§ 289. Motor vehicles. L. 1921, ch. 580. manner as the order above provided for. Any city or village upon which such order is served shall thereafter, at the close of each month and before the fifth day of the following month, make a return report to the commissioner of highways showing the names of the persons fined or otherwise punished during the month, their places of residence, and the fines or punishment imposed. Such return or report shall be duly verified by the officer or officers, magistrate or magistrates imposing the fines or punishment. The commissioner of highways may at any time suspend or rescind the order requiring such reports or returns. If any city or village fail to make any such report or return as required by the order of the commissioner of highways within the time prescribed by law, the right and power of such city or village to impose any punishment for a violation of speed ordinances regulating the speed of motor vehicles within such city or village shall be suspended until the return or report is made as required. No city or village shall employ any officer, agent or person whose compensation shall in any way depend upon the apprehension or arrest of any person or persons for violating the speed limit in a motor vehicle in such city or village. If any person be apprehended or arrested or hailed before a magistrate for a violation of the speed limit by any officer, agent or employee of any city or village who is so employed, the fact of such employment at the time shall be a defense to any charge made for violation of such speed limit or ordinance regulating the same. by L. 1921, ch. 132, in effect March 29, 1921.) (Added § 289. License of operators and chauffeurs; renewals.-1. License of operators or chauffeurs. Application for license to operate motor vehicles, as an operator or chauffeur, may be made, by mail or otherwise, to the tax commission or its duly authorized agent upon blanks prepared under its authority in such form and with such proof of the applicant's fitness as the tax commission shall in its discretion determine. The tax commission shall appoint examiners and cause examinations to be held at convenient points throughout the state as often as may be necessary. Such application, if for a chauffeur's license, shall be accompanied by a photograph of the applicant in such numbers and forms as the tax commission shall prescribe, said photograph to be taken within thirty days prior to the filing of said application and to be accompanied by the fee provided herein. An owner of a motor vehicle or a member of his immediate family shall be granted an operator's license, subject to this article. Before an operator's or chauffeur's license is granted, the applicant shall pass such examination as to his qualification as the tax commission shall require. No operator's or chauffeur's license shall be issued to any person under eighteen years of age. To each person shall be assigned some distinguishing number or mark, and the license issued shall be such form as the tax commission shall determine; it may contain special restrictions and limitations concerning the type of motor power, horse power, design and other fea L. 1921, ch. 580. Motor vehicles. 289. tures of the motor vehicles which the licensee may operate; it shall contain the distinguishing number or mark assigned to the licensee, his name, place of residence and address, a brief description of the licensee for the purpose of identification and the photograph of the licensee if a chauffeur. Such distinctive number or mark shall be of a distinctly different color each year and in any year shall be of the same color as that of the number plates issued for that year. The tax commission shall furnish to every chauffeur so licensed a suitable metal badge with the distinguishing number or mark assigned to him thereon without extra charge therefor. This badge shall thereafter be worn by such chauffeur affixed to his clothing in a conspicuous place, at all times while he is operating or driving a motor vehicle upon the public highway. Said badge shall be valid only during the term of the license of the chauffeur to whom it is issued. as aforesaid. Every person licensed to operate motor vehicles as aforesaid shall indorse his usual signature on the margin of the license, in the space provided for the purpose, immediately upon receipt of said license, and such license shall not be valid until so indorsed. Every application for a chauffeur's license filed under the provisions of this section shall be sworn to and shall be accompanied by a fee of five dollars, three dollars of which shall be for examination aforesaid and two dollars for license fee. Every application for an operator's license shall be sworn to and be accompanied by a fee of two dollars. A license granted hereunder at any time shall expire on the ensuing first day of July. A license in force when this section, as hereby amended, takes effect shall be deemed a license hereunder. Failure by an operator or chauffeur to exhibit his license to any magistrate, motor vehicle inspector, police officer, constable or other competent authority, shall be presumptive evidence that said person is not duly licensed under this article. (Subd. amended by L. 1919, ch. 472.) 2. Operators' and chauffeurs' licensed registration book. Upon the receipt of such an application, the tax commission shall thereupon file the same in its office, and register the applicant in a book or index which shall be kept in the same manner as the book or index for the registration of motor vehicles, and when the applicant shall have passed the examination provided for in the preceding section, the number or mark assigned to such applicant together with the fact that such applicant has passed such examination shall be noted in said book or index. (Subd. amended by L. 1919, ch. 472.) 3. Unauthorized possession or use of license or badge. No operator or chauffeur having been licensed as herein provided shall voluntarily permit any other person to possess or use his license or badge, nor shall any person while operating or driving a motor vehicle use or possess any license or badge belonging to another person, or a fictitious license or badge. 4. Unlicensed operators or chauffeurs cannot drive motor vehicle. An § 289-a. Motor vehicles. L. 1922, ch. 17. operator's license shall not entitle a person to drive a motor vehicle as an employee or for hire. No person shall operate or drive a motor vehicle upon a public highway of this state, unless such person shall have complied in all respects with the requirements of this section and of section two hundred and eighty-two of this act; provided, however, that a nonresident owner, operator or chauffeur, who has registered under provisions of law of the foreign country, state, territory or federal district of his residence substantially equivalent to the provisions of this article, shall be exempt from license under this section; and provided, further, he shall wear the badge or carry the license certificate assigned to him in the foreign country, state, territory or federal district of his residence in the manner provided in this section. 5. Renewal. Such license shall be renewed annually, such renewal to take effect on the first day of July of each year, provided, that licenses in effect July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, shall upon their expiration be renewed until July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, and the fee therefor shall be one dollar. The tax commission may refuse to issue or renew a license if it deems the applicant not qualified to receive such license, but the refusal of the tax commission may be reviewed by writ of certiorari. For renewals to take effect on and after July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, the fee shall be two dollars for a chauffeur's license and one dollar for an operator's license. (Subd. 5 amended by L. 1922, ch. 17, retroactive to July 1, 1921.) 6. The licenses provided in this section shall not be required of a person operating a motor vehicle for the transportation of children to and from a school outside of a city who does not otherwise operate such motor vehicle as a chauffeur. (Added by L. 1910, ch. 374, and amended by L. 1911, ch. 491, L. 1917, ch. 769 and L. 1921, ch. 580, in effect July 1, 1921. Subd. 6 added by L. 1920, ch. 686.) Return of fee where license denied.-The fee paid by an applicant for a chauffeur's license should be returned to him if he is denied a license. Opinion of Attorney-General (1920), 23 State Dept. Rep. 52. Presumption from failure to exhibit license. That part of this section of the Highway Law, by which the failure of an operator to exhibit his license on demand by an officer is made presumptive evidence that he is not licensed, is a rule of evidence merely, and the presumption which it affords was overcome by the uncontradicted evidence. People v. Meyer (1921), 194 App. Div. 822, 186 N. Y. Supp. 434. Violation of section by operating vehicle without license. The conviction of the defendant of operating a motor vehicle without a license in violation of this section of the Highway Law was improper where it appeared that the defendant, who was driving an automobile bearing a Massachusetts license plate, had a York operator's license on his person and an operator's button on his hat at the time the officer demanded that he exhibit his New York license. People Meyer (1921), 194 App. Div. 822, 186 N. Y. Supp. 434. New V. § 289-a. Revocation and reissuance of licenses. Any magistrate in L. 1922, ch. 534. Motor vehicles. § 290. cities of the first, second and third class, or any county judge except where such judge is in a county wholly included within a city, shall have the power after a hearing to revoke or suspend the license of any operator or chauffeur, or in case of an owner the certificate of registration of his motor vehicle, when such person shall have been guilty of such violation of the provisions of this article as shall in the discretion of said magistrate or county judge justify such revocation or suspension. Said magistrate or county judge shall order the license or certificate of registration delivered to the tax commission. The tax commission, in its discretion, in accordance with the provisions of this article, may reissue to such person such license or certificate of registration after an investigation or upon a hearing. (Added by L. 1921, ch. 580, in effect July 1, 1921.) § 290. Punishment for violation; procedure.-1. The violation of any of the provisions of sections two hundred and eighty-two, two hundred and eighty-three, two hundred and eighty-four, two hundred and eightyfour-a, two hundred and eighty-six and two hundred and eighty-nine of this article shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not exceeding thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, except as herein otherwise provided. (Subd. 1 amended by L. 1917, ch. 174, L. 1918, ch. 549, L. 1921, ch. 85 and L. 1922, ch. 534, in effect April 7, 1922.) 1-a. The violation of section two hundred and eighty-two-a, of this article, in respect of the provisions of subdivision one of such section shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not exceeding thirty days, or both such fine and imprisonment. The violation of section two hundred and eighty-two-a, of this article, in respect of the provisions of subdivisions two, three, four or five of such section shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both such fine and imprisonment, for the first offense; by a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than sixty days, or both such fine and imprisonment, for the second offense; by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two hundred and fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one hundred and twenty days, or both such fine and imprisonment, for the third or a subsequent offense; provided further that for the third offense, in respect of any or all of such subdivisions two, three, four or five the registration of the motor truck shall be suspended for a period of not less than thirty days and not more than six months. (Subd. 1-a added by L. 1922, ch. 534, in effect April 7, 1922.) 2. The violation of any of the provisions of section two hundred and eighty-seven of this article shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not ex § 290. Motor vehicles. L. 1922, ch. 389. (Subd. ceeding thirty days or by both such fine and imprisonment. amended by L. 1920, ch. 158 and L. 1921, ch. 85, in effect March 16, 1921.) 3. Punishment for operating motor vehicle while in an intoxicated condition; for going away without stopping after accident and making himself known. Whoever operates a motor vehicle while in an intoxicated condition shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person operating a motor vehicle who, knowing that damage has been caused to a vehicle, due to the culpability of the person operating such motor vehicle, or to accident, leaves the place where the damage occurred, without stopping and giving his name, residence, including street and street number, and license number to the party sustaining the damage, or to a police officer, or in case no police officer is in the vicinity of the place where the damage occurred then reporting the same to the nearest police station, or judicial officer, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person operating a motor vehicle who, knowing that injury has been caused to a person, due to the culpability of the person operating such motor vehicle, or to accident, leaves the place of said injury or accident, without stopping and giving his name, residence, including street and street number, and license number, to the injured party and also to a police officer, or in case no police officer is in the vicinity of the place of said injury or accident, then reporting the same to the nearest police station or judicial officer, is guilty of a misdemeanor. A conviction of a violation of the foregoing provisions of this subdivision shall be reported forthwith by the trial court or the clerk thereof to the tax commission, which shall make a record of the recommendation of the trial court. A police officer or judicial officer receiving a report of such an accident shall make a memorandum of the facts reported, and of such additional facts relating to the accident as may come to his knowledge, and forthwith deliver the same to a police justice or other magistrate of the city, village or town. Any such justice or magistrate or any judicial officer to whom such accident may have been reported in the first instance shall keep in his office a record of the facts disclosed by such memorandum or report. (Subd. 3 amended by L. 1921, chs. 85, 580 and L. 1922, ch. 389, in effect March 31, 1922.) 4. Any operator or chauffeur operating a motor vehicle while his license is suspended or revoked shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 5. Any person who operates any motor vehicle while a certificate of registration of motor vehicle issued to him is suspended or revoked shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 6. Upon a third or subsequent conviction of a chauffeur or operator for a violation of the provisions of section two hundred and eighty-seven, or an ordinance, rule or regulation regulating speed of motor vehicles under section two hundred and eighty-eight, the license of the person so convicted person shall be revoked and no new license shall be issued to such for at least six months after the date of such conviction nor thereafter except in the discretion of the said tax commission. |