19770913 1977-25ORDINANCE No. 1977-25
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND AND REENACT SECTION 13-1
OF THE FAIRFAX CITY CODE
BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Fairfax,
Virginia, that Section 13-1 of the Code of the City of Fairfax
be, and it hereby is, amended and reenacted to read in its entiret
as follows:
"Sec. 13-1. Definitions.
The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter,
shall, for the purpose of this chapter, have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them in this section, except in those
instances where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Antique motor vehicle. Every motor vehicle, as herein
defined, which was actually manufactured, or designated by the
manufacturer as a model manufactured in a calendar year not less
than twenty-five years prior to January one of each calendar year
and is owned solely as a collector's item, and is used for
participation in club activities, exhibits, tours, parades, and
similar uses, but in no event used for general transportation,
and has been classified by the commissioner as an antique motor
vehicle.
Business district. The territory contiguous to a highway
where seventy-five per centum or more of the property contiguous
to a highway, on either side of the highway, for a distance of
three hundred feet or more along the highway is occupied by land
and buildings actually in use and operation for business purposes.
Bicycle. "Bicycle" shall include pedal bicycles with helper
motors rated less than one brake horsepower, which produce only
ordinary pedaling speeds up to a maximum of twenty miles per hour,
provided such bicycles so equipped shall not be operated upon
any highway or public vehicular area of this City by any person
under the age of sixteen years.
1977-25 -2
Camping Trailer. Every vehicle which has collapsible sides
and contains sleeping quarters but may or may not contain bathing
and cooking facilities and is designated to be drawn by a motor
vehicle.
Chauffeur. Every person employed for the principal purpose
of operating a motor vehicle and every person who drives a motor
vehicle while in use as a public or common carrier of persons or
property.
Commission. The state corporation commission.
Commissioner. The commissioner of the division of motor
vehicles of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Crosswalk. (a) That part of a roadway at an intersection
included within the connections of the lateral lines of the side-
walks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs, o
in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadwa~
(b) Any portion of a roadway at an intersection
or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestian crossing by lines
or other markings on the surface.
Dealer. Every person engaged in the business of buying,
selling or exchanging motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers
in the city and who has an established place of business for such
purpose in this city at which place of business the books and
records of such dealer are kept and at which a substantial part
of the business of such dealer is conducted.
Decal. A device to be attached to a license plate that
validates the license plate for a predetermined registration
period.
Division.
of Virginia.
ESsential parts. Ail integral parts and body parts, the
removal, alteration or substitution of which will tend to conceal
the identity of a vehicle.
The division of motor vehicles of the Commonwealt!
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1977-25
Farm tractor. Every motor vehicle designed and used as a
farm, agricultural or horticultural implement for drawing plows,
mowing machines and other farm, agricultural or horticultural
machinery and implements including self-propelled mowers designed
and used for mowing lawns.
Financial responsibility. Ability to respond in damages for
liability thereafter incurred arising out of the ownership, main-
tenance, use or operation or a motor vehicle, in the amount of
twenty-five thousand dollars because of bodily injury to or
death of any one person and subject to such limit for one person,
in the amount of fifty thousand dollars because of bodily injury
to or death of two or more persons in any one accident, and in
the amount of five thousand dollars because of injury to or
destruction of property in any one accident.
Foreign vehicles. Every motor vehicle, trailer or semitraile
which shall be brought into this city otherwise than in the
ordinary course of business by or through a manufacturer or dealer
and which has not been registered in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Highway. The entire width between the boundary lines of
every way or place of whatever nature open to the use of the publi
for purposes of vehicular travel in this city, including the
streets, alleys and publicly maintained parking lots in the city.
Intersection. (a) The area embraced within the prolongation
or connection of the lateral curb lines, or, if none, then the
lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two highways which join
one another at, or approximately at, right angles, or the area
within which vehicles traveling upon different highways joining
at any other angle may come in conflict.
(b) Where a highway includes two roadways
thirty feet or more apart, then every crossing of each roadway
of such divided highway by an intersecting highway shall be
regarded as a separate intersection. In the event such inter-
secting highway also includes two roadways thirty feet or more
apart, then every crossing of two roadways of such highways shall
be regarded as a separate intersection.
1977-25 -4
(c) For purposes only of authorizing
installation of traffic control devices, every crossing of a
highway or street at grade by a pedestrian crosswalk, shall be
deemed to be an intersection.
License plate. A device containing letters, numerals or a
combination of both, attached to a motor vehicle, trailer or
semitrailer to indicate that such motor vehicle, trailer or
semitrailer is properly registered with the Division.
Manufacturer. Every person engaged in the business of
contructing or assembling motor vehicles, trailers or semitrailers
at an established place of business in the city.
Metal tires. Ail tires the suface of which in contact with
the highway is wholly or partly of metal or other hard, nonresil-
ient material.
Mobile homes. Every vehicle not otherwise classified herein
which has noncollapsible sides, which contains sleeping quarters
and may or may not contain bathing and cooking facilities and
every trailer not designated for the transportation of property
but is used primarily for office space and is designated to be
drawn by a motor vehicl~e.
Motorcycle. Every motor vehicle designed to travel on not
more than three wheels in contact with the ground and any four-
wheeled vehicle weighing less than five hundred pounds and equip-
ed with an engine of less than six horsepower, except any
such vehicle as may be included within the term "farm tractor"
as defined in this section.
Motorhome. Every private motor vehicle with a normal seating
capacity of not more than ten persons, including the driver, de-
signed primarily for use as living quarters for human beings.
Motor vehicle. Every vehicle, as defined in this section,
which is self-propelled or designed for self-propulsion. Any
structure designed, used or maintained primarily to be loaded on
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or affixed to a motor vehicle to provide a mobile dwelling, sleep-
ing place, office or commercial space, shall be considered a
part of a motor vehicle. For the purposes of this chapter, any
device herein defined as a bicycle shall be deemed not to be
a motor vehicle.
Nonresident. Every person who is not domiciled in the
Commonwealth of Virginia, except:
(a) Any foreign corporation which is authorized to do
business in the Commonwealth of Virginia by the state corporation
commission shall be deemed a resident of the Commonwealth of
Virginia for the purpose of this chapter; provided, however, that
in the case of corporations incorporated in the Commonwealth of
Virginia but doing business without the state, only such principal
place of business or branches located within the Commonwealth of
Virginia shall be dealt with as residents of this state.
(b) A person who becomes engaged in a gainful occupation in
the Commonwealth of Virginia for a period exceeding sixty days,
shall be deemed a resident for the purposes of this chapter.
(c) A person, other than a nonresident student as defined
in this section, who has actually resided in the Commonwealth of
Virginia for a period of six months, whether employed or not, or
who has registered a motor vehicle, listing an address within the
Commonwealth of Virginia in the application for registration, shal
be deemed a resident for the purposes of this chapter.
Nonresident student. Every nonresident person who is enrolle
as a full-time student in an accredited institution of learning
in the Commonwealth of Virginia and who is not gainfully employed.
~peration or use for rent or for hire, etc. The terms opera-
tion or use for rent or for hire, for the transportation of pas-
sengers, or as a property carrier for compensation, and the term
business of transporting persons or property, wherever used in
this chapter, mean any owner or operator of any motor vehicle,
1977-25 -6
trailer or semitrailer operating over the highways of the city
who accepts or receives compensation for the service, directly
or indirectly; but such terms shall not be construed to mean a
"truck lessor" as defined in Section 46.1-1 (36) of the Code of
Virginia.
Operator. Every person who drives or is in actual physical
control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising
control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle
Owner. A person who holds the legal title of a vehicle or,
in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the con.
ditional sale or lease thereof with the right of purchase upon
performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with
an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee
or lessee or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled
to possession, then such conditional vendee or lessee or mort-
gagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter,
except that in all such instances when the rent paid by the lesse
includes charges for services of any nature or when the lease
does not provide that title shall pass to the lessee upon payment
of the rent stipulated, the lessor shall be regarded as the owner
of such vehicle and the vehicle shall be subject to such require-
ments of this chapter as are applicable to vehicles operated for
compensation; provided, however, that a "truck lessor" as defined
in Code of Virginia, section 46.1-1, subsection (36) shall be
regarded as the owner, and his vehicles shall be subject to such
requirements of this chapter as are applicable to vehicles of
private carriers.
Passenger car. Every motor vehicle designed and used primar
for the transportation of not more than ten person including the
driver, except motorcycles.
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Peace or police officer. Every officer authorized to direct
or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic
regulations.
Person. Every natural person, firm, partnership, association
or corporation.
Pickup or panel truck. Every motor vehicle designed for the
transportation of property with a registered gross weight of
seven thousand five hundred pounds or less.
Pneumatic tires. All tires inflated with compressed air.
Private road or driveway.. Every way in private ownership
and used for vehicular travel by the owner and those having
express or implied permission from the owner, but not by other
persons.
Reconstructed vehicle. Every vehicle of a type required to
be registered hereunder materially altered from its original
construction by the removal, addition or substitution of essential
parts, new or used.
Rescue vehicle. The term "rescue vehicle" is defined as
any vehicle designed or utilized for the principal purposes of
supplying resuscitation or other emergency relief where human
life is endangered.
Residence district. The territory contiguous to a highway
not comprising a business district where seventy-five per centum
or more of the property contiguous to such highway, on either side
of the highway, for a distance of three hundred feet or more
along the highway is occupied by dwellings and land improved
for dwelling purposes, or by dwellings, land improved for dwellin
purposes and land or buildings in use for business purposes.
Road tractor. Every motor vehicle designed and used for
drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry any
load thereon independently or any part of the weight of a vehicle
or load so drawn.
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Roadway. That portion of a highway improved, designed or
ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the shoulder.
A highway may include two or more roadways if divided by a
physical barrier or barriers or unpaved area.
Safety zone. The area or space officially set apart within
a roadway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and which is
protected or is so marked or indicated by adequate signs as to be
plainly visible at all times while set apart as a safety zone.
School bus. Any motor vehicle, except commercial bus, statio
wagon, automobile or truck, which is designed and used primarily
for the transportation of pupils to and from public, private or
parochial schools, which is painted yellow with the words, "Schoo
Bus" in black letters of specified size on front and rear, and
which is equipped with warning devices prescribed in Section 13-13 .
School buses, manufactured prior to July one, nineteen hundred
seventy-four, may continue to have the words "Stop, State Law"
in black letters of specified size on front and rear.
Semitrailer. Every vehicle of the trailer type so designed
and used in conjunction with a motor vehicle that some part of
its own weight and that of its own load rest upon or is carried
by another vehicle.
Shoulder. That part of a highway between the portion regu-
larly traveled by vehicular traffic and the lateral curb line
or ditch.
Solid rubber tires.
a pneumatic tire.
Every tire made of rubber other than
Specially constructed vehicles. Any vehicle which shall
not have been originally constructed under a distinctive name,
make, model or type by a generally recognized manufacturer of
vehicles and not a reconstructed vehicle as defined in this
section.
1977-25
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~uperintendent. The superintendent of the department of
state police of this state.
Tractor truck. Every motor vehicle designed and used
primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as
to carry a load other than a part of the load and weight of the
vehicle attached thereto.
Traffic lane or lane. That portion of a roadway designed
or designated to accommodate the forward movement of a single
line of vehicles.
Trailer. Every vehicle without motive power designed for
carrying property or passengers wholly on its own structure and
for being drawn by a motor vehicle.
Truck. Every motor vehicle designed to transport property
on its own structure independent of any other vehicle and
having a gross weight in excess of seven thousand five hundred
pounds.
Vehicle. Every device in, upon or by which any person or
property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except
devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary
rails or tracks and except any vehicle as may be included within
the term bicycle as herein defined."
This ordinance shall take effect immediately upon its adoptio
Introduced: September 6, 1977.
Adopted: September 13, 1977.
Attest:
C~ty /Clerk