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Texas driving lesson · Additional Safety & Traffic Stops

Open beds, trailers & towed boats

A 3-minute lesson from the Texas course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.

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Read time
3 minutes
Course unit
Additional Safety & Traffic Stops
Checkpoint questions
4
Source pages
70, 71

Riding in a pickup bed, trailer, or towed boat gives passengers no protection in a crash. Texas makes it an offense to carry children this way and to tow trailers with people in them, with a short list of defenses.

Know the rule

It is an offense to drive an open-bed truck or open flatbed truck, or tow an open flatbed trailer, while a child younger than 18 is in the bed of the truck or trailer.

Handbook p. 70 ↗

Defenses: the driver was operating or towing the vehicle

  • In a parade or in an emergency
  • To move farm workers between fields on a farm-to-market, ranch-to-market, or county road outside a city
  • On a beach
  • When it's the only vehicle owned or operated by members of the household
  • In a hayride permitted by each county or city (or its police) where the hayride occurs
Handbook p. 70 ↗
$25–$200

Fine (paid by the driver) for a child under 18 riding in an open-bed pickup or open flatbed

Handbook p. 70 ↗

Know the rule

It is an offense to drive a vehicle towing a boat or personal watercraft while someone younger than 18 is riding in or on it. Defenses: a parade, an emergency, or on a beach.

Handbook p. 71 ↗

Know the rule

It is a Class B misdemeanor to operate a truck, road tractor, or truck tractor while another person occupies a trailer or semi-trailer it is pulling.

Handbook p. 71 ↗

Defenses for an occupied trailer or semi-trailer

  • The person towing didn't know someone was in the trailer
  • The occupant was in a part of the vehicle designed for human habitation
  • It was a parade, an emergency, moving farm workers between fields on rural roads, or a permitted hayride
Handbook p. 71 ↗

Put it into practice

You're pulling your family's boat to the lake and your 16-year-old wants to ride in it on the highway. Not allowed: towing a boat with anyone under 18 in or on it is an offense unless it's a parade, an emergency, or on a beach.

Check your understanding

Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.

When is it legal to have a child ride in the open bed of a pickup truck?
  1. Anytime the truck stays under 30 mph
  2. Anytime the child is at least 15
  3. Anytime a parent rides in the bed
  4. In a parade or an emergency

Answer: In a parade or an emergency

Specific defenses exist, such as parades, emergencies, or transporting farm workers, among others.

Handbook p. 70 ↗
It is an offense to drive a vehicle towing a boat while a person of what age is riding in or on the boat?
  1. Younger than 16
  2. Younger than 18
  3. Younger than 12
  4. Younger than 21

Answer: Younger than 18

It is an offense to tow a boat or personal watercraft in or on which a person younger than 18 is riding.

Handbook p. 71 ↗
Which is a defense for driving an open-bed truck while a child under 18 rides in the bed?
  1. The trip is shorter than five miles
  2. The child is sitting down in the bed
  3. The truck is the household's only vehicle
  4. The truck stays under 30 mph

Answer: The truck is the household's only vehicle

A listed defense is that the vehicle is the only one owned or operated by members of the household.

Handbook p. 70 ↗
What fine can a driver get when a child under 18 rides in the open bed of a pickup truck?
  1. $25 to $50
  2. $100 to $200
  3. $25 to $200
  4. $500 to $1,000

Answer: $25 to $200

Table 37 lists a $25 to $200 fine, assessed to the driver, for children under 18 in an open-bed pickup or flatbed.

Handbook p. 70 ↗
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