COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 682
(By Senators Wooton, Ross, McCabe, Kessler, Fanning, Edgell,
McKenzie, Jackson, Snyder, Facemyer, Bowman, Minard, Sprouse,
Boley, Tomblin, Mr. President, Hunter, Chafin, Sharpe, Anderson,
Helmick, Prezioso, Unger, Bailey, Oliverio, Mitchell, Love, Rowe,
Redd, Plymale and Minear)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on Transportation;
reported February 26, 2002.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact sections two, three and thirty, article
one, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; to further amend
said article by adding thereto two new sections, designated
sections sixty-five and sixty-six; and to amend article ten of
said chapter by adding thereto a new section, designated
section two-a, all relating to the definitions of motorized
wheelchair and electric personal assistive mobility device;
and requiring that certain operators yield to pedestrians.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two, three and thirty, article one, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that said article
be further amended by adding thereto two new sections, designated
sections sixty-five and sixty-six; and that article ten of said
chapter be further amended by adding thereto a new section,
designated section two-a, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. WORDS AND PHRASES DEFINED.
§17C-1-2. Vehicle.
"Vehicle" means every device in, upon or by which any person
or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway,
except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon
stationary rails or tracks
or motorized wheelchairs or an electric
personal assistive mobility device.
§17C-1-3. Motor vehicle.
"Motor vehicle" means every vehicle which is self-propelled
and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained
from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails,
except
motorized wheel chairs or an electric personal assistive mobility
device.
§17C-1-30. Pedestrian.
"Pedestrian" means any person afoot
or a person operating a
motorized wheelchair or an electric personal assistive mobility
device.
§17C-1-65. Motorized wheelchair.
"Motorized wheelchair" means any self-propelled vehicle
designed for, and used by, a person with disabilities that is
incapable of a speed in excess of eight mph.
§17C-1-66. Electric personal assistive mobility device.
"Electric personal assistive mobility device" or "EPAMD" means
a self-balancing, two nontandem wheeled device designed to
transport only one person with an electric propulsion system with
average power of 750 watts (one h.p.), whose maximum speed on a
paved level surface, when powered solely by such a propulsion
system while ridden by an operator who weighs one hundred seventy
pounds, is less than twenty mph.
ARTICLE 10. PEDESTRIANS' RIGHTS AND DUTIES.
§17C-10-2a. Pedestrians' right-of-way to electric personal
assistive mobility devices.
The operator of an electric personal assistive mobility
device, as defined in article one, section sixty-six of this
chapter, must yield the right-of-way in all circumstances to a
pedestrian.
___________
(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the
definitions of motorized wheelchairs and electric personal
assistive mobility devices, to allow for their use, and to require
that operators of electric personal assistive mobility devices
yield the right-of-way to pedestrians.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, underscoring indicates new language that would be
added.
§§17C-1-65 and 66; and §17C-10-2a are new; therefore, strike-
throughs and underscoring have been omitted.)
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
