Article 1 of Traffic Law

The provisions of this Law and the implementing regulations and decisions shall apply to vehicles of all types, and it shall also apply to the passage of pedestrians and animals on public roads. Article 2 (1) Definitions: In applying the provisions of this Law and its implementing regulations and decisions, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated opposite each: (1) Vehicle: Every means of transport or traction having wheels or tracks, propelled by mechanical or bodily power (human or animal). (2) Motor vehicle: Every vehicle propelled by a mechanical engine, including motor vehicles intended for agriculture or construction work or lifting machinery. (3) Automobile: Every motor vehicle ordinarily used to transport persons or things or both, or to tow vehicles intended to transport persons or things or both. (4) Trailer: Every vehicle without an engine designed and manufactured to be towed or drawn by another motor vehicle. (5) Semi-trailer: Every trailer designed and manufactured with a view to its being mounted behind a tractor automobile, part of it resting upon part of that tractor automobile, with it and the tractor constituting a single unit. (6) Articulated vehicle: Every automobile connected to a semi-trailer, together constituting a single unit. (7) Motorcycle: Every vehicle with two or more wheels, equipped with a mechanical engine, to which a carriage (basket or box) may be attached, not designed in the form of an automobile, and intended to transport persons or things. (8) Ordinary bicycle: Every vehicle with two or more wheels, not equipped with a mechanical engine, propelled by its rider's power, and intended to transport persons or things. (9) Maximum weight: The maximum permissible weight of the vehicle's load. (10) Unladen weight: The weight of the vehicle with its tanks filled with the fuel necessary for it and containing the tools it ordinarily carries and which repair operations require, without its driver or any passenger or load. (11) Gross weight: The full weight of the vehicle, including the driver, passengers, goods, and any other load. 37412. (12) Driver: Every person who undertakes the driving of a vehicle, or herds of cattle, or sheep, or draught, pack, or riding animals. (1) The last two paragraphs 28-29 were added pursuant to Decree-Law No. 5 of 2025. Law Index 317 Home Page Traffic Law Decree-Law No. 67 of 1976 concerning Traffic (13) Passenger: Every person present in an automobile or alighting from or boarding it, other than the driver. (14) Pedestrians: Persons who travel on foot. Persons pushing or pulling a bicycle, a baby carriage, a carriage for a sick person or a person with a disability, or a single-wheeled handcart shall be deemed pedestrians. (15) Road: The entire surface prepared for public traffic. (16) Expressway: A road prepared specifically for automobile traffic which does not directly serve properties adjoining the road and has the following characteristics: a- The road surface consists of two paved sections, one for each direction, separated from each other by an island not intended for traffic or by any other means. Its character shall not be altered by the temporary presence of certain stretches without continuous lanes or a divider between the two directions of traffic. b It does not intersect at the same level with any road or pedestrian crossing path. c- Automobiles may enter or leave this road only at the places designated for that purpose. 17) Carriageway: The part of the road ordinarily used for the movement of vehicles. 18) Traffic lane: Any of the longitudinal parts into which the carriageway is divided, whose width permits the passage of a single line of successive vehicles, whether or not delineated by longitudinal markings on the road surface. (19) Pavement: The part of the road adjoining it on both sides and prepared for pedestrian movement. Islands situated in the middle of the road shall be deemed pavement. (20) Road shoulder: A part of the road adjoining it on both sides and prepared for emergency stopping of automobiles. (21) Intersection: Every meeting, convergence, or branching of roads at one level, including the open area formed as a result. (22) Direction of traffic: Means the right-hand side of the road. (23) Stopping: The stopping of a vehicle for a period necessitated by traffic requirements, or persons alighting or boarding, or goods being loaded or unloaded. (24) Parking: The presence of a vehicle in a place for a specified or unspecified period for reasons other than those mentioned in the preceding item. (25) Driving beam: The vehicle light used to illuminate the road for a long distance ahead of the vehicle. (26) Passing beam: The vehicle light used to illuminate the road ahead of the vehicle for a limited distance without dazzling or inconveniencing drivers approaching in the opposite direction. (27) Position lights: The front and rear lights of the vehicle which signal its presence and indicate its width from the front and rear. (28) Traffic enforcement and monitoring devices are: Current and future means of modern technology in the field of imaging, recording, and transmission which operate automatically or manually for enforcement Index