Is a horse a motor vehicle?

[Big Don]

Sounds like a stupid question, does it?
Well, according to CA Vehicle code §670

A "vehicle" is a device by which any person or property may be propelled, moved, or drawn upon a highway, excepting a device moved exclusively by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.

I can ride a horse, thereby being moved upon a highway...
According to CA Vehicle code §415

a) A "motor vehicle" is a vehicle that is self-propelled.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course, but, it seems, by these definitions, it is also legally a motor vehicle.

 

[Carol]

I don't think a horse qualifies as a "device". Nice try tho

 

[Tez3]

Sounds like a stupid question, does it?
Well, according to CA Vehicle code §670
I can ride a horse, thereby being moved upon a highway...
According to CA Vehicle code §415
A horse is a horse, of course, of course, but, it seems, by these definitions, it is also legally a motor vehicle.

Depends on whether there's an accident! If another car hit you, you'd rightly claim off their insurance for your damage or vice versa but hitting a horse or having one hit you causes a lot of damage and if it's not insured then it's going to cost. If by stating it's a motor vehicle it means it has to have insurance then it's a good idea. It would also give the horse and rider the same rights a car driver would have.
In our countryside we have a lot of horses using the road, just up from where I live are quite a few racing stables where the horses are out on the road in strings of up to twenty, perhaps that qualifies as a large truck! We also still have horse and drays to cart the beer around locally as well as pony and traps etc.

 

[Archangel M]

Some states have a section of traffic law that stipulates horse riders "shall be subject to all the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle".

 

[Big Don]

I don't think a horse qualifies as a "device". Nice try tho

Merriam Webster:
Definition of DEVICE

1
: something devised or contrived: as a (1) : plan, procedure, technique (2) : a scheme to deceive : stratagem, trick
b : something fanciful, elaborate, or intricate in design

Horses are clearly elaborate and intricate in design and many people find them quite fanciful...

c : something (as a figure of speech) in a literary work designed to achieve a particular artistic effect d archaic : masque, spectacle e : a conventional stage practice or means (as a stage whisper) used to achieve a particular dramatic effect f : a piece of equipment or a mechanism designed to serve a special purpose or perform a special function <an electronic device>

2
: desire, inclination <left to my own devices>

3
: an emblematic design used especially as a heraldic bearing

Horses are often used in heraldry.
Therefore, a horse can be a device.

 

[Carol]

Merriam Webster:
Definition of DEVICE

Horses are clearly elaborate and intricate in design and many people find them quite fanciful...

Oh yeah? Who designed them?

 

[Archangel M]

Oh yeah? Who designed them?

Why God did of course.

May as well turn this into a religious thread.

AND WE'RE OFF!!!!

 

[granfire]

DON'T go there!

However, in general terms horses are regarded the same as a vehicle, motorized or horse drawn.

Ohio and Pennsylvania have a lot of experience with those...

 

[Ken Morgan]

Fire one....

Well the horse is actually one of the best examples of how evolution really works, in great detail i might add.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse

This is Mennonite country around here, horses and buggys are on the road all the time, well not quite the road, but the shoulder. Lights on the buggys at night and an orange triangle on the rear at all times....Sadly a few times a year they get into serious accidents with motor cars.

 

[Tez3]

A two horsepower vehicle! A beer dray in front of Mickelgate in York, still the best way to deliver beer!

 

[Archangel M]

Fire one....

Well the horse is actually one of the best examples of how evolution really works, in great detail i might add.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse

This is Mennonite country around here, horses and buggys are on the road all the time, well not quite the road, but the shoulder. Lights on the buggys at night and an orange triangle on the rear at all times....Sadly a few times a year they get into serious accidents with motor cars.

Evolution is a fine example of God's design process.

Speaking of horse riding and traffic law...

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4497544/cowboys-busted-for-drunk-riding

Cops arrest men for riding horses drunk

 

[granfire]

Fire one....

Well the horse is actually one of the best examples of how evolution really works, in great detail i might add.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse

This is Mennonite country around here, horses and buggys are on the road all the time, well not quite the road, but the shoulder. Lights on the buggys at night and an orange triangle on the rear at all times....Sadly a few times a year they get into serious accidents with motor cars.

well, a few times a year motor vehicles tangle with each other, too...a torn up car is just not as bad as a tornup horse...

 

[Big Don]

well, a few times a year motor vehicles tangle with each other, too...a torn up car is just not as bad as a tornup horse...

Not as bloody, but, often more expensive...

 

[Ken Morgan]

well, a few times a year motor vehicles tangle with each other, too...a torn up car is just not as bad as a tornup horse...

The mennonites tend to buy the standard bred racehorses no longer used for racing. A few years ago it wasn't uncommon to see them wandering around the barns at the tracks looking for people to sell horses. Probably still do.

Problem with buggy vs. motorcar crashes is of course, a couple of hundred pounds of wood traveling at 25kmh in no match for 2 tonnes of steel traveling at 100kmh. Rips your heart out when you hear children involved and 99% of the time its some idiot in a car not paying attention.

 

[granfire]

The mennonites tend to buy the standard bred racehorses no longer used for racing. A few years ago it wasn't uncommon to see them wandering around the barns at the tracks looking for people to sell horses. Probably still do.

Problem with buggy vs. motorcar crashes is of course, a couple of hundred pounds of wood traveling at 25kmh in no match for 2 tonnes of steel traveling at 100kmh. Rips your heart out when you hear children involved and 99% of the time its some idiot in a car not paying attention.

Yep, and they also use saddlebreds...but the STBs are cheaper and already pretty unflappable and trained to drive. ^_^

 

[granfire]

Not as bloody, but, often more expensive...

almost always more expensive, but you don't usually need a biohasmat suit for cleanup...

 

[Big Don]

almost always more expensive, but you don't usually need a biohasmat suit for cleanup...

Fuel and oil are hazardous materials, as well as blood and offal.

 

[granfire]

Fuel and oil are hazardous materials, as well as blood and offal.

yes, but not all of the car contains it... ^_^

where as the horse is all full of blood...(though some drivers are all full of Sh....car or buggy )

 

[jks9199]

I don't think a horse qualifies as a "device". Nice try tho

It really depends on the jurisdiction. In Virginia, it's not -- but I know that in some states, you can actually make a DUI arrest for a person on horseback on the highway...

 

[Carol]

It really depends on the jurisdiction. In Virginia, it's not -- but I know that in some states, you can actually make a DUI arrest for a person on horseback on the highway...

Now that I did not know!