Questionable: Are open-wheel vehicles required to have mud flaps?
Are open-wheel vehicles (especially dump trucks) required to have mud flaps? Besides many a broken windshield, flap-less vehicles also cause a dangerous view-obstructing spray behind them when it’s raining.
-Ken, Rhinelander
We asked Lloyd Gauthier, patrol division lieutenant with Oneida County, this question. He responded:
“You pose an interesting and complicated question. Here is the statute statement:
“No person shall operate on a highway in inter-city movement any privately owned motor truck or privately owned semitrailer drawn by a truck tractor, except those motor trucks and semitrailers equipped with dump bodies, unless such motor truck or semitrailer is equipped with rear fenders or mudguards of such material and so constructed and placed as to restrict to a minimum the splashing of water, mud or other material which may be thrown by the rear wheels.
“So your answer is yes, Wisconsin law does require mudguards and adequate fenders, but not for vehicles with dump bodies (dump trucks).”
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