32-15-28.   Steering system requirements--Violation as petty offense. No person may operate a motor vehicle required to be registered in this state which has an unloaded weight of six thousand pounds or less, other than a motorcycle, on a public highway unless the steering system complies with the following requirements:

             (1)      No steering components may extend below the wheel rims in their lowest position;

             (2)      The steering system shall remain unobstructed when turned from lock to lock;

             (3)      The steering wheel may have not less than two turns or more than six turns when turning the road wheels from lock to lock;

             (4)      When the motor vehicle is in a sharp turn at a speed between five and fifteen miles per hour, release of the steering wheel shall result in a distinct tendency for the vehicle to increase its turning radius;

             (5)      The vehicle shall be capable of traversing a slalom type path passing alternately to the left and right of at least four cones or markers arranged in a straight line spaced sixty feet apart on a dry hard flat surface free from loose material, at a minimum velocity of twenty-five miles per hour.

     A violation of this section is a petty offense.

Source: SL 1977, ch 260, § 1 (1) to (4), (7); SL 1989, ch 255, § 39.

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