46.2-1001 - Removal of unsafe vehicles; penalty.
§ 46.2-1001. Removal of unsafe vehicles; penalty.
Any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer examined by a law-enforcementofficer certified to perform vehicle safety inspections and found to beoperating with defective brakes, tires, wheels, steering mechanism, or anyother condition which is likely to cause an accident or a breakdown of themotor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer may be removed from the highway andnot permitted to operate again on the highway until the defects have beencorrected and the law-enforcement officer has found the corrections to besatisfactory. Such law-enforcement officer may allow any motor vehicle,trailer, or semitrailer discovered to be in such an unsafe condition whilebeing operated on the highway to continue in operation only to the nearestplace where repairs can be safely effected and only if such operation is lesshazardous to the public than to permit the motor vehicle, trailer, orsemitrailer to remain on the highway.
No person shall operate a motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer which hasbeen removed from service as provided in the foregoing provisions of thissection prior to correction and proper authorization by a law-enforcementofficer certified to perform vehicle safety inspection procedures.
For the purpose of this section, the term "law-enforcement officer certifiedto perform vehicle safety inspections" means those law-enforcement officerswho have satisfactorily met the requirements for initial certification andmaintenance of certification of driver/vehicle inspectors as prescribed bythe U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier SafetyAdministration. Those law-enforcement officers certified to place vehiclesout of service must receive annual in-service training in current federalmotor carrier safety regulations, safety inspection procedures, andout-of-service criteria. The Superintendent of State Police shall beresponsible for coordinating the annual in-service training. The agencyadministrator of the law-enforcement agencies employing law-enforcementofficers certified to perform vehicle safety inspections shall provide theDepartment of Criminal Justice Services with verification thatlaw-enforcement officers certified to perform vehicle safety inspections havemet the requirements for initial certification and maintenance ofcertification of driver/vehicle inspectors prescribed by the U.S. Departmentof Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration andsatisfactorily completed the annual in-service training required by thissection.
Every vehicle inspected by a local law-enforcement officer pursuant to thissection and found to be free of defects which would constitute grounds forremoval of the vehicle from service shall be issued a sticker as evidence ofsuch inspection and freedom from defects. Such stickers shall be valid for 90days. Any vehicle displaying a valid sticker shall be exempt from local orState Police inspections under this section. However, the fact that a vehicledisplays a valid sticker shall not prevent any local or State Police officerfrom stopping and inspecting the vehicle if he observes an obvious safetydefect. The Superintendent of State Police shall work cooperatively withlocal law-enforcement agencies of localities whose officers are authorized toperform inspections pursuant to this section to develop a standard sticker asprovided for in this section and uniform policies and procedures for issuanceand display of such stickers.
However, notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, beforeplacing any vehicle out of service, the vehicle operator shall be allowed twohours to effect repairs to his vehicle. Such repairs may be performed at thesite where the vehicle was inspected and found to be unsafe, provided thevehicle requiring repair is off the highway, where the repairs can beeffected safely. If such repairs remedy the condition or conditions thatwould have caused it to be taken out of service, it shall not be taken out ofservice, but allowed to resume its operations. No such repairs, however,shall be allowed if the vehicle's load consists of hazardous material asdefined in § 10.1-1400.
(1982, c. 90, § 46.1-279.01; 1985, c. 561; 1988, c. 77; 1989, c. 727; 1990,cc. 20, 167; 1991, cc. 284, 416; 1993, c. 409; 1995, cc. 39, 458; 1996, cc.24, 91, 144, 525; 1997, c. 35; 1999, cc. 68, 279; 2000, cc. 59, 112; 2002,cc. 142, 223, 263; 2003, cc. 82, 85.)