(a) No vehicle shall be driven or moved on any highway unless the vehicle is so constructed or loaded as to prevent any of its load from dropping, sifting, leaking, or otherwise escaping therefrom.
(b) Sand may be dropped for the purpose of securing traction, or water or other substance may be sprinkled on a roadway in cleaning or maintaining the roadway.
(c) For a motor vehicle or a trailer with an open bed manufactured after September 30, 2001, no sand, gravel, or rock shall be transported on the paved public streets and highways of this state in a motor vehicle or trailer with an open bed unless the open bed is securely covered with a material which will prevent the load from dropping, sifting, leaking, or otherwise escaping therefrom. The cover shall be securely fastened to prevent the covering from becoming loose, detached, or in any manner a hazard to other users of the highway.
(d) For a motor vehicle or a trailer with an open bed manufactured on or before September 30, 2001, a vehicle with an open bed transporting sand, gravel, or rock is required to be covered as prescribed in subsection (c) of this section unless six inches (6²) of freeboard is maintained at the perimeter of the load within the open bed of the vehicle or trailer carrying the load. Measurements are to be taken at the perimeter of the vehicle's or trailer's bed and measured from the top edge of the bed down to the sand, gravel, or rock being transported.
History. Acts 1937, No. 300, § 143; Pope's Dig., § 6803; A.S.A. 1947, § 75-805; Acts 1997, No. 425, § 1; 2001, No. 1706, § 1.
Amendments. The 2001 amendment substituted “For a motor no sand” for “No sand” in (c); and substituted “For a motor section unless” for “The covering of loads of sand, gravel, or rock is not required if” in (d).
Case Notes
It was error to instruct the jury that a violation of this section, although not necessarily negligence, was evidence of negligence, to be considered by the jury along with all the other facts and circumstances of the case, where the injury complained of was caused by oil leaking from a tank truck and rendering the highway slippery and the evidence was that the leaking was caused not by the manner in which the truck was constructed or loaded but by the opening of the unloading valve. CRT, Inc. v. Dunn, 248 Ark. 197, 451 S.W.2d 215 (1970).
Since devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks are excepted from the term “vehicle,” a pedestrian who slipped on a yellow substance similar to feed while he was walking along a state highway railroad crossing could not base an action against the railroad upon this section. Bowie v. Missouri P. R. Co., 262 Ark. 793, 561 S.W.2d 314 (1978).