2001 Wisconsin Act 34

Date of enactment: December 17, 2001
2001 Assembly Bill 142 Date of publication*: January 4, 2002

* Section 991.11, Wisconsin Statutes 1999-00 : Effective date of acts. "Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor's partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication as designated" by the secretary of state [the date of publication may not be more than 10 working days after the date of enactment].

2001 WISCONSIN ACT 34

An Act to create 346.915 of the statutes; relating to: following snowplows and providing a penalty.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

34,1 Section 1. 346.915 of the statutes is created to read:

346.915 Following snowplows. (1) In this section, "snowplow" means a vehicle that is operated by a person employed by or on behalf of an authority in charge of the maintenance of the highway to perform highway winter maintenance snow and ice removal, including plowing, salting, and sanding, during either a storm or cleanup following a storm and which is using lamps described in s. 347.26 (7).

(2) The operator of any vehicle that is not a snowplow may not follow a snowplow closer than 200 feet upon any highway having a posted speed limit of more than 35 miles per hour, if the snowplow is engaged in highway winter maintenance snow and ice removal, as described in sub. (1), and is using lamps described in s. 347.26 (7). This subsection does not apply when overtaking and passing a snowplow, but the fact that the operator of any vehicle upon a highway having a posted speed limit of more than 35 miles per hour follows the snowplow more closely than 200 feet for one mile or more or follows more closely than 200 feet when the snowplow is moving at the maximum speed limit is prima facie evidence that the operator of such following vehicle is violating this subsection. This subsection does not apply to a snowplow that is stopped or standing in the highway.