§385. Farm vehicles and equipment; exemptions

A.(1)(a) Farm and agricultural vehicles and equipment, except draglines and bulldozers, being operated or transported for bona fide agricultural purposes or the transportation of farm vehicles and equipment to be used for normal farm purposes by persons transporting such farm equipment or machinery, for distances not to exceed fifty miles from the point of origin, and fertilizer tending units shall be exempt from the requirements of R.S. 32:380 through 382 and, additionally, farm equipment shall be exempt from the requirements of R.S. 32:384.

(b) Trailers and semi-trailers with a gross vehicle weight rating of not more than twelve thousand pounds, when owned and used by a retail business in this state and designed and used exclusively for the purposes of pick-up or delivery of new, used, or repaired farm equipment for distances not to exceed fifty miles from the point of origin, shall be exempt from the requirements of R.S. 32:380.

(2) Vehicles being operated to transport timber cutting or logging equipment from one job site to another and the equipment being transported, when the trailer upon which the equipment is towed and the equipment are owned or leased by the same person, shall be exempt from the requirements of R.S. 32:380, 381, and 382.

(3) Such farm vehicles and vehicles transporting cutting or logging equipment may use any public highways other than those designated as part of the national system of interstate and defense highways during the period from sunrise until sunset without obtaining a special permit from the secretary, as provided in R.S. 32:387, or from any other agency or department of the state or political subdivisions, provided that such machinery or equipment being shipped by persons to be used for normal farm purposes shall be equipped with front and rear reflector lights and with a blinking hazard light clearly visible from the front and rear.

B. The provisions of R.S. 32:380, 381, and 382, relative to limitations on the width, height, and length of motor vehicles shall not apply to trucks which transport seed cotton modules or cotton from the field to the gin, or cotton seed from the gin to the mill, if the owner or operators of such trucks obtain an annual permit to be issued by the secretary for an annual fee of five dollars, according to rules and regulations to be promulgated by the secretary.

NOTE: Subsection C eff. upon exemption notification from federal Dept. of Transportation. See Acts 1991, No. 445.

C. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, Part 393.86 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and state law as they pertain to the requirements of bumpers or devices serving similar purposes shall not apply to any vehicle transporting seed cotton modules if such vehicle was manufactured prior to September 1, 1991.

Acts 1991, No. 306, §1; Acts 1991, No. 307, §1; Acts 1991, No. 445, §1; Acts 1997, No. 113, §1; Acts 1999, No. 786, §1; Acts 2018, No. 223, §1.