Chap. 421.An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 46, 60, 61, 65, 69, 70, 86, 95,
97, 103, 106, 107, 108 and 120 of the Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia, as amended,
relating to the rights, duties and liabilities of owners and operators of motor
vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers and of other persons with respect to the use
of the public highways and to the use, ownership, maintenance and repair of
motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers; to reckless driving and penalties
therefor; to requirements with respect to motor vehicle accessories and equip-
ment; to certain functions, powers and duties of the Director of the Division of
Motor Vehicles and of certain other persons and public officers, agents and
employees; and to fees in certain cases. [S B 286]

Approved April 4, 1942

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions forty-six, sixty, sixty-one, sixty-five, sixty-nine, seventy, eighty-
six, ninety-five, ninety-seven, one hundred and three, one hundred and
six, one hundred and seven, one hundred and eight and one hundred
and twenty of the Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia, as amended, be
amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 46. Altering or Forging Certificate of Title, Registration
Card, or Number Plates, a Felony.—Any person who shall alter, with
fraudulent intent, any certificate of title or registration card or license
plate or plates issued by the division or by any other state or district, or
forge or counterfeit any certificate of title or registration card or license
plate or plates purporting to have been issued by the division under the
provisions of this act or by any other state or district under a similar
act or acts or who shall alter or falsify with fraudulent intent or forge
any assignment thereof, or who shall hold or use any such certificate,
registration card or assignment, license plate or plates, knowing the
same to have been altered, forged, or falsified, shall be guilty of a felony
and upon conviction thereof shall be punished as provided in section one
hundred and nineteen of this act.

The owner of a vehicle if operating same when such vehicle has
altered or forged license plates thereon, used as identification plates, shall
be deemed to have knowledge of such alteration or forgery.

Section 60. Garage Keeper to Report Damaged and Abandoned
Vehicles——(a) The person in charge of any garage or repair shop to
which is brought any motor vehicle that shows evidence of having been
involved in a serious motor vehicle accident or struck by a bullet shall
report to the nearest police station or to the state police within twenty-
four hours after such motor vehicle is received, giving the engine number,
registration number and the name and address of the owner or operator
of such vehicle 1f known.

(b) The person in charge of any garage or repair shop, or auto-
motive service or storage place shall report to the nearest police station
or to the state police any motor vehicle left unclaimed in his place of busi-
ness for more than two weeks when he does not of his own knowledge
know the name of the owner and the reason for such storage.

(c) The person in charge of any garage or repair shop shall
within twenty-four hours report to the director of the division of motor
vehicles any motor vehicle, other than an authorized police or fire depart-
ment vehicle, brought to his place of business upon which 1s discovered
any radio transmitter, any short wave radio receiver capable of receiving
radio transmissions of a frequency greater than 1600 kilocycles, any
bullet-proof glass, or any smoke screen device of any nature.

(d) All reports required in this section shall be made in writing
on appropriate forms furnished by the division.

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 life, limb or
property of any person shall be guilty of reckless driving; provided that
the driving of a motor vehicle in violation of any speed limit provision
of section sixty-two of this act shall not of itself constitute ground for
prosecution for reckless driving under this section.

(b) Any person who shall

(1) Drive a vehicle when not under proper control, or with in-
adequate 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 is obstructed, or

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

(4) Overtake or pass any other vehicle proceeding in the same
direction at any steam or electric railway grade crossing, or at any inter-
section 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) Fail to stop at a school bus while taking on or discharging
school children, whether going in the same or the opposite direction and
to remain stopped until all school children are clear of the highway, 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 entering
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 the 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.
If such person so convicted has not obtained the license required by the
said Act such justice or court may direct in the judgment of conviction
that such person shall not, for such period of not less than ten days nor
more than six months as may be prescribed in the said judgment, drive
or operate any motor vehicle in this State. |

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 is so suspended, or while so forbidden to drive or operate a motor
vehicle in this State, he shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for a
period not less than two days nor more than six months, and there may
be imposed in addition thereto a fine of not more than five hundred
dollars. :

Section 65. Drive on Right Side of Highways.—Except as other-
wise provided in section sixty-seven upon all highways of sufficient width
the driver of a vehicle shall drive the same upon the right half of the
highway, unless it is impracticable to travel on such side of the highway
and except when overtaking and passing another vehicle subject to the
limitations applicable in overtaking and passing set forth in sections
sixty-nine and seventy-one of this act.

Section 69. Overtaking a Vehicle—(a) The driver of any vehicle
overtaking another vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall pass at
least two feet to the left thereof, and shall not again drive to the right
side of the highway until safely clear of such overtaken vehicle, except as
hereinafter provided. ,

(b) The driver of an overtaking motor vehicle when traveling
outside of a business or residence district as herein defined shall give
audible warning with his horn or other warning device before passing
or attempting to pass a vehicle proceeding in the same direction.

—(c) The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass upon the right
of another vehicle which is making or about to make a left turn and the
driver of which has given a signal as required in section seventy-five of
this act. , )

Section 70. Driver to Give Way to Overtaking Vehicle—Except
when overtaking and passing on the right is permitted, the driver of a
vehicle about to be overtaken and passed by another vehicle approaching
from the rear at a lawful rate of speed shall give way to the right im
favor of the overtaking vehicle on suitable and audible signal being given
by the driver of the overtaking vehicle, and shall not increase the speed
of his vehicle until completely passed by the: overtaking vehicle. .
Section 86. Stopping on Highways.—(a) No vehicle shall be
stopped in such a manner as to impede or render ‘lungerous the use of
the highway by others, except in the case of an emergency as the result
of an accident or mechanical breakdown, when the vehicle shall be
removed from the highway as soon as possible, and such removal may
be ordered by a police officer at the expense of the owner if the disabled
vehicle creates a traffic hazard.

(b) Notruck or bus or part thereof shall be stopped on the traveled
portion of any highway for the purpose of taking on or discharging
cargo or passengers unless the operator cannot leave the traveled portion
of the highway with safety. ,

(c) No person shall refuse to move away from the scene of a
traffic accident when such person is directed to do so by a police officer.
, (d) No vehicle shall be stopped except close to and parallel to the
right hand edge of the curb or roadway.

(e) The council or other governing body of any city or town may,
by a general ordinance, provide for the regulation of parking within its
limits, including the right to install and maintain parking meters and
to require the deposit therein of a coin of a denomination to be prescribed
in said ordinance, and to determine the time during which a vehicle may
be parked and may authorize the city manager, the director of public
safety, the chief of police, or other designated officer within said city or
town to put said regulations into effect, including specifically the right
and authority to classify vehicles with reference to parking, and to
designate the time, place and manner such vehicles may be allowed to
park on city or town streets, and may delegate to the appropriate admin-
istrative official or officials the authority to make and enforce such addi-
tional rules and regulations as parking conditions may require, and may
prescribe penalties for failure to conform thereto.
| Section 95. Requirements as to Head Lamps.—(a) Approved
single-beam head lamps shall be aimed in accordance with requirements
adopted by the director so as not to project a glaring or dazzling light to
persons approaching such head lamps and shall be of sufficient intensity
to reveal persons and objects at a distance of at least two hundred (200)
feet. 7
(b) Approved multiple-beam head lamps shall be aimed in ac-
cordance with requirements adopted by the director based on recom-
mendations of the society of automotive engineers. An uppermost distri-
bution of light shall be provided of sufficient intensity to reveal persons
and objects at least three hundred and fifty (350) feet ahead, and at
least one lower, non-glaring distribution of light shall be provided. All
road lighting beams shall be of such intensity as to reveal persons and
objects at least one hundred (100) feet ahead.

Every new motor vehicle hereafter sold when operated on a high-
way shall be equipped with an indicator lamp in good condition which
shall indicate to the operator when the uppermost distribution of light
is being used.

(c) Whenever a vehicle is being operated upon a highway or a
portion thereof which highway is sufficiently lighted to reveal any person
cH. 421] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 675

or object upon such way at a distance of three hundred and fifty (350)
feet ahead, it shall be the duty of the operator of such vehicle to use one
of the lowermost distributions of light, or to dim the head lamps if the
vehicle has single-beam lamps. Whenever a vehicle approaches an on-
coming vehicle within five hundred (500) feet it shall be the duty of the
operator of such vehicle to use one of the lowermost distributions of
light so aimed that glaring rays are not projected into the eyes of the
oncoming driver, or to dim the headlamps if the vehicle has single-beam
amps.

Section 97. Lighting Device Specifications, Tests and Approval.—
(a) The director is authorized and required to determine whether any
lighting device of a type sold for use or used upon any motor vehicle,
trailer or semi-trailer will comply with the requirements of this act and
the specifications adopted by him for laboratory tests. The director is
authorized to adopt current specifications of the society of automotive
engineers for such laboratory tests. He shall publish lists of approved
devices by name and type.

__ (b) It shall be unlawful to operate any motor vehicle upon the
highways of this State unless equipped with lighting devices of a type
approved by the director and conforming to the specifications adopted
by the director as provided for in subsection (a) hereof.

Section 103. Glass Used in Doors, Windows, Windshields and
Sideshields—(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to operate any
motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer upon a highway with any sign,
poster or other non-transparent material upon the front windshield, side-
shields or rear windows of such motor vehicle other than a certificate or
other paper required to be so placed by law or which may be permitted
by the director.

_(b) Every permanent windshield on a niotor vehicle shall be
equipped with a device for cleaning snow, rain, moisture or other matter
from the windshield directly in front of the operator, which device shall
be so constructed as to be controlled or operated by the operator of the
vehicle, provided that after January first, nineteen hundred and forty-
three, every such device on a vehicle designed or used to carry passengers
for compensation or hire, or as a public conveyance to transport school
children or others, shall be of a mechanically or electrically operated
type. The device or devices on any motor vehicle manufactured or as-
sembled after January first, nineteen hundred and forty-three, shall clean
both the right and left sides of the windshield, and shall be of a mechan-
ically or electrically operated type. ,

The devices required by this subsection shall be of a type approved
by the director.

, (c) It shall be unlawful after January first, nineteen hundred
and thirty-five, for any person to operate on any highway a motor vehicle
registered in this State and manufactured or assembled after the said
date and designed or used for the purpose of carrying persons for com-
pensation or hire, or as a public conveyance to transport school children
and others, unless such vehicle be equipped with safety glass wherever
glass. is used in doors, windows, windshields and sideshields; this pro-
676 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [va., 1942

vision shall not, however, apply to any such vehicle registered in this or
any other state prior to January first, nineteen hundred and thirty-five.

It shall be unlawful after January first, nineteen hundred and thirty-
six to operate on any highway any motor vehicle registered in this State,
manufactured or assembled after the said date unless such vehicle be
equipped with safety glass wherever glass is used in doors, windows,
windshields and sideshields; this provision shall not, however, apply
to any vehicle registered in this or any other state prior to January first,
nineteen hundred and thirty-six.

The term “safety glass” as used in this subsection shall be con-
strued to mean any product composed of glass so manufactured, fabri-
cated, or treated as substantially to prevent shattering and flying of the
glass when struck or broken. The director of the division of motor ve-
hicles shall maintain a list of types of glass approved by the division
of motor vehicles as conforming to the specifications and requirements
for safety glass as set forth in this section and shall not issue a license
for or re-license any motor vehicle subject to the provisions herein stated
unless such motor vehicle be equipped as herein provided with such
approved type of glass.

If any person shall operate any vehicle in violation of the provisions
of this subsection, he shall be punished as provided in section one hun-
dred and eighteen of this act; if such person shall operate such vehicle
under a certificate issued by the State Corporation Commission, in addi-
tion to the penalty provided in section one hundred and eighteen, the
certificate of such person may in the discretion of the State Corporation
Commission be suspended until the provisions of this subsection are
satisfactorily complied with. — ,

(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to replace any glass in
any vehicle required to have safety glass or in any school bus with any
glass other than an approved type of safety glass.

It shall be unlawful for any person to replace a windshield glass
in a vehicle not required to have safety glass with any glass other than
plain plate glass or with safety glass of a type approved for windshield
use.

Section 106. Signal Devices—(a) Any motor vehicle which is so
constructed or carries a load in such a manner as to prevent a hand and
arm signal required in section seventy-five of this act from being visible
both to the front and rear of such vehicle, or any vehicle the driver of
which is incapable of giving the required hand and arm signal, shall be
equipped with a mechanical or electrical signal device which meets the
requirements of this act and is of a type that has been approved by the
director.

(b) Every device intended and used to give a signal of intention
to turn or to stop a vehicle, shall be so constructed and so installed as
to give a signal plainly visible under normal atmospheric and traffic con-
ditions from a distance of at least one hundred (100) feet to the rear
and one hundred (100) feet to the front of the vehicle; except that a
stop signal need be visible only to the rear; and provided that no front
signal shall be required on vehicles manufactured or assembled before

January 1, 1943.
(c) The director is authorized to adopt and enforce rules and
regulations not inconsistent with this section governing the construction,
location, and operation of signal devices and the color of lights which
may be used in any such signal devices, except that he shall make no
ruling affecting vehicles which measure less than twenty (20) feet from
the center of the top of the steering column to the rear end of the vehicle
or load and when the body or load of such vehicle extends less than
twenty-four (24) inches to the left of the center of the top of the steer-
ing column; provided that nothing contained herein shall prohibit the
requiring of an electrical or mechanical signal device on any vehicle the
driver of which is prevented by any reason from giving the required
hand and arm signal required in section seventy-five of this act.

Section 107. Approval Certificates—(a) It shall be unlawful for
any person to possess with intent to sell, or offer for sale either separately
or as a part of the equipment of a motor vehicle or to use or have as
equipment upon a motor vehicle operated on a highway any lighting de-
vice, horn or warning device, windshield wiper, mirror, signal device,
safety glass, or other equipment on which approval is herein required,
or any part or parts tending to change or alter the operation of such
device or devices, unless of a type that has been submitted to and ap-
proved by the director. Each such device shall bear thereon a trade-
mark or name and shall be accompanied by printed instructions as to the
proper mounting, use, and candle power of bulbs to be used therewith
and any particular methods of mounting or adjustments necessary to
meet the requirements of this act, and any rule or regulation of the
director. | 4“
(b) The director is authorized to establish a procedure for the
approval of equipment required to be so approved. Such procedure shall
include the submission of a sample of the device for test and record
purposes, submission of evidence that the device complies with this act
and with recognized testing standards which the director is hereby au-
thorized to adopt, and payment of the fee hereinafter provided. The
director shall then within a reasonable time either disapprove the device
or issue a certificate of approval therefor.

(c) The director shall approve methods of brake testing and head
light testing. Approval of the use of mechanical brake and light testing
equipment may be given by the director. When necessary, the director
may call upon the United States Bureau of Standards or some other
recognized testing agency to assist him in determining whether such
mechanical testing equipment shall be approved for the purpose set forth
in this act. ,

(d) The director when having reason to believe that an approved
lighting device, horn or warning device, signal device, mirror, windshield
wiper, safety glass, or other equipment for which a certificate of approval
has been issued, and which is being sold commercially does not under
ordinary conditions of use comply with the requirements of this act, may,
after notice to the manufacturer thereof, suspend or revoke the cer-
tificate of approval issued therefor, until or unless such device is re-
submitted to and retested by an authorized testing agency and is found
to meet the requirements of this act. The director may at the time of
retest purchase in the open market and submit to the testing agency one
or more sets of such approved device, and if such device upon such
retest fails to meet the requirements of this act the director may per-
manently revoke the certificate of approval of such device. In the discre-
tion of the director, an approval for the sale and use of any such device
may be amended to permit the continued use of such devices already sold
but to prohibit further sales of the device.

Section 108. Fees for Approval Certificates—Any person who
shall apply to the director for a certificate of approval required by this
chapter of this act, shall pay the fees herein prescribed:

(a) The fee for approval and recordation of head lamps, horns
or warning devices, safety glass, signal devices and other devices required
by this act to be approved by the director and not provided for else-
where in this section, shall be a sum not more than one hundred and
fifty ($150.00) dollars.

(b) . The fee for approval and recordation of rear lamps, spot-
lamps, or any other lighting devices shall be a sum not more than seventy-
five ($75.00) dollars.

(c) The fee for approval and recordation of mirrors, or wind-
shield wipers shall be a sum of not more than fifty ($50.00) dollars.

(d) The fee for approval and recordation of brake testing and
light testing machines shall be a sum not more than one hundred
($100.00) dollars for each type approved. |

--(e) Fees collected under this section shall be used by the director
in examining and testing devices to be approved, and for maintaining
arid publishing necessary records; and shall be in addition to the regular
appropriation made by law.

—, Section 120. Appearance Upon Arrest for Misdemeanor Under
Chapter Three.— , 7

(a) Whenever any person is arrested for a violation of any pro-
vision of chapter three of this act punishable as a misdemeanor the ar-
resting officer shall, except as otherwise provided in this section, take
the name and address of such person and the license number of his motor
vehicle and issue a summons or otherwise notify him in writing to ap-
pear at a time and place to be specified in such summons or notice, such
time to be at least five days after such arrest unless the person arrested
shall demand an earlier hearing, and such person shall, if he so desires
have a right to an immediate hearing or a hearing within twenty-four
hours at a convenient hour, and before a court having jurisdiction under
this act within the city, town or county wherein such offense was com-
mitted. Such officer shall thereupon and upon the giving by such person
of his written promise to appear at such time and place forthwith release
him from custody.

_ Any person refusing to give such written promise to appear shall
be taken immediately by the arresting officer before the nearest or most
accessible court having jurisdiction under this act. ,

Any person who wilfully violates his written promise to appear,
given in accordance with this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
and regardless of, and in addition to the cispasiiton of the charge por
which he was originally arrested.

‘(b) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall not’ be
mandatory as to any person arrested and charged with an offense causing
or contributing to an accident resulting in injury or death to any person
nor to any person charged with reckless driving, nor to any person whom
the arresting officer shall have good cause to believe has committed any
felony, nor to any person whom the officer has reason to believe may dis-
regard a summons issued under subsection (a) of this section, and the
arresting officer may in his discretion take such person forthwith before
the nearest or most accessible magistrate.

(c) Any officer violating any of the provisions of this section shall
be guilty of misconduct in office and subject to removal therefrom upon
complaint filed by any person in a court of competent jurisdiction.