(a) Every driver or person having charge of any nonmotor vehicle, on any of the public roads in or of this state, on meeting and passing another vehicle, shall give one-half (1/2) of the road by turning to the right, so as not to interfere in passing.

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class C misdemeanorup to 30 daysup to $50
class E felony1 to 6 yearsup to $3,000
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-8-178

  • Certified police cyclist: means any full time, sworn law enforcement officer who is certified by the International Police Mountain Bike Association or has otherwise been certified by the Tennessee peace officer standards and training commission as having received and successfully completed appropriate bicycle training in the performance of law enforcement functions. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Driver: means :
    (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Owner: means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle, or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof, with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter and chapter 10, parts 1-5 of this title. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Person: means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or an engaged ADS. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
(b) When nonmotor vehicles on public roads are traveling in the same direction, and the driver of the hindmost desires to pass the foremost, each driver shall give one-half (1/2) of the road, the foremost by turning to the right, and the hindmost to the left.
(c)

(1) No driver shall stop a nonmotor vehicle on any of the public roads, for any cause or pretense whatever, without turning so far to the right as to leave at least one-half (1/2) of the road free, open, and unobstructed for other travelers and vehicles.
(2) Subdivision (c)(1) does not apply to a certified police cyclist engaged in the lawful performance of duty relating to traffic control.
(d) Drivers of nonmotor vehicles on public roads shall pass each other in a quiet, orderly, and peaceable manner, and shall not make any noise intended to disturb or frighten the driver or the animals drawing nonmotor vehicles.
(e) No person shall willfully, by noise, gesture or by other means, on or near public roads, disturb or frighten the driver or rider or the animals ridden or drawing vehicles thereon.
(f)

(1) An intentional or careless violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
(2) A willful or malicious violation of this section, whereby the death of any person is occasioned, is a Class E felony.
(g)

(1) All horse-drawn vehicles and/or equipment, whether farm or passenger, shall be equipped with a self-luminous white lamp which shall be visible from the front from a distance of at least five hundred feet (500′) and with a self-luminous red lamp on the rear which shall be visible from a distance of at least five hundred feet (500′) to the rear.
(2) This subsection (g) applies only if the horse-drawn vehicle is used as the owner‘s primary mode of personal or farm transportation and is regularly driven upon public roads or highways or the rights-of-way thereof.
(3) This subsection (g) does not apply in any county having a population of not less than three hundred nineteen thousand six hundred twenty-five (319,625) nor more than three hundred nineteen thousand seven hundred twenty-five (319,725) or of not less than eighty-eight thousand seven hundred (88,700) nor more than eighty-eight thousand eight hundred (88,800), according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census.
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