Vehicle Acts and Codes Laws Affecting DMV
The public transport system has always been a problem in most states. And having grown up under such conditions you would know, the personal automobile is the only solution for traveling across several miles every day. However, the Department of Motor Vehicles has always been there for the people to help them own and operate their vehicles. The functions of the DMV and the services they provide are quite well defined and strictly observed because of the backing of certain vehicle acts and codes. In case you didn’t know, there are separate DMVs in each of the US states. All of them are more or less uniform in character with some minor differences specific to each state. There have been many Laws and regulations passed in various states, at different stages through the past century that helped shape the DMV rules as they are now. Especially the contribution of California motor vehicle rules is noteworthy in this regard.
The DMV rules followed nationwide, have been heavily influenced by California Vehicle Act of 1923, which was a modification of an Act of 1914. This California Vehicle Act of 1923 provided the basic framework for most of the future motor vehicle regulations used in several US states. With this Act, the chief of the Division of Motor Vehicles was authorized to appoint state inspectors and traffic officers.
The motor vehicle rules and regulations introduced in the state of California, in many respects, pioneered the DMV rules in other states like New York. This California Vehicle Act of 1923 was a trendsetter in replacing such unpopular motor vehicle taxes as horsepower tax or original gasoline tax. This famous Act was modified in 1935 and came to be known as the Vehicle Code of California. This Act made local and county ordinances obsolete, which caused fine and arrests of the many drivers, who, as a result of their ignorance about county specific rules, unintentionally violated motoring laws as they crossed county lines.
For more than 20 years, the Vehicle Code of California influenced many amendments and additions to DMV rules in California and in other parts of the USA including New York, Florida and many more. However in 1955, a commission was appointed to recommend necessary modifications to the Vehicle Code and as a result another codification took place in 1959.
The tradition still continues. Modification are still being made to DMV rules with the introduction of new vehicle acts and codes. These latest amendments which took place in various points of time in the past few decades, resulted in a set of more improved DMV rules. For example, a law requires the DMV to revise the factors disqualifying a person behind the wheel. If any of the family members of an elderly person informs the DMV that the person is no longer capable of a safe driving, the department is under obligation by law to reexamine the person’s driving ability.
One of the old laws required a 30-day waiting period before shutting down non-functioning parking meters which caused immense inconvenience for the motorists. But a recent law empowers the DMV to close down these faulty meters immediately after the inaccuracies have been detected.
Thus, a number of laws passed through the course of evolution of DMV. They were intended to and were mostly successful in improving the services of the most acclaimed department of the nation.
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