CHAPTER 239

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 46.1-850 and 46.1-378 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to driving while license suspended or revoked, and
operators’ and chauffeurs’ licenses; and to amend the Code of Virginia
by adding sections numbered 46.1-171.1 and 46.1-888.2, to authorize
the State Highway Commission to prohibit certain uses of the Inter-
state highways, and to require release for publication, under certain
conditions, of names of persons whose licenses have been suspended
or revoked.

(S 71]

Approved March 31, 1964

Be enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 46.1-350 and 46.1-373 of the Code of Virginia be amended
and reenacted, and that the Code of Virginia be amended by adding sections
numbered 46.1-171.1 and 46.1-383.2, as follows:

§ 46.1-171.1. The State Highway Commission may, when necessary
to promote safety, prohibit the use of Interstate highways, as described in
§ 88-36.1 of this Code, and other controlled access highways or any part
thereof by any or all of the following:

(1) pedestrians, (2) persons riding bicycles, (8) horse-drawn ve-
hicles, (4) self-propelled machinery or equipment, and (5) animals led,

idden or driven on the hoof.

The termini of any section of Interstate highway or other controlled
access highways, use of which is restricted under the provisions of this
section, shall be clearly indicated by a conspicuous marker.

Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of
a misdemeanor.

§ 46.1-850. (a) Except as otherwise provided in § 46.1-352.1, no per-
son resident or nonresident whose operator’s or chauffeur’s license or
instruction permit has been suspended or revoked by any court or by the
Commissioner or by operation of law pursuant to the provisions of this
title or of § 18.1-59 or who has been forbidden as prescribed by law by the
Commissioner, the State Corporation Commission, the State Highway
Commissioner, or the Superintendent of State Police, to operate a motor
vehicle in this State shall thereafter drive any motor vehicle or any self-
propelled machinery or equipment on any highway in this State unless and
until the period of such suspension or revocation shall have terminated.

Any person violating this section shall for the first offense be
confined in jail not less than ten days nor more than six months; and may
in addition be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two
hundred dollars; and for the second or any subsequent offense be con-
fined in jail not less than two months nor more than one year; and may
in addition be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor more than one
thousand dollars. The court shall not suspend the entire jail sentence in
any case, but may in its discretion suspend a portion thereof, provided
that this provision, in the discretion of the court, shall not apply if the
operation of the motor vehicle was due to an emergency involving danger
to the health or life of any person, or to property; and provided further
that the court may in its discretion prescribe that the jail sentence shall
be served at such time or times as the court may direct after considering
the circumstances of the person convicted of violating this section.

§ 46.1-378. The Division shall issue to every person licensed as an
operator, an operator’s license and to every person licensed as a chauffeur,
a chauffeur’s license. Every such license applied for and issued or renewed,
on and after July one, nineteen hundred sixty-four, shall contain an ap-
propriate endorsement or indication where applicable that the licensee has
been licensed (1) to operate passenger carrying buses equipped with more
than 32 passenger seats or, (2) to operate any vehicle or combination of
vehicles having three or more axles with an actual gross weight in excess
of 40,000 pounds.

Every applicant intending to operate one or more of the motor ve-
hicles described above, when applying for an operator’s or chauffeur’s
license, shall state in his application, if applicable, that he has driven at
least 500 miles in the vehicle of the classification which he intends to
operate and for which he seeks to be licensed, or such person shall submit
to, and pass, the examination provided for in § 46.1-869, using the type of
vehicle for which he seeks to be licensed. The Division shall be vested
with authority to effect such changes in the endorsements during the
validity of the license as may be appropriate.

The provisions of this section shall be applicable to persons applying
for temporary instruction permits as otherwise provided for in this title.

Every person issued an operator’s or chauffeur’s license on or after
July one, nineteen hundred sixty-four, who operates any motor vehicle
of the classifications herein described, and whose operator’s or chauffeur’s
license does not carry an endorsement or indication that such licensee ts
licensed as herein provided shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 46.1-888.2. The Commissioner shall make available, semi-monthly,
for release through all daily and weekly newspapers of general circulation,
in this State, and upon request, through other news media in this State,
the names and addresses, as shown on the records of the Division of Motor
Vehicles, of any person whose operator’s or chauffeur’s license has been
suspended or revoked, for any reason, during the period of revocation or
suspension of such person’s license. Provided, however, the name and
address of such person shall not be released more than once to any news-
paper or other news media. The Commissioner shall request such news-
papers or other news media to publish such information as a public
service.

The Commissioner, his agents and assistants, shall be absolved from
any and all legal liability which may arise out of any such erroneous re-
lease of any information which he reasonably believes to be correct.