[Amended by Bill No. 81-32]
For the purposes of this chapter, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to
them by this section:
A street or highway intended to provide access to the rear
or side of lots or buildings in urban districts and not intended for
the purpose of through vehicular traffic.
Vehicles of the Police Department and other
city, county, state or federal law enforcement agencies.
Vehicles of duly constituted volunteer fire
companies, rescue squads and Fire Departments.
Ambulances.
Only the foregoing described emergency vehicles
which are designated or authorized by the State Department of Motor
Vehicles shall be entitled to the exemptions and privileges granted
elsewhere in this chapter.
Vehicles of municipal, county, state or federal departments
and public service companies and such vehicles of persons performing
governmental functions under a contract with any municipal, county,
state or federal government which are designated and authorized by
the State Department of Motor Vehicles as authorized service or escort
vehicles.
A vehicle propelled exclusively by human power,
having two (2) or three (3) wheels of which one (1) is more than fourteen
(14) inches in diameter, having a rear drive and with wheel configuration
as follows:
For the purposes of this chapter, a two- or
three-wheeled vehicle propelled exclusively by human power and not
defined as a "bicycle" herein shall be considered a "play vehicle."
Every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than ten (10)
passengers and used for the transportation of persons, and every motor
vehicle, other than a taxicab, designed and used for the transportation
of persons for compensation.
The territory contiguous to and including a highway when
fifty percent (50%) or more of the frontage thereon for a distance
of three hundred (300) feet or more is occupied by buildings in use
for business.[1]
Any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer designed or used
to carry freight or merchandise, having a gross vehicle weight over
ten thousand (10,000) pounds.
Any motor vehicle, semitrailer or trailer and tow trucks,
except taxicabs and school buses designed or used in the transportation
of passengers or property or towing of vehicles for hire, having a
gross vehicle weight over ten thousand (10,000) pounds. Nothing herein
shall be construed as including motor vehicles used by a registered
dealer for the purpose of towing disabled vehicles incidental to his
business.
A transverse roadway or opening which connects the separate
roadways of a divided highway at a point other than an intersection
of such divided highway with another highway.
A highway with separate roadways for traffic proceeding in
opposite directions, separated by an unpaved strip of land, a raised
median or other physical barrier.
Every person who drives or is in actual physical control
of a vehicle, including a person who is exercising control over steering
a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle.
A vehicle so designated or authorized by the administrator
of the State Motor Vehicle Administration.
Every motor vehicle designed and used primarily as a farm
implement for drawing plows, machines or other implements of husbandry.
Any volunteer or compensated fire company serving the county,
including those operated by the federal government or from out of
state.
A permanently open access roadway with all-weather driving
surface not less than 20 feet of unobstructed width, with adequate
road turning radius, capable of supporting the loads of fire apparatus,
having a minimum clearance of 13 feet 6 inches, and required for every
commercial, industrial, public or semi-public building.
[Amended by Bill No. 00-63]
The State Fire Marshal or any duly appointed County Fire
Marshal.
The State Fire Marshal, a Deputy State Fire Marshal or a
Chief of a Harford County volunteer fire company.
[Added by Bill No. 00-63]
The weight of a vehicle without load, plus the weight of
any load thereon.
The entire width between the boundary lines of every way
or throughfare of any kind used by the public for purposes of vehicular
travel, whether actually dedicated to the public and accepted by the
proper authorities or otherwise.
A trailer or semitrailer which is designed,
constructed and equipped as a dwelling place, living abode or sleeping
place, either permanently or temporarily, and for use as a conveyance
on streets and highways.
A trailer or semitrailer whose chassis and exterior
shell is designed and constructed for use as a "house trailer," as
defined above, but which is used instead, permanently or temporarily,
for the advertising, sales, display or promotion of merchandise or
services or for any other commercial purpose except the transportation
of property for hire or the transportation of property for distribution
by a private carrier.
The area embraced within the prolongation or
connection of the lateral curblines or, if none, the lateral boundary
lines of the roadways of two (2) highways which join one another at
or approximately at right angles or the area within which vehicles
traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle may come
in conflict.
Where a highway includes two (2) roadways thirty
(30) feet or more apart, every crossing of each roadway of the divided
highway by an intersecting highway shall be regarded as a separate
"intersection." If the intersecting highway also includes two (2)
roadways thirty (30) feet or more apart, every crossing of two (2)
roadways of such highway shall be regarded as a separate "intersection."
A vehicle which is self-propelled or propelled by electric
power obtained from overhead trolley wires but not operated upon rails.
A deputy sheriff, law enforcement officer or other person
who is authorized by Harford County, Maryland, to issue a citation
for violations of this chapter.
All signs, signals, markings and devices, not inconsistent
with this chapter, placed or erected by authority of a public body
or official having jurisdiction for the purpose of regulating.
Every person who drives or is in actual physical control
of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over
or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle.
A person having the property in or title to a vehicle. The
term includes a person entitled to the use and possession of a vehicle,
subject to a security interest in another person, but excludes a lessee
under a lease not intended as security.
The standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise
than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in
loading or unloading merchandise or passengers.
Any person afoot.
Every way or place in private ownership and used for vehicular
travel by the owner and those having express or implied permission
from the owner, but not by other persons.
Any street, highway, bicycle path or other facility or area
maintained by the county or an agency thereof for the use of bicycles.
A vehicular-type portable structure, which can be towed,
hauled or driven which is primarily designed as temporary living accommodations
for recreational, camping or travel use.
[Added by Bill No. 04-24]
Any parcel or area of land designated as a "residential district"
on the official Zoning Maps of Harford County.
That portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily
used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. If a
highway includes two (2) or more separate roadways, the term "roadway"
refers to any such roadway separately but not to all such roadways
collectively.
The use of any safe method by the proper authorities which
is calculated to remove the obstruction in the shortest period of
time, including but not limited to the use by the proper authorities
of wrecking equipment, tools, tow trucks and explosives.
The area or space officially set apart within a roadway for
the exclusive use of pedestrians and which is protected or is so marked
or indicated by adequate signs as to be plainly visible at all times
while set apart as a "safety zone."
TYPE I SCHOOL VEHICLE OR SCHOOL BUSA motor vehicle that is designed and constructed for the transportation of passengers, being of either the body-on-chassis or integral-type construction, used at any time for the exclusive transport of children, students or teachers for educational purposes or in connection with a school activity, having a seating capacity of sixteen (16) or more persons calculated on a basis of providing a minimum of fifteen (15) inches of seating space per person, registered in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and meeting the requirements of the administration for "Type I school vehicles." Buses operated by common carriers under the jurisdiction of a properly constituted regulatory agency or operated by the agency itself are not included in this definition.
TYPE II SCHOOL VEHICLEA motor vehicle that is designed and constructed or modified for the transportation of passengers, being of either the body-on-chassis or integral-type construction, used at any time in the exclusive transportation of children, students or teachers for educational purposes or in connection with a school activity, having a seating capacity of fifteen (15) or fewer persons calculated on a basis of providing a minimum of fifteen (15) inches of seating space per person, registered in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and meeting the requirements of the administration for a "Type II school vehicle."
Exemptions. Privately owned vehicles, when not
operating for compensation and carrying members of the owner's household,
are not included in the definition of a "school vehicle" as contained
in this section.
Educational purposes construed. For the purposes
of this chapter, the term "educational purposes" shall be given a
liberal interpretation and shall include but not be limited to those
activities of schools certified by the Board of Education, activities
of centers for the mentally retarded and physically handicapped, church
schools, Sunday schools and church-related activities, day-care centers,
day camps, summer camps or any activity that may be considered as
providing some educational experience for its participants.
That portion of a street between the curblines or the lateral
lines of a roadway and the adjacent property lines, intended for the
use of pedestrians.
The halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, other
than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in
receiving or discharging passengers.
The entire width between the boundary lines of every way
or thoroughfare of any kind used by the public for purposes of vehicular
travel, whether actually dedicated to the public and accepted by the
proper authorities or otherwise.
Any motor vehicle for hire, designed to carry seven (7) persons
or fewer, including the driver, operated upon any public street or
highway in the state, on call or demand, accepting or soliciting passengers
indiscriminately for transportation for hire between such points along
public streets or highways in the state as may be directed by the
passenger so being transported, provided that nothing in this chapter
shall be construed to include as a "taxicab" a motor vehicle operated
with the approval of the Public Service Commission on fixed routes
and schedules.
Pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars
and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using any
highway for purposes of travel.
Any device, whether manually, electrically or mechanically
operated, by which traffic is alternately directed to stop and permitted
to proceed.
Every vehicle without motive power designed for carrying
persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle.
[Amended by Bill No. 04-24]
Every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily
for the transportation of property.
Every motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing
other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than
a part of the weight of the vehicle and load so drawn.
Every device in, upon or by which any person or property
is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway.
[1]
Editor's Note: The former definition of "camping
trailer," which immediately followed, was repealed by Bill No. 04-24.
A.Â
No person, without lawful authority, shall willfully
deface, injure, move or interfere with any sign, standard, post, safety
zone, semaphore, tower, automatic signal or any other traffic device,
or any part thereof, erected by the authority of the Director of the
Department of Public Works or any directions, lines or marks painted
by the authority of such Director on any county road for the purpose
of directing traffic or parking vehicles.
B.Â
No person shall fail, neglect or refuse to comply
with any instructions or directions on any post, standard, sign or
other device erected by the authority of such Director for the regulation
of traffic or parking on any county road.
C.Â
No person shall violate any rule, order or direction
promulgated by such Director pursuant to Section 807 of the Charter.
D.Â
The Director of the Department of Public Works shall
have the full authority to erect traffic control devices consistent
with the authority granted to the county by the state.
A.Â
The Department of Public Works shall post signs and
signals at such places and for such times as it is reasonably necessary
to construct, alter, repair, clean by vehicular devices or protect
the public from dangerous conditions in any county road.
B.Â
No person shall park or drive a vehicle on any county
road in violation of a closed-road sign, no-parking sign or other
traffic sign or signal so posted by the Department of Public Works.
C.Â
A posted sign with the inscription "Posted by the
Department of Public Works" shall be prima facie evidence that such
sign was posted by the Department of Public Works and that it is reasonably
necessary.
D.Â
No person not authorized by the Director of the Department
of Public Works shall post or remove any sign with the inscription
"Posted by the Department of Public Works."
A.Â
Whenever there is declared a snow emergency by order
of the Director of the Department of Public Works, parking shall be
prohibited for all vehicles on designated snow emergency routes. Any
vehicle using the county roads shall be required to use snow tires,
snow chains or all-weather radial tires during such emergency. Any
person parking or driving a vehicle on the county roads without snow
tires, snow chains or all-weather radial tires during such snow emergency
period shall be in violation of this section.
B.Â
Such snow emergency shall be declared by announcement
over local county or Baltimore radio stations and such other public
notice, within the discretion of the Director, as it is practical
to give under the circumstances.
[Added by Bill No. 80-96]
A.Â
No person shall park a vehicle, unless for the use
of a handicapped individual, in any space or zone, public or private,
which has been marked as restricted for the use of handicapped individuals.
B.Â
If any vehicle operated for the use of a handicapped
individual is designated as such, it shall be either by an appropriate
sign or official symbol on its license plate or by the Maryland Department
of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration permit or other method
approved by the Motor Vehicle Administration.
C.Â
Any space or zone required to be reserved for vehicles
operated for use of the handicapped shall be so designated by a sign
erected on a post or the side of a building which is clearly visible
from the space or zone so designated.
D.Â
No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle in front
of a curb ramp designed for the use of individuals with disabilities.
[Added by Bill No. 99-58]