State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Connecticut > Title14 > Chap246 > Sec14-103Sec. 14-103. Inspection of motor vehicles. (a) The commissioner, an inspector authorized by the commissioner, any officer of the Division of State Police within the Department of Public Safety or any local police officer, may examine any motor vehicle, its number, equipment and identification. Any person who wilfully interferes with or obstructs, or attempts to interfere with or obstruct, any such examination shall be fined not more than fifty dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.
(b) The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles may establish and maintain a system of voluntary examination of equipment of motor vehicles registered in this state or being operated on the highways thereof. Such examination may be made by licensed automobile dealers and repair garages, not including limited repairers, which have been approved by said commissioner for such purpose.
(c) All state and local police officers, whenever they see a motor vehicle being operated in apparent violation of any statute relative to the equipment of a motor vehicle, may stop such vehicle and may issue to the operator a warning of defective equipment directing the owner of such vehicle to take it to any inspection station approved by the commissioner and have such vehicle restored to safe operating condition and officially inspected as soon as possible, and not later than ten days from the date of the issuance of the warning notice. Such warning shall be furnished by the commissioner in such form as the commissioner prescribes and shall be in triplicate, the original of which shall be mailed by the issuing officer to the Department of Motor Vehicles. The duplicate copy shall be given to the motor vehicle operator and shall be presented to the official inspection station at the time the vehicle is submitted for examination. The triplicate copy shall be retained by the issuing officer for such officer's department records. When the inspection station approves such vehicle, its authorized representative shall sign the duplicate copy of the warning of defective equipment and mail it to the Department of Motor Vehicles. If the Department of Motor Vehicles does not receive the duplicate copy, as approved by the inspection station, within twenty days from the date of issuance, or if the registration for such vehicle is not cancelled, the commissioner, after giving notice and an opportunity for a hearing to such motorist, may suspend the privilege of the owner to register any motor vehicle or to operate any motor vehicle on the highways of this state that is registered in another jurisdiction, until such time as the vehicle is restored to safe operating condition.
(d) Each service bus shall be inspected for safety before its initial registration, in accordance with a schedule to be adopted by the commissioner. Each such service bus shall pass inspection before each renewal of registration. Any service bus that transports individuals in wheelchairs shall meet the requirements of subsection (e) of section 14-100a in order to pass inspection. The fee for each such inspection shall be forty dollars, except there shall be no fee for inspection of a service bus owned by the state or a municipality. The commissioner may use the services of any motor vehicle dealer or repairer licensed, in accordance with section 14-52, to conduct a required service bus inspection, provided any fee charged by such dealer or repairer shall not exceed forty dollars, or, if the vehicle inspected has a gross vehicle weight rating in excess of twenty-six thousand pounds, eighty dollars.
(1949 Rev., S. 2451; 1959, P.A. 653; February, 1965, P.A. 448, S. 12; P.A. 77-614, S. 486, 610; P.A. 80-466, S. 17, 25; P.A. 92-177, S. 3, 12; P.A. 93-341, S. 22, 38; P.A. 94-189, S. 9, 34; P.A. 96-167, S. 32; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-3, S. 36; P.A. 04-199, S. 6; P.A. 05-218, S. 11; P.A. 07-134, S. 3.)
History: 1959 act excluded limited repairers from authorized inspectors, removed provision that no owner could be compelled to have vehicle inspected under Subsec. (b) and added Subsec. (c); 1965 act changed "shall" to "may" in first sentence of Subsec. (c); P.A. 77-614 replaced state police department with division of state police within the department of public safety, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 80-466 added reference to single license plate in Subsec. (c); P.A. 92-177 added a new Subsec. (d) requiring persons issued a warning notice under Subsec. (c) to be assessed a civil penalty of $10; P.A. 93-341 added new Subsec. (e) re annual inspection and fee, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 94-189 amended Subsec. (c) by increasing the number of days within which the department of motor vehicles should receive the duplicate copy of the warning from 15 to 20 days, deleting provisions concerning notification of the owner to return his plates and registration to the department and return of same to the owner upon receipt of an inspection-station-approved copy of the warning or other evidence that the vehicle has been put in safe operating condition and by adding provisions concerning a civil penalty of $50, deleting Subsec. (d) re $10 civil penalty and relettering the former Subsec. (e) as (d), effective July 1, 1994; P.A. 96-167 amended Subsec. (a) to allow local police officers to examine motor vehicles; (Revisor's note: In 1997 references throughout the general statutes to "Motor Vehicle(s) Commissioner" and "Motor Vehicle(s) Department" were replaced editorially by the Revisors with "Commissioner of Motor Vehicles" or "Department of Motor Vehicles", as the case may be, for consistency with customary statutory usage); June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-3 made technical changes in Subsecs. (a) and (c) and replaced Subsec. (d) re annual inspection and fee with new Subsec. (d) re biennial inspection and fee, effective August 20, 2003; P.A. 04-199 amended Subsec. (c) to eliminate civil penalty of $50 imposed on owner if department does not receive duplicate copy, to eliminate suspension of registration for failure of owner to pay penalty and to provide that, if department does not receive duplicate copy or if registration for vehicle not cancelled, commissioner may suspend privilege of owner to register any motor vehicle or to operate vehicle registered in another jurisdiction on highways of state, effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 05-218 amended Subsec. (d) to change method of inspection of service bus by adding provision requiring safety inspection before initial registration and that service bus shall pass inspection before each renewal of registration, to provide that there is no fee for inspection of service bus owned by state or municipality, to allow commissioner to use services of licensed motor vehicle dealer or repairer to conduct inspections, and to establish fees for such inspections, effective July 1, 2005; P.A. 07-134 amended Subsec. (d) by adding provision requiring any service bus that transports individuals in wheelchairs to meet the requirements of Sec. 14-100a(e).
Cited. 9 CS 123.
