Chap. 389.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 5, 8, 14, 16, 17, 18, 23 and
24 of chapter 385 of the Acts of Assembly of 1932, 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 pro-
visions of this act, approved March 29, 1932. [H B 210]

Approved March 30, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sections
five, eight, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty-three, and
twenty-four of chapter three hundred and eighty-five of the Acts of
Assembly of nineteen hundred and thirty-two, entitled an act to pro-
vide for the licensing of chauffeurs, and other motor vehicle oper-
ators, and for the suspension and revocation of such licenses for certain
causes; to fix liability on certain persons for negligence in the oper-
ation of motor vehicles on the public highways; and to prescribe
penalties 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 5. What persons shall not be licensed.—(a) No operator’s
license shall be issued to any person under the age of eighteen years,
except as hereinafter provided, and no chauffeur’s license shall be
issued to any person under the age of eighteen years.

(b) The division shall not issue an operator’s or chauffeur’s license
to any person whose license, either as operator or chauffeur, has been
suspended, during the period of such suspension; nor to any person
whose license, either as operator or chauffeur, has been revoked under
the provisions of this act until the expiration of one year after such
license was revoked.

(c) The division shall not issue an operator’s or chauffeur’s license
to any person who it has determined is an habitual drunkard or is
addicted to the use of narcotic drugs.

(d) No operator’s or chauffeur’s license shall be issued to any
applicant who has previously been adjudged insane or an idiot, im-
becile, epileptic, or feeble-minded, and who has not at the time of such
application been restored to competency by judicial decree or released
from a hospital for the insane or feeble-minded upon a certificate of
the superintendent that such person is competent, nor then unless the
division is satisfied that such person is competent to operate a motor
vehicle with safety to persons and property.
(e) The division shall not issue an operator’s or chauffeur’s license
to any person when in the opinion of the division such person is afflicted
with or suffering from such physical or mental disability or disease as
will serve to prevent such person from exercising reasonable and ordi-
nary control over a motor vehicle while operating the same upon the
highways, nor shall a license be issued to any person who is unable to
understand highway warning or direction signs.

Provided that the words physical disability or disease shall not be
construed to mean persons unable to hear or to speak, or both, and
who have good vision and can satisfactorily demonstrate their ability
to drive an automobile or truck, and who have sufficient knowledge of
traffic rules and regulations.

(£) The division shall not issue an operator’s or chauffeur’s license
to any person who it has determined has been convicted of any of the
following crimes within twelve months prior to the application for
such license:

First. Voluntary 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 registra-
tion 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 three charges of
reckless driving all within the preceding twelve months.

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

Section 8. Application for operator’s or chauffeur’s license——(a)
Every application for an operator’s or chauffeur’s license shall be made
upon a form approved and furnished by the division and shall be veri-
fied by the’ applicant before a person authorized to administer oaths,
and for administering this oath no charge shall be made.

(b) Every applicant shall state under oath or affirm the name,
age, sex, and residence address of such applicant, whether or not the
applicant has theretofore been licensed as an operator or chauffeur
and if so, when and by what state, and whether or not such license
has ever been suspended or revoked and if so, the date of and reason
for such suspension or revocation, and such applicant shall also answer
under oath any and all questions constituting a part of the form of
application used or otherwise propounded by the division incidental
to the examination of such applicant for operator’s or chauffeur’s
license.
Section 14. Duplicate license certificates and chauffeur’s badges.—
In the event that an operator’s or chauffeur’s license or a chauffeur’:
badge issued under the provisions of this act shall be lost or destroyed,
the person to whom the same was issued may obtain a duplicate or
substitute thereof upon furnishing proof satisfactory to the division
that such license or badge has been lost or destroyed or that there are
good reasons why such duplicate should be issued, and upon the
payment of a fee of twenty-five (25c) cents for each such duplicate
license or badge.

Section 16. Court to report convictions and may recommend sus-
pension of license——Every court having jurisdiction over offenses com-
mitted under this act, or any other act of this State or any city, town
or county ordinance regulating or affecting the operation of motor
vehicles on highways shall forward to the division promptly a record
of the conviction of any person in said court for a violation of any of
said laws or ordinances, together with the residence address of such
convicted person and shall show on the operator’s or chauffeur’s license,
if obtainable, of such convicted person in the spaces provided therefor
the date of such conviction, the violation of which such person is found
guilty, and the court in which the conviction is had, and such court
may recommend the suspension of the operator’s or chauffeur’s license
of the person so convicted and the division shall thereupon consider
and act upon such recommendation in such manner as may seem to it
best.

Wilful failure, refusal or neglect to comply with any of the pro-
visions of this section shall subject the person who is guilty thereof to
a fine of not less than ten ($10.00) dollars nor more than fifty ($50.00)
dollars and may be ground for removal from office. Charges for
dereliction of the duties imposed by this section shall be tried by a
court of record having jurisdiction over the officer whose negligence is
complained of.

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 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 three charges of reck-
less driving all within the preceding twelve months.
Sixth. A conviction of a driver of a motor vehicle, involved in an
.ccident 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
iccident.

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

Section 18. Division may suspend or revoke licenses.—(a) The
jivision may after due hearing, upon not less than five days’ notice in
writing, said notice to be sent by registered letter to the address given
by the operator or chauffeur when applying for his license, which
shall constitute sufficient form of notice, suspend or revoke the oper-
ator’s or chauffeur’s license issued to any person under the provisions
of this act whenever it is satisfactorily proved to the division:

First. That such person has committed any offenses for the con-
viction of which mandatory revocation of license is provided in section
seventeen.

Second, That such person has, by reckless or unlawtul operation
of a motor vehicle, caused or contributed to an accident resulting in
death or injury to any other person or serious property damage.

Third. That such person is incompetent to drive a motor vehicle or
‘s afflicted with mental or physical infirmities or disabilities rendering
it unsafe for such person to drive a motor vehicle upon the highways.

Fourth. That such person is an habitual reckless or negligent driver
of a motor vehicle or has committed a serious violation of the motor
vehicle laws of this State.

Fifth. That such person is an habitual drunkard or is addicted to
the use of narcotic drugs. The division in determining the propriety otf
suspending or revoking a license as provided for in this section, may
take into consideration for that purpose facts and conditions ante-
dating the issuance of such license.

The notice of a hearing when mailed to any person, as provided
for in this section, shall contain a statement of the charges to be heard,
the date, time and place of the hearing to be held.

The hearing shall be in the county or city wherein the licensee
resides or in the county or city in which the offense with which the
licensee has been charged is alleged to have been committed.

(b) The division is hereby authorized to suspend or revoke the
right or license of any non-resident to operate a motor vehicle in this
State for any cause for which the license of a resident operator 01
chauffeur may be suspended or revoked, and any non-resident, whc
operates a motor vehicle upon a highway when his right to operate has
been suspended or revoked by the division shall be guilty of a mus:
demeanor and subject to punishment as provided in section thirty.
(c) The division is hereby authorized to suspend or revoke the
license of any resident of this State upon receiving notice of the con.
viction of such person in another state of an offense therein, which
if committed in this State, would be grounds for the suspension o1
revocation of the license of an operator or chauffeur. The division i:
further authorized, upon receiving a record of the conviction in this
State of a non-resident driver of a motor vehicle of any offense undet
the motor vehicle laws of this State, to forward a certified copy of
such record to the motor vehicle administrator in the state wherein
the person so convicted is a resident.

(d) The division shall not suspend a license for a period of more
than one year and upon suspending or revoking any license shall re-
quire that such license and the badge of any chauffeur whose license
is so suspended or revoked shall be surrendered to and retained by the
division except that at the end of a period of suspension such license
and any chauffeur’s badge so surrendered shall be returned to the
licensee. |

Section 23. Violation of license provisions.—It shall be unlawful
for any person to commit any of the following acts:

First. To display or cause or permit to be displayed or to have in
possession any operator’s or chauffeur’s license knowing the same to
be fictitious or to have been cancelled, revoked, suspended or altered ;

Second. To lend to, or knowingly permit the use of, by one not
entitled thereto, any operator’s or chauffeur’s license issued to the per-
son so lending or permitting the use thereof:

Third. To display or to represent as one’s own any operator’s or
chauffeur’s license not issued to the person so displaying the same;

Fourth. To fail or refuse to surrender to the division, upon de-
mand, any operator’s or chauffeur’s license which has been suspended,
cancelled or revoked as provided by law, or to fail or refuse to sur-
render such suspended, cancelled, or revoked license to any court in
which an operator or chauffeur has been tried and convicted for the
violation of any law or ordinance of this State or any city, town or
-ounty thereof, regulating or affecting the operation of a motor vehicle.

Fifth. To use a false or fictitious name or give a false or fictitious
iddress in any application for an operator’s or chauffeur’s license, or
iny renewal or duplicate thereof, or knowingly to make a false state-
nent or knowingly to conceal a material fact or otherwise commit a
raud in any such application.

Section 24. Making false affidavit perjury.—Any person who shall
nake any false affidavit or shall knowingly swear or affirm falsely to
iny matter or thing required by the terms of this act and/or by the
livision to be sworn to or affirmed, shall be guilty of perjury and upon
onviction shall be punishable by a fine or imprisonment as other per-
ons committing perjury are punishable.