Open Container
RCW 46.61.519 — drinking or an open container in a vehicle, a traffic infraction
In Washington, drinking any alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle on a highway is a traffic infraction, and so is possessing an opened or partly emptied container in the vehicle. The owner, or the driver when the owner is not there, may keep an open container only in the trunk, or where there is no trunk, an area not normally occupied by the driver or passengers.
A glove compartment or utility compartment counts as occupied area. The section does not apply to a chartered public conveyance, the living quarters of a motor home or camper, or a paying passenger in a licensed for-hire vehicle, except as other law provides.
Sources for this section (1)
- RCW 46.61.519 — Drinking or open container in vehicle on highway
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Washington attorney.