CHAPTER 125

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 46.1-293, 46.1-808, 46.1-311 and 46.1-318
of the Code of Virginia, and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding
thereto § 46.1-308.1, relating to approval of certain equipment and
devices used on a motor vehicle.

(H 401]

Approved February 29, 1960

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 46.1-293, 46.1-308, 46.1-311 and 46.1-313 of the Code of Vir-
ginia be amended and reenacted and that § 46.1-308.1 be added to the Code
of Virginia to read as follows:

§ 46.1-293. When safety glass required. (a) It shall be unlawful for
any person to operate on any highway a motor vehicle registered in this
State and manufactured or assembled after January first, nineteen hun-
dred and thirty-five, and designed or used for the purpose of carrying
persons for compensation 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.

(b) It shall be unlawful to operate on any highway any motor vehicle
registered in this State, manufactured or assembled after January first,
nineteen hundred and thirty-six, unless such vehicle be equipped with
safety glass approved by the Superintendent, or meets the standards and
specifications of the American Standards Association whenever glass is
used in doors, windows, windshields and sideshields.

(c) The term “safety glass’ as used in this section shall be construed
to mean any product composed of glass so manufactured, fabricated or
treated as substantially to prevent shattering and flying of the glass when
struck or broken. The Commissioner shall maintain a list of types of glass
approved by the Superintendent as conforming to the specifications and
requirements for safety glass as set forth in this section and shall not
issue a license for or relicense any motor vehicle subject to the provisions
herein stated unless such motor vehicle be equipped as herein provided
with such approved type of glass.

(d) No glazing material other than safety glass shall be used in any
motor vehicle registered in this State, except that the Superintendent
may permit safety glazing materials other than glass to be used in lieu
of safety glass in portions of motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers
* designated by him; provided any such material so used bears a trade
name or identifying mark, and has been submitted to and approved by the
Superintendent for such use prior to being used in any such motor vehicle,
trailer or semitrailer.

(e) If any person shall operate any vehicle in violation of the pro-
visions of this section, he shall be punished as provided in § 46.1-16; if such
person shall operate such vehicle under a certificate issued by the State
Corporation Commission, in addition to the penalty provided in § 46.1-16
the certificate of such person may in the discretion of the State Corpora-
tion Commission be suspended until the provisions of this section are
satisfactorily complied with.

(f) Replacement safety glass installed in any part of a vehicle other
than the windshield need not bear a trademark or name, provided the glass
consists of two or more sheets of glass separated by a glazing material,
and provided the glass is cut from a piece of approved safety glass, and
provided the edge of the glass can be observed.
§ 46.1-308. Illegal possession or sale of unapproved equipment. 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 device, warning device, 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, glass or other
equipment unless of a type that has been submitted to and approved by
the Superintendent, or meets or exceeds the standards and specifications
of ike Society of Automotive Engineers or the American Standards Asso-

10Nn.

§ 46.1-308.1. It shall be unlawful for any person to use or have as
equipment upon a motor vehicle operated on a highway any device or
equipment mentioned in § 46.1-808 of the Code which is defective or in
unsafe condition.

§ 46.1-311. Procedure for approval of equipment. The Superintendent
may 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 title and with recognized testing standards which the
Superintendent is hereby authorized to adopt, and payment of the fee
hereinafter provided. * The Superintendent shall then within a reasonable
fime either disapprove the device or issue a certificate of approval there-

or.

The Superintendent may waive such approval and the issuance of a
certificate of approval when the device or equipment required to be ap-
proved by this title 1s identified as complying with the standards and speci-
fications of the Society of Automotive Engineers or the American
Standards Association.

§ 46.1-313. Retesting of devices and revocation of approval certifi-
cates. The Superintendent, 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 title, may,
after notice to the manufacturer thereof, suspend or revoke the certificate
of approval issued therefor, until or unless such device is resubmitted to and
retested by an authorized testing agency and is found to meet the require-
ments of this title. In the event no certificate of approval for such device
or equipment has been issued by the Superintendent by reason of a waiver
as provided in § 46.1-811 of the Code, the notice to the manufacturer as
herein provided shall have the effect of making further sales of such device
or equipment unlawful in this State until such device or equipment has
been submitted to the Superintendent and a certificate of approval has been
tssued in accordance with the procedure established pursuant to § 46.1-311
of the Code. The Superintendent 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 re-
quirements of this title the Superintendent may permanently revoke the
certificate of approval of such device. In the discretion of the Superin-
tendent, 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.