Dear Mahatma: Is it legal for passengers to be in a travel trailer while moving? Much more comfortable than cramped up in a vehicle. — George
Dear George: There are short answers and long answers. Here at the Traffic Desk, we like to give both to enhance the value of a subscription.
The short answer is found in Arkansas Code Annotated 27-35-111, “Trailers and towed vehicles.” In the very last line it says “No person shall occupy any house trailer while it is being moved upon the highway.”
Naturally, inquisitive minds will ask, and have asked, related questions, which we are fixing to answer.
What about riding in the back of a pickup?
Arkansas Code Annotated 27-35-104, “Riding in spaces not for passengers,” says negative. “No person shall ride on any vehicle upon any portion of the vehicle not designed or intended for the use of passengers.” Is the bed of a pickup designed for passengers? No. It is designed for mulch.
How about a boat? Can a passenger ride in a boat that’s being pulled by another vehicle?
No, dadgum it. A boat is not designed for highway passengers. It’s designed for people to go to lakes and spend hours not catching fish.
Dear Mahatma: Every day I drive under the new overpass on Interstate 40 in Conway between Exit 129 and Exit 127. On the east-facing abutments there are two Arkansas logos, one high and one low. They are cattywampus. Does the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department approve of cattywampus? — Greenbrier Commuter
Dear Green: Working for the Highway Department is like working for a newspaper — it’s always some complaint.
Our duty is to ask. And we did ask the long-suffering David Nilles, a spokesman for the agency. He agreed the logos are on different levels. But the logos are perfectly centered inside their respective patterns of squares. He also said the wall is long, and it’s not as if the logos are next to each other.
He didn’t say this, but we will: Come on, man.
Dear Mahatma: Here is a notice from the Office of Motor Vehicles about a change in the decals for our license plates. Has The Mahatma reported this change? — Horse Person
Dear Person: The notice tells drivers they get only one tag. It goes on the right, and has the month and year of expiration. The left tag? A blank decal is provided for affixation.
The Mahatma is woefully behind on this. Whenever we get woefully behind, we ask Roger Duren, administrator of the Office of Motor Vehicles, for an explanation.
Duren said the month decals were becoming faded and difficult to read. They needed to be replaced. (There are something like 2 million registered vehicles in Arkansas. That’s a lot of decals.)
Turns out other states now use the single decal. Use of the single decal began in March 2015. Since then, the size of the numbers on the single decal have been made bigger.
Mahatma@arkansasonline.com