1528                               Laws of Maryland                         Ch. 534

(d) This section shall not apply to any farm tractor, to any
vehicle which by design, body construction, fender, or other means
of enclosure prevents the projection of such substances substantially
to the extent that such protectors or flaps would, or to any vehicle
where complete freedom about the wheel is necessary to secure the
designed use of the vehicle.

§ 12-4.14. Television equipment.

(a)    No motor vehicle operated on the highways of this State
shall be equipped with television-type receiving equipment in front
of the back of the driver's seat or otherwise visible to the driver.

(b)    Except that this section will not prevent the use of tele-
vision-type receiving equipment in a vehicle exclusively for safety
or law enforcement purposes as approved by the State Police.

Part V—Vehicle Equipment Safety Compact

§ 12-501. Definition of "article"; enactment of Vehicle Equipment
Safety Compact.

(a)    As used in this part, "Article" means an article of the Ve-
hicle Equipment Safety Compact, as indicated in the captions of
sections in this part, unless the context clearly requires a contrary
interpretation.

(b)    The Vehicle Equipment Safety Compact is hereby enacted
into law and entered into with all other jurisdictions legally joining
therein in the form substantially as follows:

§ 12-502. Article 1. Findings and purposes.

(a)    The party states find that:

(1)    Accidents and deaths on their streets and highways present
a very serious human and economic problem with a major delete-
rious effect on the public welfare.

(2)    There is a vital need for the development of greater inter-
jurisdictional cooperation to achieve the necessary uniformity in the
laws, rules, regulations and codes relating to vehicle equipment,
and to accomplish this by such means as will minimize the time
between the development of demonstrably and scientifically sound
safety features and their incorporation into vehicles.

(b)    The purposes of this compact are to:

(1)    Promote uniformity in regulation of and standards for
equipment.

(2)    Secure uniformity of law and administrative practice in
vehicular regulation and related safety standards to permit incorpo-
ration of desirable equipment changes in vehicles in the interest of
greater traffic safety.

(3)    To provide means for the encouragement and utilization of
research which will facilitate the achievement of the foregoing pur-
poses, with due regard for the findings set forth in subdivision (a)
of this Article.