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2004 SESSION
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 46.2-301 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 46.2-301. Driving while license, permit, or privilege to drive suspended or revoked.
A. In addition to any other penalty provided by this section, any motor vehicle
administratively impounded or immobilized under the provisions of § 46.2-301.1
may, in the discretion of the court, be impounded or immobilized for an
additional period of up to ninety 90 days upon conviction of an offender for
driving while his driver's license, learner's permit, or privilege to drive a motor vehicle has been
suspended or revoked for (i) a violation of §§ 18.2-36.1, 18.2-51.4, 18.2-266
or § 46.2-341.24 or a substantially similar ordinance or law in any other
jurisdiction or (ii) driving after adjudication as an habitual offender, where such
adjudication was based in whole or in part on an alcohol-related offense, or
where such person's license has been administratively suspended under the
provisions of § 46.2-391.2. However, if, at the time of the violation, the
offender was driving a motor vehicle owned by another person, the court shall have
no jurisdiction over such motor vehicle but may order the impoundment or
immobilization of a motor vehicle owned solely by the offender at the time of
arrest. All costs of impoundment or immobilization, including removal or
storage expenses, shall be paid by the offender prior to the release of his
motor vehicle.
B. Except as provided in §§ 46.2-304 and 46.2-357, no resident or nonresident
(i) whose driver's license, learner's permit, or privilege to drive a motor vehicle has
been suspended or revoked or (ii) who has been directed not to drive by any
court, or by the Commissioner, or by operation of law pursuant to this
title or (iii) who has been forbidden, as prescribed by law, by the
Commissioner, the State Corporation Commission, the Commonwealth Transportation
Commissioner, any court, or the Superintendent of State Police operation of any
statute of the Commonwealth or a substantially similar ordinance of any county,
city or town, to operate a motor vehicle in the Commonwealth shall thereafter
drive any motor vehicle or any self-propelled machinery or equipment on any
highway in the Commonwealth until the period of such suspension or revocation
has terminated or the privilege has been reinstated. A clerk's notice of
suspension of license for failure to pay fines or costs given in accordance
with § 46.2-395 shall be sufficient notice for the purpose of maintaining a
conviction under this section. For the purposes of this section, the phrase "motor
vehicle or any self-propelled machinery or equipment" shall not include mopeds.
C. A first or second offense of violating this section shall constitute
violation of subsection B is a Class 1 misdemeanor. A third or subsequent
offense shall constitute a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by a minimum,
occurring within a 10-year period shall include a mandatory minimum
term of confinement in jail of ten 10 days which shall not be suspended
in whole or in part. However, the court shall not be required to impose a
minimum, mandatory minimum term of confinement in any case where a motor
vehicle is operated in violation of this section in a situation of apparent
extreme emergency which requires such operation to save life or limb.
In addition D. Upon a violation of subsection B, the court shall suspend the
person's driver's license or privilege to drive a motor vehicle for the same
period for which it had been previously suspended or revoked when the person
violated this section.
D. In the event the person has violated this section subsection B by driving
during a period of suspension or revocation which was not for a definite period
of time, the court shall suspend the person's license, permit or privilege to
drive for an additional period not to exceed ninety 90 days. Any additional
suspension ordered under the provisions of this section shall, to commence upon
the expiration of the previous suspension or revocation unless or to commence
immediately if the previous suspension or revocation has expired prior to the
ordering of an additional suspension or revocation.