SECOND REGULAR SESSION
[P E R F E C T E D]
SENATE BILL NO. 894
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR GOODE.
Pre-filed December 1, 2003, and ordered printed.
Read 2nd time January 15, 2004, and referred to the Committee on Transportation.
Reported from the Committee February 23, 2004, with recommendation that the bill do pass and be placed on the Consent Calendar.
Taken up March 17, 2004. Read 3rd time and placed upon its final passage; bill passed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
3048S.01P
AN ACT
To repeal section 307.172, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to maximum bumper heights for motor vehicles, with penalty provisions.
Section A. Section 307.172, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 307.172, to read as follows:
307.172. 1. No person shall operate any passenger motor vehicle upon the public streets or highways of this state, the body of which has been altered in such a manner that the front or rear of the vehicle is raised at such an angle as to obstruct the vision of the operator of the street or highway in front or to the rear of the vehicle.
2. Every motor vehicle which is licensed in this state and operated upon the public streets or highways of this state shall be equipped with front and rear bumpers if such vehicle was equipped with bumpers as standard equipment. This subsection shall not apply to motor vehicles designed or modified primarily for off-highway purposes while such vehicles are in tow or to motorcycles or motor driven cycles, or to motor vehicles registered as historic motor vehicles when the original design of such vehicles did not include bumpers nor shall the provisions of this subsection prohibit the use of drop bumpers. The superintendent of the Missouri state highway patrol shall adopt rules and regulations relating to bumper standards. Maximum bumper heights of both the front and rear bumpers
of motor vehicles shall be determined by weight category of gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) measured from a level surface to the highest point of the bottom the bumper when the vehicle is unloaded and the tires are inflated to the manufacturer's recommended pressure. Maximum bumper heights are as follows:
Maximum front Maximum rear
bumper height bumper height
Motor vehicles except
commercial motor
vehicles ................................................ 22 inches 22 inches
commercial motor
vehicles (GVWR)
4,500 lbs and under ........................... 24 inches 26 inches
4,501 lbs through
7,500 lbs .......................................... 27 inches 29 inches
7,501 lbs through
9,000 lbs .......................................... 28 inches 30 inches
9001 lbs through
11,500 lbs ..................................... 29 inches 31 inches
3. A motor vehicle in violation of this section shall not be approved during any motor vehicle safety inspection required pursuant to sections 307.350 to 307.390.
4. Any person knowingly violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a class C misdemeanor.