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2011 SESSION


CHAPTER 275
An Act to amend and reenact § 46.2-1077 of the Code of Virginia, relating to televisions in motor vehicles.
[H 2420]
Approved March 18, 2011

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 46.2-1077 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 46.2-1077. Motor vehicles not to be equipped with television within view of driver; viewing motion pictures or similar displays while driving.

A. No motor vehicle registered in the Commonwealth of Virginia shall be equipped with, nor shall there be used therein, a television receiver forward of the driver's seat or when the screen of which would otherwise be moving images are visible to the driver while driving the vehicle is in motion. The operator of a motor vehicle which that is not required to be registered in Virginia shall not operate a television receiver which that violates the provisions of this section while driving in the Commonwealth.

The prohibitions contained in this subsection shall not, however, include:

1. Electronic displays used in conjunction with vehicle navigation and mapping systems, or as part of a digital dispatch system;

2. Closed circuit video monitors designed to operate only in conjunction with dedicated video cameras and used in rear-view systems on trucks, motor homes, and other motor vehicles;

3. Television receivers or monitors used in government-owned vehicles by law-enforcement officers and employees of the Virginia Department of Transportation in the course of their official duties; and

4. Visual displays used to enhance or supplement the driver's view forward, behind, or to the sides of a motor vehicle for the purpose of maneuvering the vehicle;

5. A vehicle information display;

6. A visual display used to enhance or supplement a driver’s view of vehicle occupants;

7. Television-type receiving equipment used exclusively for safety or traffic engineering information; or

8. A television receiver, video monitor, television or video screen, or any other similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or signal, if that equipment has an interlock device that, when the motor vehicle is driven, disables the equipment for all uses except as a visual display described in subdivisions 1 through 7.

B. Except for displays explicitly authorized in subsection A, no driver of any motor vehicle shall view any motion picture or similar video display while driving.