Wyoming Administrative Code › Agency 045 - Transportation, Dept. of › Sub-Agency 0004 - Motor Carrier › Chapter 1 - Motor Carriers › Section 1-2 - Definitions

Current through July 13, 2024
(a) Definitions as set forth in
				W.S.
				31-18-101 shall apply insofar as all terms used in
				these rules and regulations are concerned. All terms used in these rules and
				regulations shall be construed as defined in Wyoming statutes and the rules and
				regulations of the Department. These definitions apply to
Wyoming Highway
				Patrol Policies and Procedures on Rotational Tow and Recovery Operations
				Manual
found in Appendix B of these rules and regulations, which contain
				additional definitions pertinent to that manual as well.
(b) "Department" means the Wyoming Department of
				Transportation (WYDOT).
(c) "Dispute
				resolution committee" means a committee serving as described in the
Wyoming
				Highway Patrol Policies and Procedures on Rotational Tow and Recovery Operations
				Manual
found in Appendix B of these rules and regulations.
(d) "Letter of authority" or "order" means a
				document issued under
				W.S.
				31-18-101,
et seq.
, by the
				Department, granting intrastate authority to a person to operate a motor vehicle as
				a motor carrier transporting persons or property.
(e) "Non-consensual tow" means a tow carrier's
				transporting of a vehicle
without
the vehicle's owner, possessor,
				agent, insurer, lien holder, or any other person legally possessing or responsible
				for the vehicle specially requesting or providing a preference for a specific tow
				carrier. This movement includes transporting or towing the vehicle under lawful
				circumstances or necessity for the public interest, including removal from roadways
				to preserve public safety and from public or private property after abandonment or
				unauthorized parking by the person legally possessing or responsible for the
				vehicle. Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP) rotational tows are considered non-consensual
				tows even when the vehicle owner or operator is present and consents to the
				non-consensual tow.
(f) "Person" means
				individuals, associations of individuals, firms, partnerships, companies,
				corporations, limited liability corporations, their lessees, trustees, or receivers,
				appointed by any court whatsoever in the singular number as well as the
				plural.
(g) "Recovery" means the
				winching, hoisting, up-righting, removing, or otherwise relocating of a vehicle when
				found in such a location, state, or position that it cannot be safely operated under
				its own power following the recovery process. If a vehicle is upright and on the
				roadway, towing or servicing it is not considered a recovery. Class "R" vehicles
				shall not perform recovery operations.
(h) "Tow" means pulling or hauling a vehicle with
				a tow and recovery vehicle to a place of safekeeping.
(i) "Tow and recovery vehicle" (also called a
				"wrecker," "recovery vehicle," or "tow truck") means a vehicle altered or designed
				and equipped for and primarily used to move disabled, improperly parked, impounded,
				or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. Towing may involve recovering a vehicle
				damaged in a crash, returning a vehicle to a drivable surface after a mishap or
				inclement weather, or towing or transporting a vehicle on a flatbed to a repair shop
				or another location.
(j) "Tow truck and
				recovery carrier" (also called a "tow carrier" or "tow and recovery service") means
				any person or entity engaged in the business of operating a wrecker, tow truck, or
				other vehicle equipped with a mechanical apparatus designed to hoist, pull, or move
				a vehicle that is wrecked, damaged, disabled, abandoned, or otherwise creating a
				safety hazard, and which meets all requirements of the local authorities in the
				respective jurisdiction and the requirements of the Department.
(k) "Winch out" means removing a vehicle from its
				position typically in a ditch or borrow pit or in mud, snow, water, or another
				substance that renders the vehicle inoperable. Following the winch out, the vehicle
				shall be safely drivable using its own power.