated on a regular route or between fixed termini;

(28) “Truckload lot”, a lot or lots of freight tendered to a carrier by one consignor or one consignee for delivery at the direction of the consignor or consignee with the lot or lots being the only lot or lots transported on the motor vehicle at any one time.