Wyoming Administrative Code
Agency 045 - Transportation, Dept. of
Sub-Agency 0004 - Motor Carrier
Chapter 1 - Motor Carriers
Section 1-2 - Definitions

(a) Definitions as set forth in W.S. 31-18-101 shall apply insofar as all terms used in these rules and regulations are concerned. All terms used in these rules and regulations shall be construed as defined in Wyoming statutes and the rules and regulations of the Department. These definitions apply to Wyoming Highway Patrol Policies and Procedures on Rotational Tow and Recovery Operations Manual found in Appendix B of these rules and regulations, which contain additional definitions pertinent to that manual as well.

(b) "Department" means the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT).

(c) "Dispute resolution committee" means a committee serving as described in the Wyoming Highway Patrol Policies and Procedures on Rotational Tow and Recovery Operations Manual found in Appendix B of these rules and regulations.

(d) "Letter of authority" or "order" means a document issued under W.S. 31-18-101, et seq., by the Department, granting intrastate authority to a person to operate a motor vehicle as a motor carrier transporting persons or property.

(e) "Non-consensual tow" means a tow carrier's transporting of a vehicle without the vehicle's owner, possessor, agent, insurer, lien holder, or any other person legally possessing or responsible for the vehicle specially requesting or providing a preference for a specific tow carrier. This movement includes transporting or towing the vehicle under lawful circumstances or necessity for the public interest, including removal from roadways to preserve public safety and from public or private property after abandonment or unauthorized parking by the person legally possessing or responsible for the vehicle. Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP) rotational tows are considered non-consensual tows even when the vehicle owner or operator is present and consents to the non-consensual tow.

(f) "Person" means individuals, associations of individuals, firms, partnerships, companies, corporations, limited liability corporations, their lessees, trustees, or receivers, appointed by any court whatsoever in the singular number as well as the plural.

(g) "Recovery" means the winching, hoisting, up-righting, removing, or otherwise relocating of a vehicle when found in such a location, state, or position that it cannot be safely operated under its own power following the recovery process. If a vehicle is upright and on the roadway, towing or servicing it is not considered a recovery. Class "R" vehicles shall not perform recovery operations.

(h) "Tow" means pulling or hauling a vehicle with a tow and recovery vehicle to a place of safekeeping.

(i) "Tow and recovery vehicle" (also called a "wrecker," "recovery vehicle," or "tow truck") means a vehicle altered or designed and equipped for and primarily used to move disabled, improperly parked, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. Towing may involve recovering a vehicle damaged in a crash, returning a vehicle to a drivable surface after a mishap or inclement weather, or towing or transporting a vehicle on a flatbed to a repair shop or another location.

(j) "Tow truck and recovery carrier" (also called a "tow carrier" or "tow and recovery service") means any person or entity engaged in the business of operating a wrecker, tow truck, or other vehicle equipped with a mechanical apparatus designed to hoist, pull, or move a vehicle that is wrecked, damaged, disabled, abandoned, or otherwise creating a safety hazard, and which meets all requirements of the local authorities in the respective jurisdiction and the requirements of the Department.

(k) "Winch out" means removing a vehicle from its position typically in a ditch or borrow pit or in mud, snow, water, or another substance that renders the vehicle inoperable. Following the winch out, the vehicle shall be safely drivable using its own power.