Tennessee § 55-8-162 - Unattended motor vehicles — Unattended vehicles containing medical or hazardous waste — Penalty and liability — Application to utility — Inapplicability to ADS-operated vehicle.

§ 55-8-162. Unattended motor vehicles — Unattended vehicles containing medical or hazardous waste — Penalty and liability — Application to utility — Inapplicability to ADS-operated vehicle.

No person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle shall permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, and effectively setting the brake thereon and, when standing upon any grade, turning the front wheels to the curb or side of the highway. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, no person shall leave unsecured and unattended any truck, tractor-trailer or tractor-semitrailer combination, with a rated capacity of more than one (1) ton, containing “medical waste,” as defined in rules promulgated under §§ 68-211-101 — 68-211-122, or “hazardous waste,” as defined in § 68-212-104, in any residential area, or within one thousand feet (1,000') of any church, school or park. Except as provided in subdivision (b)(2)(B), a violation of subdivision (b)(1) is a Class A misdemeanor punishable only by a fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000). The fine imposed by this subdivision (b)(2)(A) shall be upon the owner of the truck, tractor-trailer or tractor-semitrailer combination. Each day of continued violation constitutes a separate violation. In addition to any fine imposed upon the owner pursuant to subdivision (b)(2)(A), the driver's license to drive shall be suspended for six (6) months. Suspension of the driver's commercial driver license pursuant to subdivision (b)(2)(B) shall not alter the driver's eligibility to maintain a Class D driver license. Nothing in this chapter shall alter the liability imposed by any other provision of law for unlawful disposal of medical waste. This section shall only apply to persons operating any truck, tractor-trailer or tractor-semitrailer combination and transporting materials found to be hazardous under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act, which requires the motor vehicle to be placarded. Subsection (b) shall not apply to any utility. As used in subdivision (c)(1), “utility” means any person, municipality, county, metropolitan government, electric cooperative, telephone cooperative, board, commission, district or any entity created or authorized by public act, private act, or general law to provide electricity, natural gas, water, waste water services, telephone services, or any combination thereof, for sale to consumers in any particular service area. Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to an ADS-operated vehicle. Acts 1955, ch. 329, § 62; T.C.A., § 59-863; Acts 2000, ch. 776, § 1; 2001, ch. 308, §§ 1, 2; 2017, ch. 474, § 4. Compiler's Notes. The Hazardous Materials Transportation Act, referred to in this section, is compiled in 49 U.S.C. § 5101 et seq. Cross-References. Responsibility for illegal parking, § 55-8-186 . Penalty for Class A misdemeanor, § 40-35-111 . Textbooks. Tennessee Jurisprudence, 4 Tenn. Juris., Automobiles, §§ 2, 6, 14. Law Reviews. Negligence — Keys Left in Ignition — Theft from Private Property, 31 Tenn. L. Rev. 545. Tort Law — McClenahan v. Cooley: The Impact of Automobile Theft on Proximate Cause Issues — Distinctions Between Public and Private Property, 21 Mem. St. U.L. Rev. 595 (1991).