H. B. 4709
(By Delegates Perdue, Amores, J. Smith,
Hatfield, Webb, Ashley and Rowe)
[Introduced February 25, 2000; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article seventeen, chapter seventeen-c of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
fifteen, relating to providing misdemeanor fines to be imposed
against shipping companies when an overloaded or improperly
loaded motor vehicle owned or operated by or on behalf of the
shipping company is involved in an accident caused because of
the overload or improper load.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article seventeen, chapter seventeen-c of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
fifteen, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 17. SIZE, WEIGHT AND LOAD.
§17C-17-15. Penalties for violations of weight laws that result in accident or death.
Any owner, lessee or borrower
of a vehicle or combination of
vehicles who operates or permits to be operated on any highway any
vehicle or combination of vehicles with any axle load in excess of
that permitted by sections eight and eight-a of this article, or
with a total gross weight with load imposed upon the highway by any
one group of two or more consecutive axles in excess of that
permitted by section nine or eleven-a of this article, or that
otherwise violates any other provision of this article with respect
to load requirements and the excess load or other load violation
results in a motor vehicle accident
, is guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of ten
thousand dollars. In the event the excess load or other load
violation results in a motor vehicle accident involving the death
of one or more persons, then the owner, lessee or borrower
is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined one hundred thousand dollars.
In the event any owner, lessee or borrower of a vehicle is
charged with violating this section, the vehicle which is charged
to be overloaded shall be impounded by the arresting officer and
shall not be released to such owner, lessee or borrower unless and
until such owner, lessee or borrower is found guilty and pays the
applicable fine or furnishes cash or a surety bond in an amount
double the applicable fine that would be imposed upon conviction for the violation. The owner, lessee or borrower shall be liable
for any reasonable storage costs incurred in storing any vehicle
subject to the provisions of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide misdemeanor fines
to be imposed against shipping companies when an overloaded or
improperly loaded motor vehicle owned or operated by or on behalf
of the shipping company is involved in an accident caused because
of the overload or improper load.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.