Title 31, Title 31 and Other Vehicles

No vehicle shall be or continue to be registered in the name of any person required to file proof of financial responsibility for the future unless proof shall be furnished for the vehicle.

(a) “Proof of financial responsibility for the future”, as used in this chapter, means proof of ability to respond in damages for liability, on account of accidents occurring subsequent to the effective date of the proof, arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a veh…

Proof of financial responsibility when required under this chapter, with respect to a vehicle or with respect to a person who is not the owner of a vehicle, may be given by filing: (1) A certificate of insurance as provided in § 31-32-21 or 31-32-22; (2) A bond as provided in 31-…

Proof of financial responsibility for the future may be furnished by filing with the division of motor vehicles the written certificate of any insurance carrier duly authorized to do business in this state certifying that there is in effect a motor vehicle liability policy for th…

A nonresident may give proof of financial responsibility by filing with the division of motor vehicles a written certificate or certificate of an insurance carrier authorized to transact business in the state in which the vehicle, or vehicles, owned by the nonresident is register…

If any insurance carrier not authorized to transact business in this state, which has qualified to furnish proof of financial responsibility, defaults in any undertakings or agreements, the division of motor vehicles shall not accept as proof any certificate of the carrier whethe…

(a) Certification. “Motor vehicle liability policy” as the term is used in this chapter means an “owner’s policy” or an “operator’s policy” of liability insurance, certified as provided in § 31-32-21 or 31-32-22 as proof of financial responsibility for the future, and issued, exc…

When an insurance carrier has certified a motor vehicle liability policy under § 31-32-21 or 31-32-22, and the certified policy is subsequently cancelled or terminated by the insurance carrier, a notice of cancellation or termination of the insurance so certified shall be filed, …

(a) This chapter shall not be held to apply to or affect policies of automobile insurance against liability which may now or subsequently be required by any other law of this state, and the policies, if they contain an agreement or are endorsed to conform with the requirements of…

Proof of financial responsibility may be evidenced by the bond of a surety company duly authorized to transact business within this state, or a bond with at least two (2) individual sureties each owning real estate within this state, and together having equities equal in value to…

The bond shall constitute a lien in favor of the state upon the real estate so scheduled of any surety, which lien shall exist in favor of any holder of a final judgment against the person who has filed the bond, for damages, including damages for care and loss of services, becau…

If a judgment, rendered against the principal on the bond, shall not be satisfied within sixty (60) days after it has become final, the judgment creditor may, for his or her own use and benefit and at his or her sole expense, bring an action or actions in the name of the state ag…

The following words and phrases when used in this chapter for the purpose of this chapter, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section: (1) “Judgment” means any judgment which shall have become final by expiration without appeal of the time within which an app…

Proof of financial responsibility may be evidenced by the certificate of the general treasurer that the person named in it has deposited with him or her sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) in cash, or securities, that may be legally purchased by savings banks or for trust funds of a…

The deposit shall be held by the general treasurer to satisfy, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, any execution on a judgment issued against the person making the deposit, for damages, including damages for care and loss of services, because of bodily injury to or…

The owner of a motor vehicle may give proof of financial responsibility on behalf of his or her employee or a member of his immediate family or household in lieu of the furnishing of proof by any person. The furnishing of proof shall permit the person to operate only a motor vehi…

The division of motor vehicles shall consent to the cancellation of any bond or certificate of insurance, or the division of motor vehicles shall direct and the general treasurer shall return any money or securities to the person entitled to it upon the substitution and acceptanc…

Whenever any proof of financial responsibility filed under the provisions of this chapter no longer fulfills the purposes for which it is required, the division of motor vehicles shall, for the purpose of this chapter, require other proof as required by this chapter and shall sus…

(a) The division of motor vehicles shall upon request consent to the immediate cancellation of any bond or certificate of insurance, or the division of motor vehicles shall direct and the general treasurer shall return to the person entitled to it any money or securities deposite…

Whenever in the general laws there is a reference to a three (3) year requirement for financial responsibility, it shall be construed to be a one year requirement except as provided in § 31-32-4(d) of this chapter.

(a) Whenever the license of any person is revoked pursuant to the provisions of § 31-11-6, and whenever the division of motor vehicles, pursuant to the provisions of § 31-11-7, suspends or revokes the license of an operator or chauffeur upon a showing by its records or other suff…

The suspension or revocation required under § 31-32-4(a), (b), and (c)(1) shall remain in effect and the division of motor vehicles shall not issue to that person any new or renewal of license, or register or reregister in the name of the person as owner of the vehicle until perm…

If a person has no license, but by final order or judgment is convicted of or forfeits any bail or collateral deposited to secure an appearance for trial for any offense requiring the suspension or revocation of a license, or for driving a motor vehicle upon the highways without …

Whenever the division of motor vehicles suspends or revokes a nonresident’s operation privilege by reason of a conviction or forfeiture of bail, the privilege shall remain suspended or revoked unless the person shall have previously given or shall immediately give and maintain pr…

Whenever any person fails within sixty (60) days to satisfy any judgment, then upon the written request of the judgment creditor or his or her attorney, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the court in which the judgment is rendered within this state to immediately upon the requ…

If the defendant named in any certified copy of a judgment reported to the division of motor vehicles is a nonresident, the division of motor vehicles shall transmit a certified copy of the judgment to the official in charge of the issuance of licenses and registrations in the st…

The department of transportation, along with the division of motor vehicles and the office of energy resources, shall develop, no later than January 1, 2022, a plan for a statewide electric vehicle charging station infrastructure in order to make electric vehicle charging station…

The operator of every motor vehicle which is in any manner involved in an accident within this state, in which any person is killed or injured, or in which damage to the property of any one person, including the operator, in excess of five hundred dollars ($500) is sustained, sha…

(a) Whenever any motor vehicle dealer licensed under chapter 5 of this title sells a motor vehicle at retail other than a cash sale, and the transaction for financing the purchase does not include the sale of liability insurance coverage which will protect the purchaser under the…

The division of motor vehicles shall not register any motor vehicle owned by any person under sixteen (16) years of age. The division of motor vehicles shall not register any motor vehicle owned by any person between sixteen (16) and eighteen (18) years of age unless the person s…

The division of motor vehicles shall not register any motor vehicle for hire as defined in chapter 1 of this title until the owner of it shall furnish proof of financial responsibility.

The division of motor vehicles shall not issue a registration under the provisions of §§ 31-3-20 — 31-3-27 until the person applying for the registration shall furnish proof of financial responsibility.

Any person who shall sell, lose possession of, or have destroyed by collision or fire, or who shall junk or otherwise dispose of any motor vehicle owned by or registered to that person, shall, in addition to returning the certificate of registration to the division of motor vehic…

The division of motor vehicles shall immediately suspend the registration of any motor vehicle if it appears to the division of motor vehicles that the motor vehicle is owned by a person under eighteen (18) years of age and that the person has secured the registration by a false …

The division of motor vehicles may cause an examination to be made of all motor vehicles which at the time of the examination shall be found upon the public highways, and of the licenses of the operators in charge of the motor vehicles, and may verify numbers upon the engines of …

Nothing in chapters 31 — 33 of this title shall be construed as preventing the plaintiff in any action at law from relying for relief upon the other processes provided by law.

Chapters 31 — 33 of this title may be cited as the “Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act.”

Failure to report an accident as required in § 31-33-1 shall be punished by a fine as provided for in § 31-41.1-4, and the division of motor vehicles shall suspend the license of the person failing to make report, or the nonresident’s operating privilege of the person, until a re…

Any person who gives information required in a report or otherwise as provided for in § 31-33-1, knowing or having reason to believe that the information is false, or who shall forge or, without authority, sign any evidence of proof of financial responsibility for the future as r…

(a) If an owner’s registration has been suspended under the provisions of chapter 31 or 32 of this title, the registration shall not be transferred, nor the vehicle in respect to which the registration was issued, be registered in any other name until the division of motor vehicl…

(a) Any person whose license or registration shall have been suspended under any provision of chapter 31 or 32 of this title, or whose policy of insurance or bond, when required under it, shall have been canceled or terminated, shall immediately return his or her license and regi…

Whenever any motor vehicle shall be used, operated, or caused to be operated upon any public highway of this state with the consent of the owner, lessee, or bailee, expressed or implied, the driver of it, if other than the owner, lessee, or bailee, shall in the case of an acciden…

In all civil proceedings, evidence that at the time of the accident or collision the motor vehicle was registered in the name of the defendant, shall be prima facie evidence that it was being operated with the consent of the defendant, and the absence of consent shall be an affir…

(a) After consultation with the insurance companies authorized to issue automobile liability and/or physical damage policies in this state, the insurance commissioner shall approve a reasonable plan or plans, fair to the insurers and equitable to their policyholders, for the appo…

Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, nothing shall prevent insurers providing automobile insurance coverage in the state from establishing and maintaining a common system for obtaining publicly filed accident reports and distributing the reports to the insurer or insure…

(a) Any person in whose name more than twenty-five (25) vehicles are registered in this state may qualify as a self-insurer by obtaining a certificate of self-insurance issued by the department of business regulation as provided in subsection (b) of this section. (b) The departme…