2023 Connecticut General Statutes › Title 14 - Motor Vehicles. Use of the Highway by Vehicles. Gasoline › Chapter 248 - Vehicle Highway Use › Section 14-283e. - Equipment of frozen dessert truck. Penalty.

(a) On and after May 1, 2022, each frozen dessert truck shall be equipped in the following manner:
(1) Signal lamps mounted at the same level and as high and as widely spaced laterally as practicable. The signal lamps shall be not less than five and not more than seven inches in diameter and shall display two alternately flashing red signal lights visible at a distance of not less than five hundred feet to the front and rear in normal sunlight upon a straight level highway.
(2) A stop signal arm that can be extended horizontally from the left side of the frozen dessert truck. When such arm is extended, the side of such arm nearest the truck shall be seven and one-quarter inches long and parallel to the side of the truck. The side farthest from the truck shall be eighteen inches long and parallel to the side nearest the truck. The two sides shall be eighteen inches apart creating a symmetrical, trapezoidal shape. Two alternately flashing red lights shall be located in the outside corners of the extended signal arm and such corners shall be rounded to conform with the shape of the lights. Each red light shall be not less than three and not more than five inches in diameter and visible at a distance of not less than three hundred feet to the front and rear in normal sunlight upon a straight level highway. Both sides of the signal arm shall have a red reflectorized background and the following legend: The word “STOP” shall appear in six-inch-high white letters not to exceed four inches in length in the middle of the signal arm; above the word “STOP”, the phrase “IF SAFE” shall appear in two-inch-high white letters not to exceed one and three-fourths inches in length; below the word “STOP”, the phrase “THEN GO” shall appear in two-inch-high white letters not to exceed one and three-fourths inches in length. The colors of the background and legend shall conform to the requirements set forth in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways published by the Federal Highway Administration, as amended from time to time. The bottom of the extended signal arm shall be approximately forty-two inches above the street.
(3) A convex mirror mounted on the front of the frozen dessert truck so the operator in a normal seating position is capable of seeing the area in front of the truck that is obscured by the hood.
(4) A front crossing arm attached to the front bumper of the frozen dessert truck hinged from the truck's right side. The bottom of the front crossing arm shall be not less than sixteen and not more than twenty inches above the street. The front crossing arm shall be made of any durable material covered with a yellow or white reflective material and shall extend in conjunction with the stop signal arm described in subdivision (2) of this subsection. When extended outward in front of the truck, the front crossing arm shall extend not less than four and not more than six feet parallel to the ground. When retracted against the front of the truck, the front crossing arm shall not extend past the width of the truck on the operator's left side.
(b) Any person who operates a frozen dessert truck without equipping such truck as required by subsection (a) of this section shall, for a first offense, be deemed to have committed an infraction, and for a subsequent offense, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars and not more than five hundred dollars.
(c) On and after September 1, 2021, and until April 30, 2022, a person operating a frozen dessert truck shall not stop or park the truck to vend to a child in any location where the child would be required to cross the highway to approach the frozen dessert truck. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply if (1) a child is physically escorted by an adult, or (2) a frozen dessert truck is equipped as required by subsection (a) of this section. Any person who operates a frozen dessert truck in violation of the provisions of this subsection shall have committed an infraction.
(P.A. 21-20, S. 3.)
History: P.A. 21-20 effective July 1, 2021.