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Ark. Code Ann. § 27-36-215

Tail lamps and reflectors

Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Burris v. State (1997)

Most recently applied in Dana Harrison v. Brodie Faughn (June 2022)

Acts 1937, No. 300, § 106; Pope's Dig., § 6763; Acts 1959, No. 307, § 43; A.S.A. 1947, § 75-704; Acts 1997, No. 125, § 1.

How often courts cite this section

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citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer, and any other vehicle which is being drawn at the end of a train of vehicles, shall be equipped with at least one (1) tail lamp mounted on the rear, which, when lighted as required, shall emit a red light plainly visible from a distance of five hundred feet (500') to the rear.

(2) In the case of a train of vehicles, only the tail lamp on the rearmost vehicle need actually be seen from the distance specified.

(3) Every mentioned vehicle, other than a truck tractor, registered in this state and manufactured or assembled after June 11, 1959, shall be equipped with at least two (2) tail lamps mounted on the rear, on the same level and as widely spaced laterally as practicable, which, when lighted as required, shall comply with the provisions of this section.

(4) Every tail lamp upon every vehicle shall be located at a height of not more than seventy-two inches (72") nor less than twenty inches (20").

(5) Either a tail lamp or a separate lamp shall be so constructed and placed as to illuminate with a white light the rear registration plate and render it clearly legible for a distance of fifty feet (50') to the rear.

(6) It shall be a violation of this subsection for any other color of light to be displayed around the registration plate or for white light to be excesssively used so as to render the registration plate illegible from a distance of less than fifty feet (50').

(7) Any tail lamp or tail lamps, together with any separate lamp for illuminating the rear registration plate, shall be so wired as to be lighted whenever the headlamps or auxiliary driving lamps are lighted.

(8) Every new motor vehicle sold and operated upon a highway, other than a truck tractor, shall carry on the rear, either as a part of the tail lamps or separately, two (2) red reflectors.

(9) Every motorcycle and every motor-driven cycle shall carry at least one (1) reflector, meeting the requirements of this section.

(10) Vehicles of the type mentioned in § 27-36-219 shall be equipped with reflectors as required in those sections applicable thereto.

(11) Every reflector shall be mounted on the vehicle at a height not less than twenty inches (20") nor more than sixty inches (60") measured as set forth in § 27-36-204 and shall be of such size and characteristics and so mounted as to be visible at night from all distances within three hundred fifty feet (350') to one hundred feet (100') from the vehicle when directly in front of lawful upper beams of headlamps.

(12) Visibility from a greater distance will be required of reflectors on certain types of vehicles.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.