Chap. 92.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 62, as amended, of Chapter 342 of
the Acts of Assembly of 1932, approved March 26, 1932, and known as “The
Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia”, such section relating to speed limits for motor
vehicles and unlawful driving, so as to permit the Governor by executive order
to increase the maximum speed limits of certain motor vehicles, and to remove
a provision making the section null and void after a specified date. fH 113]

Approved February 29, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section sixty-two, as amended, of chapter three hundred
forty-two of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred thirty-two, ap-
proved March twenty-six, nineteen hundred thirty-two, and known as
‘The Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia’, be amended and re-enacted, as
follows:

Section 62. Restrictions as to speed; other acts declared misdemean-
ors; changes in speed limits by executive order.—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 dur-
ing 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 Code, or (3) twenty-five miles an hour in a residential district as
defined in this Code, or (4) such speed as may be determined as fol-
lows: (1) the State Highway Commission and all highways maintained
by the State Highway Department or the authorities of cities and towns
on all highways maintained by them may increase or decrease the speed
in business districts and residential districts as defined and provided for
in this Code, provided such areas or points are clearly indicated by
markers or signs and such speed shall be based upon an engineering and
traffic investigation, or (11) such speed as shall be fixed by the State
Highway Commission on all highways maintained by the State High-
way Department or the authorities of cities and towns on all highways
maintained by them, 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 and such speed shall be based
upon an engineering and traffic investigation, or (5) drive anywhere
else upon a lnighway in this State any school bus carrying school chil-
dren 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 thirty-five
miles per hour, or any passenger motor vehicle or motorcycle at a speed
in excess of thirty-five miles per hour, or any other motor vehicle, in-
cluding trucks, at a speed in excess of thirty-five miles per hour, pro-
vided, however, the speed limit established by this section shall have no
application to the operation of any motor vehicle while being operated
by any member of the armed forces of this State or of the United States.
acting in his line of duty and on the orders of a commissioned officer of
such forces, or
(c) Drive to the left of a 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 Code, 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 entering
such street, or

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

(g) Makea right turn without keeping close to the curb, or

(h) Coast or operate a motor vehicle with the gears in neutral, or

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

(}) Drive any motor vehicle in any county having, according to the
last preceding United States census, more than six hundred inhabitants
per square mile, or in any section or zone of such county, at any speed
greater than the applicable maximum speed or speeds prescribed therefor
pursuant to the provisions of subsection (f) of section fifty-two of this
Code, by the governing board of such county, shall be guilty of a misde-
meanor and upon conviction, shall be punished in accordance with the
provisions of section one hundred eighteen, as from time to time amended,
of the Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia.

Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this section the Governor
may, if in his opinion an emergency exists due to a shortage of rubber
or gasoline, or relative to safety of life, limb or property on the high-
ways, or any of them, in the interest of war and defense economy, or
in the interest of safety of life, limb or property on the highways, pre-
scribe, by executive order, that no motor vehicle, or no motor vehicle
of any particular class or being used in any particular manner, may be
driven upon the highways of this State at a speed in excess of a certain
rate per hour, less than that in this section prescribed for the particular
class or particular use, provided that the reduced speed limit so pre-
scribed by executive order shall not be less for any class or use than
thirty miles an hour. The Governor may, whenever in his opinion the
existing conditions and situation justify so doing, increase the maximum
general speed limit by like executive order, provided that it shall not
be so increased as to any class or use beyond a maximum limit of fifty
miles an hour, and provided further that no such executive order shall
be effective to increase the maximum speed limit in excess of any maxi-
mum fixed by the State Highway Commission, or by any city, town or
county in pursuance of the authority of any provision of this section or
of any other law now or hereafter enacted, and thereafter the Governor
may, under like circumstances and in like manner, again decrease the
speed limit, and so on. In no case, however, shall any decrease in speed
limit be made effective earlier than the eleventh day subsequent to the
day of issuance of the executive order affecting the decrease. [very
executive order shall have the full force and effect of law. But the power
herein given the Governor to change or alter speed limits under this act
shall end on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred forty-six and the speed
limits in force on that date shall be effective until changed by the General
Assembly.

Any person who shall drive any motor vehicle upon a highway in
this State at a speed in excess of any maximum speed limit so established
by executive order shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction
shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of section one hun-
dred eighteen of the Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia.

}

LZ ,