NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1967 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 296

HOUSE BILL 272

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 20 ARTICLE 2A OF THE GENERAL STATUTES OF NORTH CAROLINA BY ADDING THERETO A NEW SECTION DESIGNATED GS 20-37.2 TO PROVIDE FOR THE ISSUANCE AND THE USE OF DISTINCTIVE FLAGS AND DISTRESS SIGNALS BY HANDICAPPED OR PARAPLEGIC DRIVERS OF MOTOR VEHICLES.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  Chapter 20, Article 2, as the same appears in Volume 1C of the General Statutes of North Carolina is hereby amended by adding thereto a new Section designated G.S. 20-37.2 as hereinafter set forth.

Sec. 2.  G.S. 20-37.2. Handicapped Drivers; Distinctive Flags Issued. Handicapped or paraplegic drivers of motor vehicles are authorized when getting into and out of such vehicles, or when in distress, to display a white flag of approximately seven and one-half inches in width and thirteen inches in length, with the letter "H" thereon in red color with an irregular one-half inch red border. Said flag shall be of reflective material so as to be readily discernible under darkened conditions and shall be issued under Section 3 of this Act.

Sec. 3.  The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles may, upon application and payment of a fee of two dollars ($2.00), issue to any handicapped person a distress flag as described in Section 1, and a card which shall be applicant's authority to use such flag. This card shall set forth the applicant's name, address, date of birth, physical apparatus, if any, needed to operate a motor vehicle, and other pertinent facts which the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles deems desirable. The card and flag issued to an applicant shall bear corresponding numbers. In the event of loss or destruction of such flag a replacement may be issued upon the payment of the sum of one dollar ($1.00) by the applicant. The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles shall maintain a list of those persons to whom distress flags and cards have been issued.

Sec. 4.  Any person who is not a handicapped or paraplegic person who uses the above-mentioned flag or facsimile thereof as a distress signal or for any other purpose or any other person who violates any provision of this Act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Sec. 5.  Definitions. As used herein handicapped or paraplegic drivers shall mean:

(a)        Any person who has impairments that, regardless of cause or manifestation, for all practicable purposes, confines such person to a wheelchair.

(b)        Any person who has impairments that cause such person to walk with difficulty or insecurity and includes but is not limited to those persons using braces or crutches, amputees, arthritics, spastics and those with pulmonary or cardiac ills who may be semi-ambulatory.

Sec. 6.  The provisions of this Act are severable. If any part of the Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, such declaration shall not affect the part which remains.

Sec. 7.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 8.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after the date of its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 5th day of May, 1967.