Chap. 22.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 10 and 17 as amended, of
an act entitled “an act to provide for the licensing of chauffeurs, and other
motor vehicle operators, and for the suspension and revocation of such
licenses for certain causes; to fix liability on certain persons for negligence
in the operation of motor vehicles on the public highways; and to prescribe
penalties for violations of certain provisions of this act,’ approved March 29,
1932, relating to the issuance and revocation of operators and chauffeurs
licenses, and requiring persons convicted of certain offenses to prove ability
to respond in damages before license shall be restored. [S B 59]

Approved February 17, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sections
ten and seventeen, as amended, of an act entitled “an act to provide
for the licensing of chauffeurs, and other motor vehicle operators,
and for the suspension and revocation of such licenses for certain
causes; to fix liability on certain persons for negligence in the opera-
tion of motor vehicles on the public highways; and to prescribe penal-
ties for violations of certain provisions of this act,” approved March
twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 10. Examination of Applicants.—(a) The division shall
examine every applicant for an operator’s or chauffeur’s license before
issuing any such license, except as otherwise provided in sub-section (b)
of this section. The division shall examine the applicant as to his
physical and mental qualifications and his ability to operate a motor
vehicle in such manner as not to jeopardize the safety of persons or
property and as to whether any facts exist which would bar the issuance
of a license under section five of this act, but such examination shall not
include investigation of any facts other than those directly pertaining to
the ability of the applicant to operate a motor vehicle with safety, or
other than those facts declared to be prerequisite to the issuance of a
license under this act.

(b) The division shall issue without examination, and free of cost,
an operator’s license to any person making proper application therefor
at any time after this section becomes effective and before the first day
of July, nineteen hundred and thirty-three, who shall be of sufficient
age as prescribed by section five of this act, to receive the same, and
who shall furnish evidence satisfactory to the division that such ap-
plicant had previously operated any motor vehicle in a satisfactory
manner within this State, for a distance of at least five hundred miles ;
and all such licenses so issued within that time shall expire by their
own limitation on the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and
thirty-four. On and after the first day of July, nineteen hundred and
thirty-three, no other person, except those expressly exempted as here-
inbefore provided for, shall drive any motor vehicle on any highway
in this State unless and until such person shall have satisfactorily
passed the examination required by subsection (a) of this section and
obtained either an operator’s or chauffeur’s license, which shall be
issued upon the payment of a fee of fifty cents for each operator’s
license and a fee of two dollars for each chauffeur’s license; and all
such licenses so issued from the first day of July, nineteen hundred
and thirty-three, until the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and
thirty-four, shall expire by their own limitation, on the last mentioned
date ; provided, that any chauffeur’s license so issued within said period,
shall upon the payment of a fee of five dollars, be issued to expire on
the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and thirty-six. Any opera-
tor’s license so expiring on the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred
and thirty-four, shall, upon proper application and, in the discretion of
the division, without examination of the applicant, be renewed for a
period of five years beginning with July first, nineteen hundred and
thirty-four upon the payment of a fee of fifty cents for such renewal,
and any operator’s license issued at any time within such five-year
period shall be for the residue of such period. Any operator’s license
so expiring on the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and thirty-
nine, shall, upon proper application and, in the discretion of the division,
without examination of the applicant, be thereafter renewed for succes-
sive periods of three years beginning with July first, nineteen hundred
and thirty-nine, upon the payment of a fee of fifty cents for each such
renewal and any operator’s license issued at any time within any such
three years’ period shall be for the residue of such period and shall
be likewise renewable for successive periods of three vears, upon the
payment of a like renewal fee of fifty cents. Any chauffeur’s license so
expiring, either on the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and
thirty-four, or on the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and
thirty-six, shall, upon proper application and, in the discretion of the
division, without examination, be thereafter renewed for successive
periods of one year, or three years, and if such renewal be for one
year, the fee therefor shall be two dollars, and if for three years, the
fee shall be five dollars.

Section 17. Mandatory Suspension or Revocation of License by
the Division—(a) The division shall forthwith revoke the license of
any person upon receiving a record of the conviction of such person
of any of the following crimes:

First. Voluntary or involuntary manslaughter resulting from the
operation of a motor vehicle.
Second. Driving a vehicle while intoxicated or under the influence
of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug.

Third. Perjury or the making of a false affidavit to the division
under this act or any other law of this State requiring the registration
of motor vehicles or regulating their operation on highways.

Fourth. Any crime punishable as a felony under the motor vehicle
laws of this State or any other felony in the commission of which a
motor vehicle is used.

Fifth. Conviction or forfeiture of bail upon two charges of reck-
less driving all within the preceding twelve months.

Sixth. A conviction of a driver of a motor vehicle, involved in an
accident resulting in the death or injury of another person, upon a
charge of failing to stop and disclose his identity at the scene of the
accident.

(b) The division upon receiving a record of the conviction of any
person upon a charge of operating a motor vehicle while the license
of such person is suspended or revoked, shall immediately extend the
period of such first suspension or revocation for an additional like
period.

(c) No person, whether a resident of this State or not, whose opera-
tor’s or chauffeur’s license, or whose right to operate a motor vehicle
in this State, is hereafter revoked by reason of conviction by any court
of competent jurisdiction in this or any other state, of any offense
mentioned in the first, second, fifth or sixth paragraphs of this section,
shall have his license restored, nor shall he operate any motor vehicle
upon the highways of this State until such person has first proven to
the satisfaction of the director of the division of motor vehicles, his
ability to respond in damages which may thereafter be adjudged against
him on account of accidents resulting from his ownership or operation
of a motor vehicle to the amount of five thousand dollars for personal
injury to or death of one person as the result of one accident, and to
the amount of ten thousand dollars for personal injury to or the death
of more than one person as the result of one accident, and to the
amount of one thousand dollars for damages to property as the result
of one accident; and the filing by him with the said director of either
an adequate liability insurance policy or a bond with surety to be ap-
proved by the director, shall be sufficient proof of his ability to so
respond in damages. In the event the said insurance policy or bond
should at any time within five years from and after the date of filing
same become ineffective the said director shall forthwith revoke such
license.