Chap. 127,—An ACT to amend and reenact Section 109, as amended, of “The
Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia”, relating to inspection of motor vehicles.

[H 199]
Approved March 5, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section one hundred nine of “The Motor Vehicle Code

of Virginia”, as amended, be amended and reenacted as follows:
_ Section 109. Enforcement provisions.—(a) The superintendent
is authorized at any time to compel, by proclamation of the Gov-
ernor or otherwise, the owner and/or operator of any motor
vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer operated upon a highway within this
Commonwealth to submit such vehicle to an inspection of its
mechanism and equipment by an official inspection station, desig-
nated for that purpose, and any such owner and/or operator who
fails to so submit a motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer operated
upon the highways of this State to such inspection, or who fails
or refuses to correct or have corrected in accordance with the
requirements of this act, any mechanical defects found by such
inspection to exist, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be
punished in accordance with the provisions of section one hundred
eighteen, and each operation of such motor vehicle, trailer or semi-
trailer over any highway in this State after failure to comply with
this law shall constitute a separate offense.

(b) The superintendent is authorized to designate, furnish
instructions to, and to supervise official inspection stations for the
inspection of motor vehicles and/or vehicles and for adjusting and
correcting equipment enumerated in this act in such a manner as
to conform to specifications hereinbefore set forth. And the super-
intendent shall adopt and furnish to such official inspection stations
rules and regulations governing the making of inspections herein
provided for and may require the filing by the owner and/or oper-
ator of such station of a surety bond conditioned upon the faithful
performance of the duties required by this act and the rules and
regulations promulgated by the superintendent. The superintendent
may at any time, after five days’ notice, revoke the designation
or appointment of any official inspection station designated or
appointed by him. When the equipment has been corrected in
accordance with this act the official inspection station shall issue
to the operator or owner of the vehicle, on forms furnished by the
department, a duplicate of which is retained by such station, a
certificate showing the date of correction, registration number of
the vehicle and the official designation of such station; provided,
10wever, that common carriers, operating under certificate from
the State Corporation Commission, who desire to do so may install
xr use with the approval of the superintendent, private inspection
stations for the inspection and correction of their equipment.

(c) The superintendent shall not authorize or designate any
yerson, firm, or corporation as an official inspection station unless
and until such person, firm, or corporation shall satisfy the super-
intendent under such regulations as the superintendent shall pre-
scribe that such person, firm or corporation has met and will con-
tinue to conform with at least the following minimum standards:

(1) The station is equipped with sufficient mechanical equip-
ment and apparatus and is manned with skilled and competent
automotive mechanics to make a complete and thorough inspection
in accordance with the provisions of this section;

(2) That sufficient space, facilities, or other adequate means
are provided by the said station at the place where the official
inspections are to be made for testing the brakes, headlights and
steering mechanism of motor vehicles and to ascertain that motor
vehicles inspected by such station shall meet such safety standards
as may be prescribed by the superintendent under the terms of this
act;
(3) That the person making the actual inspection for the
station, or under whose immediate personal supervision such
inspection is made, shall have not less than one year’s practical
experience as an automotive mechanic; and

(4) No person shall be designated by such station to make
inspections for it unless said person has been approved for that
purpose by the Department of State Police.

(d) Each official inspection station may make a charge of
fifty cents for each such inspection, but the imposition of such
charge shall not be mandatory, provided, however, that no such
charge shall be made unless the station contracts therefor before-
hand.

(e) The term “inspection” as herein used shall not include
repairs or adjustments. Repairs or adjustments necessary to bring
the vehicle in conformity with this act may be made by agreement
between the owner and such station or whatever repair station the
owner may select. If such adjustments or repairs are made by
anyone other than an official inspection station such vehicle must
again be inspected and approved by an official inspection station.
No person, firm or corporation, unless authorized and designated
as such in accordance with the provisions of this section, shall,
either directly or indirectly, display, advertise, or represent that
such person, firm or corporation is an official inspection station.

(f) Any person, firm, or corporation violating this section
shall, except as herein otherwise provided, be punished by a fine of
not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than five hun-
dred dollars ($500.00), for the first offense, and not less than one
hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than one thousand dollars
($1,000.00) for each subsequent offense, and, if the violation is by
an official inspection station, in addition to such fine, the superin-.
tendent of State police shall revoke the authority and cancel the
appointment and designation of such official inspection station, if,
in his opinion, after a hearing, the facts warrant such action, irre-
spective of whether or not the violation is a first offense against
this section.

_ (g) The superintendent shall promulgate regulations for the
inspections of motor vehicles under this act and shall furnish each
oficial inspection station with a printed set of such regulations
suitable for posting and such stations shall post the same in a con-
spicuous place in the portion of its premises where such inspections
are made, and shall cause its employees making official inspections
for it and on its behalf to be conversant with such regulations.

(h) Neither: the superintendent nor any employee of said
department shall be pecuniarily interested in any company writing
bonds for the official inspection stations nor shall any employee of
said department solicit business for any such bonding companies.