Connecticut General Statutes 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 Emergency Services and Public Protection or any local police officer may examine any motor vehicle and 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 guilty of a class D misdemeanor.
Attorney's Note
Under the Connecticut General Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Class D misdemeanor | up to 30 days | up to $250 |
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 14-103
- another: may extend and be applied to communities, companies, corporations, public or private, limited liability companies, societies and associations. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1
- 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
- Dealer: includes any person actively engaged in buying, selling or exchanging motor vehicles or trailers who has an established place of business in this state and who may, incidental to such business, repair motor vehicles or trailers, or cause them to be repaired by persons in his or her employ. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- 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
- Officer: includes any constable, state marshal, inspector of motor vehicles, state policeman or other official authorized to make arrests or to serve process, provided the officer is in uniform or displays the officer's badge of office in a conspicuous place when making an arrest. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Operator: means any person who operates a motor vehicle or who steers or directs the course of a motor vehicle being towed by another motor vehicle and includes a driver. 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
- Service bus: includes any vehicle except a vanpool vehicle or a school bus designed and regularly used to carry ten or more passengers when used in private service for the transportation of persons without charge to the individual. 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
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Stop: means complete cessation of movement. 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
(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 § 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 § 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.