ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 202
(Senators Wiedebusch and Macnaughtan, original sponsors)
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[Passed March 11, 1995; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact sections one and three-a, article
six, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend
and reenact section two, article nineteen of said chapter,
all relating to establishing speed limitations generally;
defining the misdemeanor offense of driving in excess of
the established speed limits and providing penalties
therefor; prescribing the penalty for driving less than
ten miles per hour above the posted speed limit on a
controlled access highway or interstate highway;
describing when a certified abstract of a judgment of
conviction shall not be transmitted or shall not be
recorded by the division of motor vehicles if a person is
convicted of driving above the speed limit on a controlled access highway or interstate highway; establishing minimum
speed regulations; defining the misdemeanor offense of
driving a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede
traffic, and providing penalties therefor; describing
offenses by persons owning or controlling vehicles; and
providing, under certain circumstances, for an owner
present in a vehicle to be arrested for a traffic
violation rather than the driver.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one and three-a, article six, chapter
seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and
that section two, article nineteen of said chapter be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. SPEED RESTRICTIONS.
§17C-6-1. Speed limitations generally; penalties for violation
of speed limits in school zones.
(a) No person may drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed
greater than is reasonable and prudent under the existing
conditions and the actual and potential hazards. In every
event speed shall be so controlled as may be necessary to avoid
colliding with any person, vehicle or other conveyance on or entering the highways in compliance with legal requirements and
the duty of all persons to use due care.
(b) Where no special hazard exists that requires lower
speed for compliance with subsection (a) of this section, the
speed of any vehicle not in excess of the limits specified in
this section or established as hereinafter authorized is
lawful, but any speed in excess of the limits specified below
in this subsection or established as hereinafter authorized is
unlawful.
(1) Fifteen miles per hour in a school zone during school
recess or while children are going to or leaving school during
opening or closing hours. A school zone is all school property
including school grounds and any street or highway abutting
such school grounds and extending one hundred twenty-five feet
along such street or highway from the school grounds. Such
speed restriction does not apply to vehicles traveling on a
controlled-access highway which is separated from the school or
school grounds by a fence or barrier approved by the state road
commissioner;
(2) Twenty-five miles per hour in any business or
residence district;
(3) Fifty-five miles per hour on open country highways, except as otherwise provided by this chapter.
The speeds set forth in this section may be altered as
authorized in sections two and three of this article.
(c) The driver of every vehicle shall, consistent with the
requirements of subsection (a) of this section, drive at an
appropriate reduced speed when approaching and crossing an
intersection or railway grade crossing, when approaching and
going around a curve, when approaching a hill crest, when
traveling upon any narrow or winding roadway and when special
hazard exists with respect to pedestrians or other traffic or
by reason of weather or highway conditions.
(d) The speed limit on controlled-access highways and
interstate highways, where no special hazard exists that
requires a lower speed, shall be not less than fifty-five miles
per hour and the speed limits specified in subsection (b) of
this section do not apply.
(e) Any person who violates the provisions of this section
is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall
be fined not more than one hundred dollars: Provided, That any
person who violates the provisions of this section after having
been previously convicted under the provisions of this section
for a prior offense which occurred within the preceding one-year period, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars:
Provided, however, That any person who violates the provisions
of this section after having been previously convicted under
the provisions of this section for two or more prior offenses
which occurred within the preceding two-year period, is guilty
of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined
not more than five hundred dollars or confined in jail for not
more than six months, or both: Provided further, That any
person who violates subdivision (1), subsection (b) of this
section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor
more than five hundred dollars, or shall be fined not less than
one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars and
confined in jail for not more than six months, or both, for a
violation of said subdivision after having been previously
convicted for one or more violations of said subdivision which
occurred within the preceding two-year period.
(f) If an owner or driver is arrested under the provisions
of this section for the offense of driving above the posted
speed limit on a controlled access highway or interstate
highway, and if the evidence shall show that the motor vehicle was being operated at less than ten miles per hour above said
speed limit, then, upon conviction thereof, such person shall
be fined not more than five dollars, plus court costs.
If an owner or driver is convicted under the provisions of
this section for the offense of driving above the speed limit
on a controlled access highway or interstate highway of this
state, and if the evidence shall show that the motor vehicle
was being operated at less than ten miles per hour above said
speed limit, then notwithstanding the provisions of section
four, article three, chapter seventeen-b of this code, a
certified abstract of the judgment on such conviction shall not
be transmitted to the division of motor vehicles.
If an owner or driver is convicted in another state for
the offense of driving above the maximum speed limit on a
controlled access highway or interstate highway, and if the
maximum speed limit in such other state is less than the
maximum speed limit for a comparable controlled access highway
or interstate highway in this state, and if the evidence shall
show that the motor vehicle was being operated at less than ten
miles per hour above what would be the maximum speed limit for
a comparable controlled access highway or interstate highway in
this state, then notwithstanding the provisions of section four, article three, chapter seventeen-b of this code, a
certified abstract of the judgment on such conviction shall not
be transmitted to the division of motor vehicles, or, if
transmitted, shall not be recorded by the division, unless
within a reasonable time after conviction, the person convicted
has failed to pay all fines and costs imposed by the other
state.
§17C-6-3a. Minimum speed regulations.
(a) No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow
speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of
traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe
operation or in compliance with law.
(b) Whenever the commissioner or local authorities within
their respective jurisdiction determine on the basis of an
engineering and traffic investigation that slow speeds on any
part of the highway consistently impede the normal and
reasonable movement of traffic, the commissioner or such local
authority may determine and declare a minimum speed limit below
which no person shall drive a vehicle except when necessary for
safe operation or in compliance with law.
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section
is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars: Provided, That any
person who violates the provisions of this section after having
been previously convicted under the provisions of this section
for a prior offense which occurred within the preceding one-
year period, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars:
Provided, however, That any person who violates the provisions
of this section after having been previously convicted under
the provisions of this section for two or more prior offenses
which occurred within the preceding two-year period, is guilty
of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined
not more than five hundred dollars or confined in jail for not
more than six months, or both.
ARTICLE 19. PARTIES, PROCEDURE ON ARREST AND REPORTS IN
CRIMINAL CASES.
§17C-19-2. Offenses by persons owning or controlling vehicles;
owner present in vehicle to be arrested rather than driver
for certain traffic violations.
It is unlawful for the owner, or any other person,
employing or otherwise directing the driver of any vehicle to
require or knowingly to permit the operation of such vehicle
upon a highway in any manner contrary to law.
If the owner of a motor vehicle is present in the vehicle at a time when another driver is operating the vehicle upon the
highways of this state: (1) With defective or improper
equipment in violation of the provisions of article fifteen of
this chapter; (2) in violation of the weight, height, length or
width provisions of article seventeen of this chapter; (3) with
improper registration in violation of the provisions of article
three, chapter seventeen-a of this code; or (4) with an expired
vehicle inspection decal or certificate in violation of the
provisions of article sixteen of this chapter, the owner rather
than the driver shall be arrested for any violation enumerated
herein in lieu of an arrest of the driver. If the owner of the
vehicle is not present therein, then the driver shall be
arrested for any violation enumerated in this section.