---
title: O.C.G.A. § 40-8-23. Taillights.
collection: code
id: 40-8-23
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 40-8-23 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/40-8-23
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/40-8-23.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/40-8-23/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t40-ch6-16-(v29)-2018-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=97c394d6_0#page=482
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC / EQUIPMENT AND INSPECTION OF MOTOR VEHICLES / EQUIPMENT GENERALLY / LIGHTING EQUIPMENT
---

# O.C.G.A. § 40-8-23. Taillights.

(a) Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer manufactured prior to January 1, 1954, shall be equipped with at least one taillight mounted on the rear, which when lighted as required in this article shall emit a red light plainly visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear.

(b) Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer manufactured after January 1, 1954, shall be equipped with two taillights which meet the specifications provided in this Code section.

(c) Every taillight upon every vehicle shall be located at a height of not more than 60 inches nor less than 20 inches, to be measured as set forth in subsection (b) of Code Section 40-8-21.

(d) Either a taillight or a separate light shall be so constructed and placed as to illuminate with a white light the rear registration plate and render it clearly legible from a distance of 50 feet to the rear. Any taillight or taillights, together with any separate light for illuminating the rear registration plate, shall be so wired as to be lighted whenever the headlights or auxiliary driving lights are lighted.

(e) All lenses on taillights shall be maintained in good repair and shall meet manufacturers’ specifications.

## History

Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 556, § 106; Code 1933, § 68E-204, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 165, § 4; Code 1981, § 40-8-23, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 165, § 10.

## Code Commission Notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1991, ‘‘headlights’’, ‘‘taillight’’, and ‘‘taillights’’ have been substituted for ‘‘head lights’’, ‘‘tail light’’, and ‘‘tail lights’’, respectively, throughout subsections (a) through (e).