Montana Code 61-9-407. Fenders, splash aprons, or flaps required on certain vehicles — dimension and location
61-9-407. Fenders, splash aprons, or flaps required on certain vehicles — dimension and location. (1) A person may not move, or permit to be moved, a vehicle, except a motorcycle, quadricycle, motor-driven cycle, or farm tractor, as defined in this title, upon the public highways without having first equipped the rearmost wheels or set of wheels of the vehicle with fenders, splash aprons, or flaps. The fenders, splash aprons, or flaps must be designed, constructed, and attached to the vehicle in a manner that arrests and deflects dirt, mud, water, rocks, and other substances that may be picked up by the rear wheels of the vehicle and thrown into the air, as follows:
Terms Used In Montana Code 61-9-407
- Farm tractor: means a motor vehicle designed and used primarily as a farm implement for drawing plows, mowing machines, and other implements of husbandry. See Montana Code 61-9-102
- Gross vehicle weight: means the weight of a vehicle without load plus the weight of any load on the vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Motor-driven cycle: means a motorcycle, including a motor scooter, with a motor that produces 5 horsepower or less. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Motorcycle: means a motor vehicle that has a seat or saddle for the use of the operator and that is designated to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, state agency, local government unit, another state government, the United States, a political subdivision of this or another state, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Quadricycle: means a four-wheeled motor vehicle, designed for on-road or off-road use, having a seat or saddle on which the operator sits. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Street: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every publicly maintained way when any part of the publicly maintained way is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Vehicle: means a device in, on, or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn on a public highway, except devices moved by animal power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Montana Code 61-1-101
(a)If the vehicle is equipped with fenders, the fenders must extend in full width from a point above and forward of the center of the tire or tires over and to the rear of the tires.
(b)If the vehicle is equipped with splash aprons or flaps, the splash aprons or flaps must extend downward in full width from a point not lower than halfway between the center of the tire or tires and the top of the tire or tires and to the rear of the tires.
(c)If the vehicle is in excess of 8,000 pounds gross vehicle weight or rating, the fenders, splash aprons, or flaps must extend downward to a point that is not more than 10 inches above the surface of the highway when the vehicle is empty.
(d)If the vehicle is 8,000 pounds or less gross vehicle weight or rating, the fenders, splash aprons, or flaps must extend downward to a point that is not more than 20 inches above the surface of the highway when the vehicle is empty.
(2)Fenders, splash aprons, or flaps, as used in subsection (1), must be constructed as follows:
(a)when measured on the cross-sections of the tread of the wheel or on the combined cross-sections of the treads of multiple wheels, the fender, splash apron, or flap extends at least to each side of the width of the tire or of the combined width of the multiple tires; and
(b)the fender, splash apron, or flap is capable at all times of arresting and deflecting dirt, mud, water, or other substance that may be picked up and carried by the wheel or wheels.
(3)This section does not apply to a street rod as defined in 61-1-101, motor vehicles not originally equipped with fenders, splash aprons, or flaps, or motor vehicles for which fenders, splash aprons, or flaps were not required by federal law or regulation at the time of manufacture.