Chap. 84.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 61 and 62, as heretofore
amended, and Section 71 of chapter 342 of the Acts of the General Assembly
of 1932, approved March 26, 1932, and known, designated and cited as the
Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia, ‘said sections relating to reckless driving,
speed limits, prohibited acts, and penalties, and to further amend the said
act by adding thereto a new section numbered 8&6-a requiring operators of
certain motor vehicles disabled upon highways to set out flares, torches,
flags or other warning devices. [H B 78]

Approved March 8, 1938

1. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sections
sixty-one and sixty-two, as heretofore amended, and section seventy-
one, of chapter three hundred and forty-two of the Acts of the Gen-
eral Assembly of nineteen hundred and thirty-two, approved March
twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, and known, designated
and cited as the Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia, be amended and re-
enacted, and that the said act be further amended by adding thereto
a new section numbered eighty-six-a, so that the said amended sections
and the said new section shall read as follows:

Section 61. Reckless driving—(a) Irrespective of the maximum
speeds herein provided, any person who drives a vehicle upon a
highway recklessly, or at a speed or in a manner so as to endanger
or be likely to endanger life, limb or property of any person shall be
guilty of reckless driving.

(b) Any person who shall

(1) Drive a vehicle when not under proper control, or with
inadequate or improperly adjusted brakes upon any highway of this
State, or

(2) While driving a vehicle, overtake and pass another vehicle
proceeding in the same direction, upon or approaching the crest of a
grade or upon or approaching a curve in the highway, where the
driver’s view along the highway 1s obstructed, or

(3) Pass or attempt to pass two other vehicles abreast, moving
in the same direction, or

(4) Overtake and pass any other vehicle proceeding in the same
direction at any steam or electric railway grade crossing, or at any
intersection of highways, or while pedestrians are passing or about
to pass in front of either of such vehicles, unless permitted so to do
by a traffic light or police officer, or

(5) Pass a school bus while taking on or discharging school
children, whether going in the same or the opposite direction, at a
greater speed than five miles per hour, or

(6) Fail to give adequate and timely signals of intention to turn,
partly turn, slow down, or stop, as required by section seventy-five of
this act, or

(7) Exceed a reasonable speed under the circumstances and traffic
conditions existing at the time, or
(8) Fail to bring his vehicle to a stop immediately before enter-
ing a highway from a side road when there is traffic approaching upon
such highway within five hundred feet of such point of entrance,
shall be guilty of reckless driving.

(c) Every person convicted of reckless driving, under this section,
shall, for a first violation, be punished by a fine of not less than ten
dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in jail
for not more than thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment ;
for each second or subsequent conviction for the offense of reckless
driving, under this section, committed within twelve months from the
date of a prior conviction for reckless driving, every such person shall
be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars, nor more than five
hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in jail for not less than ten days
nor more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

In addition to the foregoing punishment, any justice or court may
suspend any license issued to such convicted person under an act of
the General Assembly, approved March twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred
and thirty-two, and amendments thereof, known, designated and cited
as the Virginia Operators’ and Chauffeurs’ License Act, for a period of
not less than ten days nor more than six months, and such justice or
court shall require such convicted person to surrender his license so
suspended. |

It shall be the duty of such justice or court, or the clerk of such
justice or court, to transmit such license to the Director of the Division
of Motor Vehicles, along with the report of such conviction required
to be sent to the division.

If any person shall drive any vehicle upon any highway while his
license 1s so suspended he shall be punished as provided in section
thirty of the said Virginia Operators’ and Chauffeurs’ License Act.

Section 62. Restrictions as to speed; other acts declared mis-
demeanors.—Any person who shall

(a) Drive any vehicle upon a highway in this State at such speed
as unnecessarily to block, hinder: or retard the orderly and safe use of
the highway or so as to cause congestion on the highway, or

(b) Drive upon any highway in this State any motor vehicle at
a speed in excess of

(1) Fifteen miles an hour when passing a school during recess
or while children are going to or leaving school, provided that markers
be placed on the highway so as to indicate the location of such schools, or

(2) Fifteen miles an hour in a business district as defined in this
act, or

(3) Twenty-five miles an hour in a residential district as defined
in this act, or

(4) Such speed as shall be fixed by the State Highway Com-
mission or the authorities of cities and towns, for congested areas
or curves, right angle turns or other dangerous points on the highways,
when such areas or points are clearly indicated by markers or signs, or
(5) Drive anywhere else upon a highway in this State any school
bus carrying school children to or from school at a speed in excess of
thirty-five miles per hour, or any other passenger carrying bus at a
speed in excess of fifty miles per hour or any passenger motor vehicle
or motorcycle at a speed in excess of fifty-five miles per hour, or any
other motor vehicle, including trucks, at a speed in excess of forty-five
miles per hour, or

(c) Drive to the left of the center of the street except upon one-
way streets, or

(d) Violate any provision of the right of way laws, as set forth
in sections seventy-six and seventy-seven of this act, or

(e) Drive a vehicle out of an alley, lane or building into a street
without first bringing such vehicle to a stop immediately before enter-
ing such street, or

(f) Make a left turn without passing to the right of the center
of the intersection, whether marked or not, or

(g) Make a right turn without keeping close to the curb, or
(h) Coast or operate a motor vehicle with the gears in neutral, or

(i) While operating a vehicle upon any highway, fail or refuse
to control the lights of such vehicle by shifting, depressing, tilting or
dimming the headlight beams thereof so as not to project into the eyes
of the driver of any oncoming vehicle a glaring or dazzling light,

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be punished
in accordance with the provisions of section one hundred and eighteen
of this act.

Section 71. Limitations on privileges of overtaking and passing.—
The driver of a vehicle shall not drive to the left side of the center
line of a highway in overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding
in the same direction unless such left side is clearly visible and is free
of oncoming traffic for a sufficient distance ahead to permit such
overtaking and passing to be made in safety, and such overtaking
vehicle shall give way to an oncoming vehicle.

Section 86-a. Flares and other signals—-Whenever any bus or
truck is disabled and stops upon any portion of the traveled portion
of any highway in this State, except within the corporate limits of
cities or upon streets or highways which are artificially lighted at night,
at any time during which lights are required upon motor vehicles by
section ninety-four of this act, the operator of such bus or truck shall
place or cause to be placed on the roadway three flares or torches of
a type approved by the director. One of said flares shall be placed in
the center lane of traffic occupied by the disabled bus or truck and not
less than forty paces therefrom in the direction of traffic approaching
in that lane, one not less than forty paces from such bus or truck in the
opposite direction, and one at the traffic side of such bus or truck not
closer than ten feet from the front or rear thereof; provided, however,
that if such bus or truck is disabled within three hundred feet of a
curve or crest of a hill, or other obstruction to view, the flares in that
direction shall‘be so placed as to afford ample warning to other users
of the highway, but in no case less than forty paces nor more than one
hundred and twenty paces from the disabled vehicle. If any such
vehicle is used for the transportation of inflammable liquids in bulk,
whether loaded or empty, or for transporting inflammable gases, red
electric lanterns shall be used in lieu of flares, which lanterns shall be
lighted and placed upon the roadway in the manner provided above for
the placing of flares. During such time as lights on motor vehicles
are not required red «lags shall be used in the place of flares, torches
or lanterns, which flags shall be placed upon the roadway in the manner
above set out for flares, torches and lanterns, except that no flag shall be
required to be placed at the side of such vehicle; but if the disablement
of such vehicle continues into the period when lights on motor vehicles
are required, flares, torches or lanterns shall be placed as above set forth.