Code of Alabama - Title 32: Motor Vehicles and Traffic - Chapter 5 - Regulation of Operation of Motor Vehicles, Etc., Generally

• Article 1 General Provisions.
• Section 32-5-1 Powers of local authorities
  (a) Except as herein otherwise provided, local authorities shall have no power to pass, enforce, or maintain any ordinance, rule, or regulation requiring from any...
• Section 32-5-2 Regulation of use of real property by owner; owner to erect and maintain traffic-control devices
  Nothing in this chapter shall be so construed as to prevent the owner of real property used in public for purposes of vehicular travel by...
• Section 32-5-3 Loading from ramps, platforms, or other devices
  It shall be unlawful and constitute a misdemeanor for any person to park or place any vehicle upon the public highway opposite or at or...
• Section 32-5-4 Unloading logs, lumber, etc., on or near highways
  It shall be unlawful and constitute a misdemeanor for any person to unload from a vehicle of any kind in whole or in part any...
• Section 32-5-5 Removal of ramps, platforms, and obstructions
  It shall be the duty of the Director of Transportation to immediately remove or cause to be removed any ramp or platform extending upon the...
• Section 32-5-8 School bus specifications and operation
  The State Board of Education shall adopt minimum standards, not inconsistent with this chapter, to govern the specifications of all new school buses purchased in...
• Section 32-5-9 Liability for damage to highway or structure
  (a) Any person driving any vehicle, object, or contrivance upon any highway or highway structure shall be liable for all damage which the highway or...
• Section 32-5-11 Throwing or shooting deadly or dangerous missile into occupied vehicle
  Whoever willfully throws or shoots a rock, stone, brick or piece of iron, steel or other like metal, or any deadly or dangerous missile or...
• Section 32-5-12 Distress flag for handicapped or paraplegic drivers - Authorized; design
  Handicapped or paraplegic drivers of motor vehicles are authorized when getting into and out of such vehicles, or when in motor vehicle distress, to display...
• Section 32-5-13 Distress flag for handicapped or paraplegic drivers - Fee; card authorizing use; replacement flags
  The Director of Public Safety may, upon application and payment of a fee of $1.00, issue to any handicapped person a distress flag as described...
• Section 32-5-14 Distress flag for handicapped or paraplegic drivers - Penalty for illegal use
  Any person who is not a handicapped or paraplegic person who uses the distress flag as a distress signal or for any other purpose or...
• Section 32-5-16 State trooper may close highways
  When it becomes apparent to any state trooper that a road is dangerous for use of motor vehicles on account of weather conditions, high water,...
• Section 32-5-17 Nuisance of casting light from motor vehicle on real property at night; exceptions; penalty
  (a) It shall be deemed a nuisance and shall be unlawful for any person, or one or more of a group of persons together, between...
• Article 2 Signs, Signals and Markings.
• Section 32-5-31 Local traffic-control devices
  (a) Local authorities in their respective jurisdictions shall place and maintain such traffic-control devices upon highways under their jurisdiction as they may deem necessary to...
• Article 3 Operation of Vehicles Generally.
• Section 32-5-51 Towing or hauling disabled vehicle
  No provision of this chapter shall prevent a motor vehicle from hauling or towing a disabled vehicle while on the highway to a point for...
• Section 32-5-54 Keep to the right in crossing intersections or railroads
  In crossing an intersection of highways or in the intersection of a highway by a railroad right-of-way, the driver of a vehicle shall at all...
• Section 32-5-64 Persons under 16 years of age operating motor vehicles - Prohibited; driver training programs
  Any person under the age of 16 years who shall drive or operate any motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state shall be...
• Section 32-5-65 Persons under 16 years of age operating motor vehicles - Owner of motor vehicle permitting
  Any owner or person in charge of any motor vehicle who permits any child under the age of 16 years to operate such motor vehicle...
• Section 32-5-72 Limitations of backing
  (a) The driver of a vehicle shall not back the same unless it shall reasonably appear that such a movement can be made with safety...
• Section 32-5-74 Vehicles transporting explosives
  Any person operating any vehicle transporting any explosive as a cargo or part of a cargo upon a highway shall at all times comply with...
• Section 32-5-75 Loads which must be fastened by cables or chains
  Any person operating a motor vehicle on any highway hauling logs, lumber, pulp wood, tar wood, bale cotton or hay, or other articles that may...
• Section 32-5-76 Spilling loads or litter; penalty
  (a)(1) Whoever willfully and knowingly operates, owns, or causes to be operated on any public highway, road, street, or public right-of-way a motor vehicle so...
• Section 32-5-77 Driving on extreme left side of highway restricted; notice to Director of Transportation to erect markers
  (a) Any law to the contrary notwithstanding, the Director of the Department of Public Safety is hereby authorized to restrict driving in the extreme left...
• Section 32-5-78 Operation of dump truck on highway, road, or street with bed raised over a 20-degree angle
  (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings: (1) DUMP TRUCK. A motor vehicle which has a bed...
• Article 4 Speed Limits.
• Section 32-5-92 Special speed limitations on bridges
  (a) The Department of Transportation or other proper state body upon request from any local authorities shall, or upon its own initiative may, conduct an...
• Section 32-5-93 Speed limit between working signs
  No driver of a motor vehicle upon any highway of the state shall drive such vehicle at a speed in excess of 15 miles per...
• Section 32-5-97 Notation of conviction on driver's license
  When any person is convicted by any judge for violation of the provisions of Section 32-5-90, the judge trying the case shall note on the...
• Article 5 Right-of-Way.
• Section 32-5-113 Duty of driver on approach of authorized emergency vehicles
  (a) Upon the immediate approach of an authorized emergency vehicle equipped with at least one lighted lamp and audible signal as is required by law,...
• Article 6 Overtaking and Passing.
• Article 7 Stopping, Standing, and Parking.
• Section 32-5-152 Parking in violation of municipal ordinances; presumption as to person committing violation
  No person shall park, cause to be parked, or knowingly permit an automobile or other motor vehicle which he or she owns to be parked,...
• Section 32-5-152.1 Owner not liable for violation where vehicle leased to another; notice requirement; owner's liability upon failure to maintain vehicle
  (a) The owner of any motor vehicle leased to another shall not be liable for a state, county, or municipal traffic or parking violation occurring...
• Article 8 Driving Under Influence of Intoxicating Liquor or Narcotic Drugs.
• Division 1 General Provisions.
• Section 32-5-171 Arrest without warrant; issuance of traffic citation
  (a) A law enforcement officer as defined in Section 36-21-40, may arrest, at the scene of a traffic accident, any driver of a vehicle involved...
• Division 2 Chemical Tests for Intoxication.
• Section 32-5-190 Short title
  This division may be cited as the Alabama Chemical Test for Intoxication Act.
• Section 32-5-191 "Driving privilege" or "privilege" defined
  Whenever and wherever the words "driving privilege" or "privilege" appear in this division, they shall mean both the driver license of those licensed in Alabama,...
• Section 32-5-192 Implied consent; when tests administered; suspension of license or permit to drive, etc., for refusal to submit to test
  (a) Any person who operates a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state shall be deemed to have given his consent, subject to...
• Section 32-5-194 Which law enforcement officers may be authorized to make tests
  The State Board of Health shall not approve the permit required in this division for making tests for any law enforcement officer other than a...
• Division 3 Consent to Chemical Testing for Accidents Involving Death or Serious Injury.
• Section 32-5-200 Consent to blood test; definitions; incapacity; refusal to submit to test; notice of suspension, etc., of license; hearing; appeal
  (a) Any person who operates a motor vehicle on the public highways of this state who is involved in an accident that results in death...
• Article 9 Equipment.
• Division 1 General Provisions.
• Section 32-5-210 Restrictions as to tire equipment
  (a) Every motor carrier, motor vehicle, truck, semitrailer, and trailer shall be equipped with pneumatic tires of sufficient traction surface in accordance with the capacity...
• Section 32-5-211 Flag or light at end of load
  Whenever the load of any vehicle shall extend more than four feet beyond the rear of the bed or body of the vehicle, there shall...
• Section 32-5-212 Brakes
  Every motor vehicle when operated upon a highway shall be equipped with brakes adequate to control the movement of and to stop and to hold...
• Section 32-5-213 Horns and warning devices
  (a) Every motor vehicle when operated upon a highway shall be equipped with a horn in good working order capable of emitting a sound audible...
• Section 32-5-214 Mirrors
  Every motor vehicle, operated singly or when towing any other vehicle, shall be equipped with a mirror so located as to reflect to the driver...
• Section 32-5-215 Windshields must be unobstructed; windshield wipers; tinting
  (a) No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any sign, poster, or other nontransparent material upon the front windshield, sidewings, or side or rear...
• Section 32-5-216 Mufflers; prevention of noise, smoke, etc
  (a) Every motor vehicle shall at all times be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or...
• Section 32-5-217 Safety belts
  (a) No seat safety belt or anchor shall be sold or installed for use in connection with the operation of a motor vehicle on any...
• Section 32-5-218 Safety glazing material in motor vehicles
  (a) On and after January 1, 1968, no person shall sell any new motor vehicle as specified herein, nor shall any new motor vehicle as...
• Section 32-5-219 Location of television viewers
  No television viewer, screen, or other means of visually receiving a television broadcast shall be located in a motor vehicle at any point forward of...
• Section 32-5-220 Flares or other warning devices - Carrying required by certain vehicles; specifications
  (a) No person shall operate any truck, passenger bus, or truck tractor upon any highway outside the corporate limits of municipalities at any time from...
• Section 32-5-221 Flares or other warning devices - Display
  (a) Whenever any truck, passenger bus, truck tractor, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer is disabled upon the traveled portion of any highway or the shoulder...
• Section 32-5-222 Requirements for child passenger restraints
  (a) Every person transporting a child in a motor vehicle operated on the roadways, streets, or highways of this state, shall provide for the protection...
• Division 2 Lights, Lamps and Reflective Devices.
• Section 32-5-240 Required lighting equipment and illuminating devices of vehicles
  (a) When lighted headlamps required. (1) Every vehicle upon a highway within this state, except a parked vehicle, which shall be subject to Section 32-5-244,...
• Section 32-5-241 Additional permissible lights on vehicles
  (a) Spot lamps and auxiliary lamps. (1) SPOT LAMPS. Any motor vehicle may be equipped with not to exceed one spot lamp and every lighted...
• Section 32-5-242 Requirements as to head lamps and auxiliary driving lamps
  (a) Visibility distance and mounted height of lamps. (1) Whenever requirement is hereinafter declared as to the distance from which certain lamps and devices shall...
• Section 32-5-243 Lighting equipment and warning devices for vehicles engaged in mail service
  Any vehicle in active service transporting United States mail may display two simultaneously flashing lights to be used for the purpose of warning other vehicle...
• Section 32-5-244 Lights on parked vehicles
  (a) Whenever a vehicle is lawfully parked upon a street or highway during the hours between a half hour after sunset and a half hour...
• Section 32-5-245 Reflectors or similar warning devices on horse-drawn wagons and other vehicles
  It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a horse-drawn wagon, buggy, carriage, or other vehicle upon any public highway, road, or street between...
• Section 32-5-246 Reflective devices for slow-moving vehicles - Required; design
  When operated, propelled, driven, towed, pushed, or otherwise moving over, along, or across any highway in this state, every vehicle which has a maximum potential...
• Section 32-5-247 Reflective devices for slow-moving vehicles - Mounting
  The device shall be mounted on the rear of the vehicle, implement, or mobile equipment broad base down, not less than three feet nor more...
• Section 32-5-248 Reflective devices for slow-moving vehicles - Restrictions on use
  The use of such device is restricted to use on slow-moving vehicles specified in Sections 32-5-246 through 32-5-251 and the use of such reflective device...
• Section 32-5-249 Reflective devices for slow-moving vehicles - Bicycles or ridden animals
  The provisions of Sections 32-5-246 through 32-5-251 shall not apply to bicycles or to ridden animals.
• Section 32-5-250 Reflective devices for slow-moving vehicles - Other provisions not repealed, etc
  Nothing in Sections 32-5-246 through 32-5-251 shall repeal or amend any other provision of the laws of Alabama governing lights or reflectors required to be...
• Section 32-5-251 Reflective devices for slow-moving vehicles - Violations
  Any person violating any provisions of Sections 32-5-246 through 32-5-251 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction be punished by a fine...
• Section 32-5-252 Approval of lighting devices; prohibited lamps and devices; regulations; lists of approved devices to be published
  (a) No person shall have for sale, or offer for sale for use upon or as a part of the equipment of a motor vehicle,...
• Section 32-5-253 Enforcement of provisions
  When the director has reason to believe that an approved lighting device being sold commercially does not comply with the requirements of this division, he...
• Article 10 Pedestrians.
• Article 11 Bicycles.
• Article 12 Violations; Penalties.
• Section 32-5-310 Enforcement of chapter; arrest procedure; bail bond
  Any peace officer, including state troopers, sheriffs and their deputies, constables and their deputies, police officers and marshals of cities or incorporated towns, county police...
• Section 32-5-312 Penalties for violations of certain sections
  Any person who violates Sections 32-5-55 through 32-5-59, 32-5-62, 32-5-63, 32-5-112 through 32-5-114, 32-5-130 through 32-5-133 and 32-5-150 through 32-5-153, or any part or parts...
• Section 32-5-313 Disposition of funds
  All moneys collected pursuant to Section 12-14-14 and Section 12-19-1, et seq., for disbursement to the State Drivers' Fund shall be forwarded by the officer...
• Section 32-5-316 Courts may prohibit operation of motor vehicles by persons convicted of violation of automobile laws
  Whenever a defendant is convicted by any court of competent jurisdiction of operating a motor vehicle in violation of any criminal statute or ordinance, the...

Last modified: May 3, 2021