Regulations last checked for updates: Nov 22, 2024

Title 23 - Highways last revised: Jan 01, 1900
§ 1270.3 - Definitions.

As used in this part:

(a) Alcoholic beverage means:

(1) Beer, ale, porter, stout, and other similar fermented beverages (including sake or similar products) of any name or description containing one-half of 1 percent or more of alcohol by volume, brewed or produced from malt, wholly or in part, or from any substitute therefor;

(2) Wine of not less than one-half of 1 per centum of alcohol by volume; or

(3) Distilled spirits which is that substance known as ethyl alcohol, ethanol, or spirits of wine in any form (including all dilutions and mixtures thereof from whatever source or by whatever process produced).

(b) FHWA means the Federal Highway Administration.

(c) Motor vehicle means a vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power and manufactured primarily for use on public highways, but does not include a vehicle operated solely on a rail or rails.

(d) NHTSA means the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

(e) Open alcoholic beverage container means any bottle, can, or other receptacle that:

(1) Contains any amount of alcoholic beverage; and

(2) Is open or has a broken seal or the contents of which are partially removed (regardless of whether it has been closed or resealed).

(f) Open container law means a State law or combination of laws that meets the minimum requirements specified in § 1270.4.

(g) Passenger area means the area designed to seat the driver and passengers while the motor vehicle is in operation and any area that is readily accessible to the driver or a passenger while in their seating positions, including the glove compartment.

(h) Public highway or right-of-way of a public highway means the width between and immediately adjacent to the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel; inclusion of the roadway and shoulders is sufficient.

(i) State means any of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

authority: 23 U.S.C. 154; delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.85 and 1.95
source: 81 FR 67166, Sept. 30, 2016, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 23 CFR 1270.3