Even on the Federal Highway System, the Rules of The Road vary from state to state. Here we’ve collected and commented on some of the more arcane and unusual traffic laws you may want to remember if you live in, or travel in the United States. Read up! Ignorance of the law is no excuse, and if you break the law, you may have to take traffic school to dismiss the ticket.
Alabama – It’s illegal to drive a car while blindfolded.
Alaska – No driving with a dog tethered to your car.
Arizona – It’s against the law to drive a car in reverse on a public road.
Arkansas – in Little Rock it’s against the law to honk your car horn anywhere that serves cold drinks or sandwiches after 9 p.m.
California – In Glendale, it’s illegal to jump from a car going over 65 mph.
Colorado – It’s illegal to drive a black car on a Sunday in Denver.
Connecticut – it’s illegal to hunt from a car.
Delaware – “R” rated movies shall not be shown at drive-in theaters.
Florida – It is illegal to skateboard without a license.
Georgia – There’s no driving through playgrounds in Georgia.
Hawaii – It’s against the law for a vehicle in motion to use its hazard lights. People might think it’s a Luau.
Idaho – it’s forbidden for Senior Citizens over the age of 88 must lose all sense of balance, them to ride a motorcycle in Idaho Falls.
Illinois – It’s illegal to drive a car without a steering wheel. And, of course, impossible.
Indiana – It’s against the law to sell cars on Sundays. Try Maine.
Iowa – No vehicle may sell ice cream in Indianola, Iowa.
Kansas – No tire screeching in Derby, Kansas.
Kentucky – It’s illegal for your pet to molest a vehicle in Fort Thomas.
Louisiana – A woman’s husband is required by law to walk in front of the car waving a flag as she drives it.
Maine – It’s illegal to buy a car on a Sunday. Better move to Indiana.
Maryland – It’s a misdemeanor to swear from a vehicle while driving through Rockville.
Massachusetts – You cannot drive with a gorilla in your backseat. In the front seat is okay with the seat belt buckled.
Michigan – It’s against the law to sit in the middle of the street and read a newspaper. But in Detroit you may lie there and be covered by one.
Minnesota – You can be charged as a public nuisance if your truck leaves mud, dirt or sticky substances on the road in Minnetonka.
Mississippi – In Oxford, it’s illegal to honk your horn, even though it is an additional means of communication included in the price of your car.
Missouri – You can’t honk someone else’s car horn in University City, Missouri.
Montana – You can’t drive a herd of livestock numbering more than 10 on an interstate highway unless the herd is preceded and followed by flagmen.
Nebraska – By law, drivers on mountains should drive with caution near the right edge of the highway. Surprisingly, Bighorn Mountain rises to 4,731 feet.
Nevada – Even though it’s the desert, t’s illegal to ride a camel on the highway.
New Hampshire – It’s against the law to inhale bus fumes with the intent of inducing euphoria. If you want to kill yourself, that’s covered under a different law.
New Jersey – If you have been convicted of DUI, you can never apply for personalized license plates.
New Mexico – It may or may not be kidnapping, but it is illegal for cab drivers to reach out and pull potential customers into their taxis.
New York – It’s against the law to disrobe in your car in the beach town of Sag Harbor, Long Island.
North Carolina – In Dunn, North Carolina it’s illegal to play in traffic.
North Dakota – it’s illegal to lie down and fall asleep with your shoes on.
Ohio – It’s illegal to run out of gas in Youngstown.
Oklahoma –Cars must be tethered outside of public buildings. No guidance on to what.
Oregon – It is illegal to place a container filled with human fecal matter on the side of any highway. No containers!
Pennsylvania –Any motorist who sights a team of horses coming toward him must pull well off the road, cover his car with a blanket or canvas that blends with the countryside, and let the horses pass.
Rhode Island – One must make a loud noise before passing a car on the left. Preferably with your vehicle’s horn.
South Carolina – When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft. from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic.
South Dakota – No horses are allowed into Fountain Inn unless they are wearing pants.
Tennessee – It’s illegal to shoot game from a moving vehicle. But hitting it with your car is legal, and can be delicious.
Texas – You must have windshield wipers to register a car.
Utah – By law, birds have the right of way on all highways. Luckily, they don’t usually exercise it.
Vermont – It’s illegal for cars to backfire in Rutland.
Virginia – Radar detectors are illegal.
Washington – A motorist with criminal intentions must stop at the city limits and telephone the chief of police as he is entering the town.
West Virginia – It’s legal to eat road kill. No info on whether you can shoot it from your car.
Wisconsin – One may not camp in a wagon on any public highway.
Wyoming – If you open a gate over a road, river, stream or ditch, you’d must close it behind you.
The
Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services had a sneaking suspicion that at least some of the state issued driver’s licenses they had been handing out the past few years were frauds. So they embarked on an effort to find and remove the fakes. They used federally issued facial recognition software and hands-on manual labor to search through all the photos–all 11 million photos-and discovered about 24,000 were possible fakes. Of those they have already identified 10,000 which they are certain are fakes.
These licenses were immediately canceled.
Minnesota is just the first of what is expected to be numerous states which will be culling their records for fraudulent licenses. With a fake driver’s license a criminal could obtain a mortgage, any sort of bank loan; or even a passport. A U.S. issued driver’s license is an easy way to obtain all sorts of fraudulent records. For someone looking to do something bad, a fraudulent Minnesota driver’s license is the first step.
Of these 24,000 driver’s licenses, about 10,000 have been canceled. Beyond that, not much else has been done. Not a single name has been given yet to the Department of Human Services to check for welfare or food stamp fraud, and no names have been given or the Secretary of State to check against the voter rolls.
And what about criminal prosecution? Well, that is a very good question.
“All I can say we’ve referred 5,500 cases to an agency who can take any action necessary,” Neville said.
But the state won’t say which law enforcement agency, and the FOX 9 Investigators could only find a handful of prosecutions.
Those include people like Edward Sistrunk, aka Antonio Andolini, convicted last month for mail fraud and identity theft. He had state ID cards and Minnesota driver’s licenses under at least nine different names.
Under one identity alone he got 10,381 in benefits from Hennepin County Human Services and another $1,190 in housing assistance from Anoka County. He used those real IDs to get credit cards, counterfeit checks, and even other IDs in South Dakota.
So with 23,000 potential fraudulent IDs, shouldn’t we know who’s job it is to hold accountable? Neville said that’s law enforcement’s job, but law enforcement doesn’t give anyone to call up.
This has little to do with
defensive driving, unless you happen to be in a war zone, but apparently a new company in Minnesota is allowing some drivers to get behind the controls of an actual tank.
A business named Drive-a-Tank offers drivers the chance to pilot surplus military tanks and other armored vehicles around an old limestone quarry and smash junk cars like an action movie hero.
The ride is loud, grinding, hot and dirty — ideal for satisfying one’s inner Rambo.
“It was awesome. I mean, controlling that machine, it’s incredible,” said Jacob Ostling, 19, of New Canaan, Conn., among the customers who took a turn under the turret on a recent Saturday and flattened a car in an explosion of glass.
Owner Tony Borglum, a construction and heavy equipment contractor, opened the tank park three years ago after seeing similar attractions during a visit to England. He said he knew it would fit nicely into American culture — a more visceral version of what millions of guys are doing in video games anyway.
It is hardly a stretch to imagine just what some motorists are thinking when they sit behind the controls of a 40 ton piece of steel with actual firepower (which is not functional, by the way) and starts thinking about their morning commute. They likely envision themselves crushing every car stopped in front of them, rushing on their to work; destroying police cars which attempt to block their way as they head to the video store or home from the bar.
Perhaps given the opportunity to control a tank some drivers will also think better about how they drive themselves around the city. After all, next time it will be someone else’s turn to drive the tank.
Not everyone lives on the coast, close to the beach. In fact, some folks have to drive miles for a quick dip in a cool body of water. Like the folks who live in
Minnesota.
You might think people in Minnesota are still thawing out from winter, but in reality they are all thawed and ready to have some fun. The state expects millions of drivers to hit the road for Memorial Day weekend, just like every other state in the union. Unlike many other states, however, Minnesota drivers will likely need to drive further to get where they are going, so the state wants to remind them to buckle up and drive safe.
Police in every state are participating in a nation wide ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign and Minnesota is no exception. Police will be conducting extra patrols to check for seat belt use and make certain drivers are being safe, avoiding speeding and aggressive driving and of course, not driving while under the influence of alcohol.
On April 19 Minnesota police conducted a state wide distracted driving campaign and issued more than 95 citations for violating state law. Police also conducted more than 2,225 traffic stops that one day, all of which as a result of the increased patrols.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety expects there to be just 365 traffic related fatalities this year, marking the second consecutive year of annual traffic fatalities below 400. That’s a record in the last 68 years. However, that still means one person is likely to die every single day of the year. If it is someone you know or love that statistics matters a whole lot more.
In Minnesota this weekend, drivers should be ready to go early, well stocked for their road trip, and prepared to drive safely. Then again, so should everyone planning to anywhere by car no matter where they live. Defensive driving is just common sense after all.
Four years before the National Transportation Safety Board released a report claiming that fatalities caused by
distracted driving now outnumber the fatalities caused by drunk driving, Minnesota lawmakers recognized the threat and passed a paw banning the use of handheld devices by drivers.
Since that time, however, Minnesota police officers have struggled to enforce the law. This is because the Minnesota law allows driving to talk or dial their cell phones, but not text or send emails. In other words, a police officer either has to actually witness the driver breaking the law (by seeing him send a text) or just take the drivers word for it.
Last year, just 1,300 texting tickets were issued in Minnesota, a fraction compared to the nearly 202,000 issued for speeding and more than 30,000 for drunken driving. Police know there are more drivers violating the law but they have trouble catching them in the act because of the limitations of the law and what it bans, or doesn’t ban.
Minnesota’s texting law specifically prohibits drivers from using a “wireless communications device” to compose, read or send electronic messages — including texts, e-mails, Web pages and other similar data — while a vehicle is part of traffic, which includes being stopped at a light.
Drivers may talk on their phones, however, and dial them. The law also contains exceptions for “hands-free” communications, emergency situations and emergency vehicles.
Minnesota police have repeatedly conducted statewide distracted driving enforcement patrols, focusing on those drivers they can find who are violating the statewide ban, but they have the same trouble identifying guilty drivers during those campaigns as they do during regular hours, so the efforts are more for show than actual enforcement.
Despite the problems with the Minnesota distracted driving ban, police there say they are in favor of limiting the use of handheld devices by drivers, regards of how difficult it might be to enforce the ban.
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