Strapping Christmas trees to your car roof? Here's the rules

Just in time for the Christmas-tree-lugging season, a review of state laws finds lots of leeway for strapping one to the roof. (istockphoto.com)

Hard to believe, but by this time next week we'll be in full Christmas mode. As early as Friday you can drive home with a tree strapped to the roof. Or hang a wreath on your car grille. Or affix some faux reindeer antlers to your side windows, if that's your style.

Now, I'm no holiday humbug. But since I do write about the rules of the road, I feel obliged to pose the question: Is all this stuff we stick on our cars legal?

Are there rules about what size tree you can carry on your roof, or how well it must be fastened? What about carrying mattresses, bicycles, or the hunting prize you bagged? From an insurance standpoint, if your Christmas tree jostles loose and hits the next car, are you covered?

This week we look at rules for strapping stuff to the outside of your car. Just what does the law let you do?

Branching out on top

Rest easy on this one: Christmas trees are allowed on your car's roof. In fact, you can stick just about any Christmas ornament, stuffed toy, or antenna raccoon tail you want on your car - save lighting - so long as it doesn't impede your vision or block your headlights, turning lights, or brake lights, said Lieutenant Jack Albert, head of the Cambridge Police Department's traffic division.

State law does restrict the height and width of all vehicles, so your decorations or trees would need to fall within the official limits. For example, you can't drive a vehicle that is taller than 13 feet 6 inches, so forget about mounting your tree upright on the Pathfinder. The width restriction is 8 feet 6 inches, so if your tree is particularly large and overhangs the body of your vehicle, you might need to tow it in a trailer instead.

The same standards, Albert said, apply to mattresses, furniture, bicycles, and, for hunters, game kill.

"You go out to the western part of the state and you see deer strapped to the roofs and hoods of cars," he said.

I was surprised to learn that game could be put on the hood of a vehicle, but Albert said the culture in hunting regions is such that police might let it pass, even if the driver's visibility is partially blocked. The fine for "impeded operation" would be $35, the same as if you failed to clear the snow off your windshield.

Likewise, I was surprised to learn that you can carry loads that far exceed a car's length. According to state law, a load can extend 4 feet beyond the rear of a vehicle and 3 feet beyond the front of the vehicle without any problem.

If what you're carrying - say, a very long piece of wood, or a ladder - extends beyond those boundaries, you must affix "a red light or red flag or cloth" to the end of the load. Failure to do so is a $100 fine, Albert said.

"The big thing is you don't want someone to rear-end you with something sticking out the back," he said.

If what you're carrying extends 15 feet beyond the vehicle, you must have a safety car trail you. But heck, 15 feet is more than the length of a Ford Escort, so you've got plenty of leeway.

If gravity strikes

Whatever you stick on your car, naturally, should be properly tied down. According to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 85, Section 36, if what you're carrying "drops," "sifts," "leaks," or "otherwise escapes" onto the road, you can be fined $200. So, invest in some extra bungee cords.

I asked my insurance agent, Peter Rossetti of Saugus, whether I'd be covered if my Christmas tree happened to fall off while I was driving and caused damage.

"If it comes directly off one car into another car without hitting the ground, it's covered under the property damage of the car it was attached to," he said. "You stop short, the tree goes though the windshield of the car behind you, no problem."

Ah, but there's more. While your insurance company will pay for the damage, you'll lose good-driving points on account of the accident, and your insurance rates will go up. "There's the likelihood you will be surcharged if they pay someone more than $500 as well," Rossetti said.

Oddly, if your Christmas tree bounces on the road before hitting the car behind you, the claim isn't automatic. The victim would have to file a claim with his insurance company under "fire and theft damage," not collision damage. His insurance company would then have to go after your insurance company. (The law is written this way because it might not be clear where the fallen debris came from.)

If whatever you're carrying happens to cause damage to your own vehicle, you'd be subject to your policy's deductible, Rossetti added.

State law also prohibits you from dragging anything on the ground that can harm the road ($100 fine). Albert said a string of cans attached to a newlywed couple's car wouldn't get you in trouble, though. (But does anyone still do that?)

The Seamus Romney rule

Lastly, the column wouldn't be complete without mention of Mitt Romney's Irish setter, Seamus, whom our former governor famously carried on the roof of his station wagon during a family vacation years ago.

While the dog was properly crated, and the crate was properly secured to the car, Romney would likely be cited were he to attempt such a maneuver today.

"The animal cruelty statute does describe carrying an animal in or upon a vehicle . . . in a way and manner which might endanger the animal carried," said Peter Gollub, director of law enforcement for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The punishment, if convicted, is up to five years in state prison, or up to 2 1/2 years in a house of correction, and potential fines of up to $2,500.