Posted on 07/31/2009 6:38:01 PM PDT by Brian_Baldwin
It is illegal to ride in the trunk of the car. It is also illegal to ride in the trunk while under the influence of alcohol. This also applies to being under the influence of other toxins and riding in the trunk. If you are found to have been riding in the trunk while under the influence, the penalties for riding in the trunk while under the influence increase the violation of riding in the trunk. It is illegal to drive a car with a live deer in the trunk. If you hit a deer while driving your car, and then throw the dead deer in your trunk to possess the hide or head, you must contact a game warden upon arrival to destination to report which county the deer was in and to get a permit to possess a hide or head of a deer. The permit will be mailed to you upon any required payments or fees made. These same laws pertain if you were driving a van and transporting a deer which is a victim of road kill for one’s personal possession, or if the road kill is a raccoon, except the claim can be inclusive of not only hide or head but also tail. If you plan to eat the deer or raccoon, you will need to have the game warden come to the scene and tag the road kill as for consumption. It is illegal to throw a dead deer or raccoon into your trunk without onsite tagging if you intend to eat the meat of the animal. If you hit a deer and do not intend to throw the deceased animal into your trunk for such purposes, you must remove the dead animal from road obstruction if the carcass posses a safety hazard. However, if you are injured or handicapped such that this is not possible, you need to contact 911 immediately or report the incident as soon as possible to authorities. When moving a heavy animal from the road, you must obey all traffic and safety laws, and be aware of any oncoming traffic that may cause you bodily injury. If you park in a handicap zone while doing so, you must display your handicap tag or have a license plate with the handicap icon. If you hit an endangered species, you are required by law to transport the species to your destination and contact a game warden, in which case you may use the trunk of your automobile. If you are pulled over by a police officer and found to possess a deceased endangered species in your trunk, evidence needs to indicate that the species is road kill and that the intention is to contact a game warden. If you foresee that this could happen (the three “P” rules for all drivers, “Perceive, Predict, and Perform”), it is recommended that you carry the phone number of your game warden in your possession while driving a vehicle.
If you shoot the deer while hunting with a valid hunting license, then you may throw the dead deer in your trunk. But a deer bag in which the dead deer is placed may be legally required because it is illegal to allow deer blood to drain onto the public roadways.
The above rules vary in the States of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana and in certain counties where there are no restrictions regarding deceased animals in a vehicle trunk unless Federal laws apply, or various health and food restrictions are applicable and associated fees have been collected, or the deceased animal is on the endangered species list, or is being used to transport other animals of such category in the belly of the non-endangered species. Endangered plants or insects can be in the belly of a deceased animal if the animal had eaten the plant or insect, but the belly may not be opened and such endangered plant or insect is intentionally placed therein. In general, any kill or carcass has similar laws and restrictions regarding the proper use of a vehicle trunk, however no live animal should be placed into a standard trunk as these is deemed cruelty to animals. This does not include goldfish, but does include dolphins. Special purpose, climate controlled trunks are allowed, but you must possess a permit when crossing state lines.
If you are transporting anything in your trunk, and an emergency vehicle is coming down the road in either direction in which you are travelling, you must pull your vehicle over to the side and yield the right-of-way. You must also open your trunk if anything in the trunk is loudly banging to get out, and you should yield the right-of-way to all other approaching vehicles in such circumstances.
It is illegal to leave dead animals in your trunk for more than seven days unless you live in Alaska.
Caribou are considered deer. It is legal to transport up to 250 pounds of caribou antlers in your trunk. Excess of 250 pounds requires a trunk bed to be used or a trailer. However, you must possess a valid driver license to do so. If you are driving uphill on a one-way road with a trunk full of caribou antlers, and another vehicle is coming downhill on the same road, the law is unclear as to what to do in such a situation except that the vehicle coming down the same road is illegally driving in the wrong direction on a one way road but technically should yield the right of way by backing up the hill on a normal two way road. However, if this is a single lane road where vehicles are allowed in both directions, and you are driving downhill on the single lane road with a load of caribou antlers in your trunk and another vehicle is coming up the same road, the vehicle driving uphill has the right away and the vehicle driving downhill must backup the vehicle until the other can safely pass. Unless the vehicle driving downhill has over 250 pounds of caribou antlers in the trunk illegally and there are three more such vehicles behind which also have over 250 pounds of caribou antlers in the trunk, then the vehicle driving uphill pretty much is in a situation where libertarianism rules the day and back down hill unless there is ice or snow on the road. In some cases, the “conditions of the road” rule applies, and both parties need to exit their vehicles and unload all the caribou antlers from the trunk of either vehicle and place these antlers on the side of the road in a safe manner and which does not obstruct vehicle traffic, upon which the vehicle travelling downhill must then back uphill to yield the right of way.
Vehicles driving uphill with large number of caribou antlers in the trunk may be suspect to exceeding caribou kill limits. The same applies to vehicles driving downhill, except additional violations may occur if the braking system of the vehicle is found to be in poor condition. It is illegal to secure a trunk with rubber bands if the latching or locking mechanism of the truck is in disrepair or inoperative and you are transporting caribou antlers. This law does not apply in the State of Hawaii or the District of Columbia.
If you have a load of firecrackers in your trunk different rules apply. Consult with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for further information, and in particular “Trafficking Fireworks” publication 108.99 by J. Reno, 1994.
It is illegal to convert your trunk into the driver seat unless the vehicle is modified to drive in the other direction. It is illegal to convert your trunk into a child safety seat if the passenger compartment of the former trunk does not have two side and rear walls and a roof, and is still deemed a trunk by the DMV. You must contact the DMV to file special paperwork in such circumstances so that the trunk is no longer deemed a trunk. There may be fees associated with such documentation and processing or if the vehicle is registered as a school bus.
If you come upon a stopped school bus with flashing red lights, and the trunk of your vehicle pops open and a live person jumps out of the trunk riding a dirt bike, the dirt bike must stop. The vehicle must also stop. The school bus driver should call the police or 911. If anyone wearing an Osama bin Laden type turban jumps out of a trunk whether the vehicle is moving or not, and is running towards a government building, you should call 911.
It is rare for both headlights to fail simultaneously, but it can and does happen. Now suppose both headlights fail, but you insist on driving to the sports bar at night and suddenly you experience a stuck gas pedal. Just then your trunk pops open, and the bag containing $3,000 dollars in cash could fly out of the trunk. What do you do? - Do not turn off the ignition like your grand pa told you. Cars these days have anti-theft steering wheel locks operated by the ignition key and this would not be the time to activate it. Unless you are driving a 1962 Dodge or one of the new Obama Motor vehicles, you should shift to neutral. The engine will immediately overspeed and make a lot of noise. Of course, for some of you, the engine always makes a lot of noise. Don’t worry about that now. Think about the $3,000 dollars. Apply the brakes and keep steering. Keep your eyes on the road, try to drive the car off to the side of the road, rolling in neutral. Do not attempt to use the rear mirror to watch for that bag, because the trunk has popped open and you cannot see out the rear mirror. Use the side mirrors instead. Do not drive completely off the road, or you might hit a bump and that bag will fly out of the truck and maybe even bust open with bills blowing everywhere. Also, besides asking yourself at the time you go off road, “Do I have a valid license to drive?” you may have to consider if you are legally registered as an Off-Road Vehicle. And remember, driving is not a right, it is a privilege. And if you get caught in the situation described by the authorities, they may consider taking this privilege away from you. You can try to claim that you are just being picked on because you are a member of a minority. In which case, if you are one of those high-fluting uppity lawyers or professors or community activists and friend of Obama, the President of the United States may come out in public and make a statement on your behalf that the authorities in revoking your license acted “stupidly”, and that you are an “intelligent socially conscious victim” of such stupid people who tried to pick on you just because you are driving at night with no head lamps, a stuck gas pedal and a truck pop-open and $3,000 dollars in cash in a bag in that truck, then that would be like trying to break into your own house, or calling the mother of the police officer a obscene name and such. Keep rolling straight to the side of the road, steer straight. Watch that side mirror. There is one situation however, where it might be legal to ride in the trunk. If you are an undocumented immigrant and riding in the trunk, then you might only be detained and then released, but not fined or cited. On September 30, 2006, the Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 1850 that prohibits passengers from riding in the trunk of a moving car. Since the signing, over 21,000 undocumented workers have been found riding in the trunk of a moving car who were not fined nor cited, so it is unclear as to the letter of the law in this case. Many of these have been repeat “offenders” of the law which seems to not be enforced in some cases. Please contact the Governor of California for further clarification on the law in that State, however in general the Governor has stated “Public safety is my number one priority”.
The information provided should not be considered legal advice or exact to the letter of the law. But before the end of the Obama Administration, all citizens will probably have a clearer and much more regulated concept of proper vehicle trunk usage, including the transport of old batteries and used fluorescent light bulbs.
What if the deer in the trunk had been drinking?
Similar to the proposed health care bill?
(funny..the end, but more available)
Of course, back then, the trooper helped me reconnect the plug and re-tie the kid. I guess things are different today.
I did pay the ticket for 95 in a 55. Dollar a mile, back then, and more than I paid for the live goat meat.
/johnny
Tag the road kill for consumption. I knew a restaurant like that once...
My little brother once hit a deer at night. He stopped and threw it into the back of his van. Unfortunately, the deer was not dead, only stunned. It was the first and only time I ever saw a damaged windshield from a deer going through it from the inside.
Strums..
But he only brings you flowers...
Sounds like a country western song (lyrics)
Nolo contendre.
/johnny
Was near Weatherford, Texas.
Headed back to Johnson County.
Willie Nelson may have been on the 8-track
Or the Stater Brothers.
But you were on my mind.
Strums
But he only brings you flowers.
I think we just wrote a country song!!
Just don't have material like that in the Northeast.
Good night.
It was a hoot and hollar growing up in Texas. Something was ALWAYS going on.
/johnny
Good God, where did all that come from... :-)
I was so befuddled by this in my teens that I said “Screw it!” and bought a hatchback. True story. On the level. Honest!
Ain’t nothing but junk in my trunk :-)
Dear deer!
If you see one of them Obama Motors things coming at you, jus’ lower your head and confront the tin crapmobil. You will not sustain any damage, but peoplemobil will be crumbled and you can hang it over your tree.
Tsar Deersky
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