A. The owner or operator of any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer registered in Virginia and operated or parked on a highway within the Commonwealth shall submit his vehicle to an inspection of its mechanism and equipment by an official inspection station, designated for that purpose, in accordance with § 46.2-1158. No owner or operator shall fail to submit a motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer operated or parked on the highways in the Commonwealth to such inspection or fail or refuse to correct or have corrected in accordance with the requirements of this title any mechanical defects found by such inspection to exist.
B. The provisions of this section requiring safety inspections of motor vehicles shall also apply to vehicles used for firefighting; inspections of firefighting vehicles shall be conducted pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Superintendent of State Police, taking into consideration the special purpose of such vehicles and the conditions under which they operate.
C. Each day during which such motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer is operated or parked on any highway in the Commonwealth after failure to comply with this law shall constitute a separate offense.
D. Except as otherwise provided, autocycles shall be inspected as motorcycles under this article.
E. No law-enforcement officer shall stop a motor vehicle due to an expired vehicle inspection sticker until the first day of the fourth month after the original expiration date. No evidence discovered or obtained as the result of a stop in violation of this subsection, including evidence discovered or obtained with the operator's consent, shall be admissible in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding.
Code 1950, § 46-317; 1950, p. 691; 1958, c. 541, § 46.1-315; 1962, c. 246; 1978, cc. 275, 605; 1982, c. 646; 1989, c. 727; 1991, cc. 107, 717; 1993, c. 134; 1995, c. 670; 1997, c. 283; 2004, cc. 267, 796; 2007, cc. 75, 137; 2009, cc. 115, 514, 756; 2011, c. 283; 2014, cc. 53, 256; 2020, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 45, 51.