Connecticut General Statutes 14-18 – Display of number plates and stickers. Issuance of sample number plates. Return of number plates to commissioner
(a)(1) Each motor vehicle for which one number plate has been issued shall, while in use or operation upon any public highway, display in a conspicuous place at the rear of such vehicle the number plate. The commissioner may issue a sticker denoting the expiration date of the registration. Such sticker shall be displayed in such place on the vehicle as the commissioner may direct. Such sticker may contain the corresponding letters and numbers of the registration and number plate issued by the commissioner.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 14-18
- Commissioner: includes the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles and any assistant to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles who is designated and authorized by, and who is acting for, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles under a designation. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Highway: includes any state or other public highway, road, street, avenue, alley, driveway, parkway, place or dedicated roadway for bus rapid transit service, under the control of the state or any political subdivision of the state, dedicated, appropriated or opened to public travel or other use. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Motor vehicle: means any vehicle propelled or drawn by any nonmuscular power, except aircraft, motor boats, road rollers, baggage trucks used about railroad stations or other mass transit facilities, electric battery-operated wheel chairs when operated by persons with physical disabilities at speeds not exceeding fifteen miles per hour, golf carts operated on highways solely for the purpose of crossing from one part of the golf course to another, golf-cart-type vehicles operated on roads or highways on the grounds of state institutions by state employees, agricultural tractors, farm implements, such vehicles as run only on rails or tracks, self-propelled snow plows, snow blowers and lawn mowers, when used for the purposes for which they were designed and operated at speeds not exceeding four miles per hour, whether or not the operator rides on or walks behind such equipment, motor-driven cycles, as defined in §. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Number plate: means any sign or marker furnished by the commissioner on which is displayed the registration number assigned to a motor vehicle by the commissioner. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Owner: means any person holding title to a motor vehicle, or having the legal right to register the same, including purchasers under conditional bills of sale. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, limited liability company, association, copartnership, company, firm, business trust or other aggregation of individuals but does not include the state or any political subdivision thereof, unless the context clearly states or requires. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Registration: includes the certificate of motor vehicle registration and the number plate or plates used in connection with such registration. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Registration number: means the identifying number or letters, or both, assigned by the commissioner to a motor vehicle. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- State: means any state of the United States and the District of Columbia unless the context indicates a more specific reference to the state of Connecticut. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Vehicle: includes any device suitable for the conveyance, drawing or other transportation of persons or property, whether operated on wheels, runners, a cushion of air or by any other means. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
(2) Each motor vehicle for which two number plates have been issued shall, while in use or operation upon any public highway, display in a conspicuous place at the front and the rear of such vehicle the number plates. The commissioner may issue a sticker denoting the expiration date of the registration. Such sticker shall be displayed in such place on the vehicle as the commissioner may direct. Such sticker may contain the corresponding letters and numbers of the number plate issued by the commissioner.
(b) Repealed by 1969, P.A. 247, S. 1.
(c) Official number plates when displayed upon motor vehicles shall be entirely unobscured and the numerals and letters thereon shall be plainly legible at all times. Such number plates shall be horizontal, and shall be fastened so as not to swing and, during the time when a motor vehicle is required to display lights, the rear number plate shall be so illuminated as to be legible at a distance of fifty feet. Nothing may be affixed to a motor vehicle or to the official number plates displayed on such vehicle that obscures or impairs the visibility of any information on such number plates. Not more than one number plate shall be displayed on the front or rear of any motor vehicle in operation upon the public highways of the state; provided any motor vehicle may, upon permission of the commissioner, display more than one number plate in front or rear, subject to such conditions as the commissioner prescribes. If any number plate supplied by the commissioner is lost, or if the registered number thereon becomes mutilated or illegible, the owner of or the person in control of the motor vehicle for which such number plate was furnished shall immediately place a temporary number plate bearing said registration number upon such motor vehicle, which temporary number plate shall conform to the regular number plate and shall be displayed as nearly as possible as herein provided for such regular number plate; and such owner shall, within forty-eight hours after such loss or mutilation of the number plate, give notice thereof to the commissioner and apply for a new number plate. The commissioner may issue a permit to operate with such temporary plate and shall supply new number plates upon payment of the fee therefor as provided in § 14-50a. Upon receipt of such new number plates and new certificate, the remaining old number plate, if any, and certificate shall be surrendered to the commissioner.
(d) All number plates shall be the property of the state and no title therein shall pass to any person registering a motor vehicle under the provisions of this chapter. The owner of any registered motor vehicle which is not reregistered at the end of a registration period shall, within ten days, cancel such registration in accordance with procedures established by the commissioner and may return the number plates to the commissioner. Any person who sells a motor vehicle pursuant to § 14-150 or 49-61 shall, within ten days of such sale, return to the commissioner any number plates displayed on the vehicle or which come into such person’s possession in connection with such sale. When the commissioner issues a new type of number plate for use by all persons registering motor vehicles, the obsolete number plates shall become the property of the registrant upon the expiration date.
(e) The commissioner may issue a number plate inscribed with the legend “SAMPLE”. Such number plate shall not be displayed on any motor vehicle or used as official registration marker plates. The commissioner may impose a fee for the issuance of such number plate. Such fee shall be sufficient to cover the cost of manufacturing and issuing such number plate.
(f) No person shall wilfully damage or destroy any number plate.
(g) Violation of any provision of subsection (a), (c), (d), (e) or (f) of this section shall be an infraction.