Chap. 407.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 5, as heretofore amended, of
Chapter 385 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1932, approved March 29,
1932, and therein designated as the Virginia Operators’ and Chauffeurs’ License
Act, relating to persons to whom a license shall not be issued. [H B 489]

Approved April 4, 1942

1. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
five, as heretofore amended, of chapter three hundred and eighty-five of
the Acts of the General Assembly of nineteen hundred and thirty-two,
approved March twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, and
therein designated as the Virginia Operators’ and Chauffeurs’ License
Act, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 5. What persons shall not be licensed —(a) No oper-
ator’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whose license, either as operator or chauffeur, has been revoked under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was revoked.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, imbecile,

epileptic, or feeble-minded, and who has not at the time of such applica-
tion been restored to competency by judicial decree or released from a
hospital for the insane or feeble-minded upon a certificate of the super-
intendent 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 ordinary
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
or temporary instruction permit to any person who it has determined has
been convicted or has forfeited bail upon a charge of any of the following
crimes within twelve months prior to the application of such license:

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 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. )

(g) The division shall not issue an operator’s or chauffeur’s license
or temporary instruction permit to any person in the event he has been
convicted in any court, state or Federal, in this or any other state, or has
forfeited bail, upon a charge of any of the crimes mentioned in the first,
second, fifth, or sixth paragraphs of subsection (f) of this section (for a
period of five years after the termination of the period provided in sub-
section (f) of this section), nor shall he operate any motor vehicle on the
highways of this State, unless he has first proved to the satisfaction of the
Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles his ability to respond in any
damages which may be adjudged against him on account of any accident
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
written certificate, in a form approved by the director, of an insurance
company duly authorized to do business within this State, that it has
cus. 407, 408, 409] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 647

issued to the person furnishing such proof an adequate automobile liability
insurance policy which at the date of the issuance of the certificate is in
full force and effect and in which such person is named as the insured,
shall be sufficient proof of his ability to so respond in damages. In the
event the said insurance policy should at any time within the five-year
period herein described become ineffective, the said director shall forth-
with revoke the license of the person required to file such insurance policy
or bond.