Title 46.2, Title 46.2. Motor Vehicles

Any motor vehicle found to be equipped with any device, appliance, equipment, or instrument, as mentioned in § 46.2-1086, or equipped for the installation or attachment of any "smoke screen" or gas or flame emitting device, appliance, equipment, or instrument, as so mentioned, sh…

No motor vehicle operated on any highway shall be equipped with any air conditioning unit unless such device is of a type approved as to safety by the Superintendent. The Superintendent is authorized to promulgate regulations setting specifications relating to the design, constru…

No motor vehicle shall be operated on a public highway in the Commonwealth if any hood scoop installed thereon exceeds any of the following dimensions: 1. For any hood scoop installed on any motor vehicle manufactured for the 1990 or earlier model year: thirty-eight inches wide a…

Any self-propelled vehicle used to sell ice cream, snacks and similar products at retail directly from the vehicle in residential neighborhoods shall be equipped with a device or devices, of a type approved by the Superintendent of State Police, in good working order, that, whene…

A. As used in this section: "Counterfeit air bag" means a replacement air bag or a replacement air bag component displaying an unauthorized mark identical or substantially similar to the genuine mark of a motor vehicle manufacturer or a supplier of parts for a motor vehicle manuf…

It shall be unlawful for any person to operate any motor vehicle on the highways of the Commonwealth if such vehicle is equipped with any device that supplies the vehicle's engine with nitrous oxide, unless the device has been disabled such that the supply of nitrous oxide is dis…

A. There shall be affixed to the rear end of every utility trailer that does not require state inspection either (i) two or more reflectors of a type approved by the Superintendent or (ii) at least 100 square inches of solid reflectorized material. The reflectors or reflective ma…

A. As used in this section: "Accessed" means downloaded, extracted, scanned, read, or otherwise retrieved. "Owner" means a person having all the incidents of ownership, including the legal title of a vehicle whether or not such person lends, rents, or creates a security interest …

School buses shall be painted yellow with the words "School Bus" on the front and rear in letters at least eight inches high. All school buses shall be equipped with warning devices prescribed in § 46.2-1090. Only school buses as defined in § 46.2-100 may be painted yellow, ident…

The State Board of Education may provide by regulation for the display of appropriate signs or other markings on school buses using alternative fuels. Such signs or markings shall conspicuously identify the vehicle as an alternatively fueled vehicle and indicate the type of alter…

Every bus used for the principal purpose of transporting school children shall be equipped with a warning device of such type as may be prescribed by the State Board of Education after consultation with the Superintendent of State Police. Such a warning device shall indicate when…

In addition to other lights authorized by law, school buses may be equipped with flashing white or amber warning lights of types authorized by the Board of Education after consultation with the Superintendent of State Police. These warning lights shall be installed in a manner au…

Any person operating a school bus shall wear the appropriate safety belt system when the bus is in motion. Violation of this section shall constitute a Class 3 misdemeanor.

No passenger car or autocycle registered in the Commonwealth and manufactured for the year 1963 or for subsequent years shall be operated on the highways in the Commonwealth unless the front seats thereof are equipped with adult safety lap belts or a combination of lap belts and …

Any safety lap belt or shoulder harness or any combination of lap belt and shoulder harness installed in a vehicle shall be designed and installed in such manner as to prevent or materially reduce movement of any person using the same in the event of collision or upset of the veh…

A. Any driver, and any other person at least 18 years of age and occupying a seat, of a motor vehicle equipped or required by the provisions of this title to be equipped with a safety belt system, consisting of lap belts, shoulder harnesses, combinations thereof or similar device…

A. Any person who drives on the highways of Virginia any motor vehicle manufactured after January 1, 1968, shall ensure that any child, up to age eight, whom he transports therein is provided with and properly secured in a child restraint device of a type which meets the standard…

Whenever any physician licensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth or any other state determines, through accepted medical procedures, that use of a child restraint system by a particular child would be impractical by reason of the child's weight or height, physical unfitne…

The Department of Health shall operate a program to promote, purchase, and distribute child restraint devices to applicants who need a child restraint device but are unable to acquire one because of financial inability. A special fund, known as the Child Restraint Device Special …

Any person, including those subject to jurisdiction of a juvenile and domestic relations district court, found guilty of violating this article shall be subject to a civil penalty of $50, which shall not be suspended in whole or in part, for a violation of § 46.2-1095; however, a…

This article shall not apply to: The transporting of any child in a vehicle having an interior design which makes the use of such device impractical; or The transporting of children by public transportation, bus, school bus, or farm vehicle. For the purposes of this section, "far…

The use of a seat belt of the type which is standard equipment shall not violate this article if (i) the affected child is at least four years old but less than eight years old and (ii) any physician licensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth or any other state determines …

The maximum size and weight of vehicles specified in Articles 14 through 17 (§ 46.2-1101 et seq.) of this chapter shall apply throughout the Commonwealth. Local authorities shall not alter such limitations except as expressly authorized in this title.

A. Except when restricted by bridge capacity in § 46.2-1104, the vehicle size and weight limitations contained in Articles 14 through 17 (§ 46.2-1101 et seq.) of this chapter shall not apply to (i) any farm machinery or agricultural multipurpose drying unit when such farm machine…

If a federal regulation of interstate commerce permits the use in interstate commerce over the highways of Virginia or any of them, of a greater size, weight, or load limit than prescribed in this title, the Board shall prescribe a similar size, weight, and load limit for vehicle…

The Commissioner of Highways, acting through employees of the Department of Transportation, may prescribe the weight, width, height, length, or speed of any vehicle or combination of vehicles passing over any highway or section of highway or bridge constituting a part of the inte…

A. No vehicle, including any load thereon, but excluding the mirror required by § 46.2-1082 and any warning device installed on a school bus pursuant to § 46.2-1090, shall exceed a total outside width of 102 inches. B. Notwithstanding subsection A, a travel trailer as defined in …

If federal law permits the operation of passenger buses wider than 96 inches on the interstate highway system, the Commissioner of Highways may permit the operation of passenger buses of a total outside width, excluding the mirror required by § 46.2-1082, of more than 96 inches, …

No commercial vehicle shall exceed 102 inches in width when operating on any interstate highway or on any highway designated by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. The width limitation in this section shall not include rear view mirrors, turn signal lights, handholds for cab e…

No loaded or unloaded vehicle shall exceed a height of 13 feet, six inches. Nothing contained in this section shall require either the public authorities or railroad companies to provide vertical clearances of overhead bridges or structures in excess of 12 feet, six inches, or to…

No vehicle shall carry any load extending more than six inches beyond the line of the fender or body. Nor shall such load exceed a total outside width as prescribed by §§ 46.2-1105 through 46.2-1109. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, watercraft carried on …

No motor vehicle longer than 40 feet shall be operated on any highway in the Commonwealth except for buses and motor homes. The actual length of any combination of vehicles, including motor homes and buses, coupled together including any load thereon shall not exceed a total of 6…

Passenger buses and motor homes longer than thirty-five feet, but not longer than forty-five feet, may be operated on the streets of cities and towns when authorized pursuant to § 46.2-1300. Passenger buses and motor homes may exceed the forty-five-foot limitation when such exces…

Watercraft transporters shall not exceed a length of 65 feet when operated on any interstate highway or on any highway as designated by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Stinger-steered watercraft transporters shall not exceed a length of 75 feet when operated on any interst…

Automobile transporters shall not exceed a length of 65 feet when operated on any interstate highway or on any highway designated by the Commonwealth Transportation Board and stinger-steered automobile transporters shall not exceed a length of 80 feet when operated on the nationa…

The actual length of any combination of a towing vehicle and any manufactured home or house trailer, coupled together, shall not exceed a total length of sixty-five feet, including coupling.

Except as provided in this section and § 46.2-1117, no motor vehicle shall be driven on a highway while drawing or having attached thereto more than one motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer unless such vehicle is being operated under a special permit from the Commissioner of Hi…

A tractor truck semitrailer combination may draw one trailer when operating on any interstate highway and any highway as designated by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. The Commissioner of Highways shall designate reasonable access to terminals, facilities for food, fuel, re…

A. For the purposes of this section: "Towaway trailer transporter combination" means a combination of vehicles consisting of a trailer transporting towing unit and two trailers or semitrailers that carry no property and constitute inventory property of a manufacturer, distributor…

The connection between any two vehicles, one of which is towing or drawing the other on a highway, shall consist of a fifth wheel, drawbar, trailer hitch, or other similar device not to exceed 15 feet in length from one vehicle to the other. Any such two vehicles shall, in additi…

No axle-like device, commonly called a "tow dolly," used to support the front or rear wheels of a passenger vehicle or pick-up or panel truck for towing purposes, and no axle-like device, commonly called "converter gear," on which is mounted a fifth wheel used to convert a semitr…

A. As used in this section, "self-propelled pole carrier" means a motor vehicle that is (i) operated by a public utility company as defined in § 56-265.1, or its agents, (ii) designed to carry a pole at a height of at least five feet when measured from the bottom of the brace use…

A. Whenever the load on any vehicle other than a commercial motor vehicle extends more than four feet beyond the rear of the bed or body thereof, there shall be displayed at the end of the load, in such a position as to be clearly visible at all times from the rear of the load, a…

For the purposes of this article the following terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: "Single axle" means an assembly of two or more wheels whose centers are in one transverse vertical plane or may be included between two parallel…

The maximum gross weight and axle weight to be permitted on the road surface of any highway shall be in accordance with the provisions of this article. Any notice by the Department of Transportation to truckers as to the provisions of this article shall include all limits as prov…

The single axle weight of any vehicle or combination shall not exceed 20,000 pounds, nor shall it exceed 650 pounds per inch, width of tire, measured in contact with the surface of the highway.