H. B. 4071
(By Delegates Perdue and Rick Thompson)
[Introduced January 23, 2006; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §17A-13-1, §17A-13-2,
§17A-13-3, §17A-13-4 and §17A-13-5, all relating to regulating
the use of automobile event data recorders.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §17A-13-1, §17A-13-2,
§17A-13-3, §17A-13-4 and 17A-13-5, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. EVENT DATA RECORDERS.
§17A-13-1. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(1) "Owner" means a person having all the incidents of
ownership, including the legal title of a vehicle whether or not
such person lends, rents, or creates a security interest in the
vehicle; a person entitled to the possession of a vehicle as the purchaser under a security agreement; or the person entitled to
possession of the vehicle as lessees pursuant to a written lease
agreement, provided such agreement at inception is for a period in
excess of three months; and
(2) "Recording device" means a feature that is installed by
the manufacturer of the vehicle and does one or more of the
following, for the purpose of retrieving data after an accident:
(A) Records vehicle speed or direction;
(B) Records vehicle location data;
(C) Records vehicle steering performance;
(D) Records vehicle brake performance, including, but not
limited to, whether brakes were applied before a crash;
(E) Records the driver's seatbelt status; or
(F) Has the ability to transmit information concerning a crash
in which the motor vehicle has been involved to a central
communications system when a crash occurs.
§17A-13-2.
Manufacturers of motor vehicles containing recording
devices required to disclose such information in
owner's manual.
A manufacturer of a new motor vehicle sold, leased or rented
in this state that is equipped with one or more recording devices
commonly referred to as "event data recorders" (EDR), including
"sensing and diagnostic modules" (SDM), shall disclose that fact in
the owner's manual for the vehicle.
§17A-13-3.
Permitted uses of information recorded by recording
device.
(a) Data described in section one of this article that is
recorded on a recording device may not be downloaded or otherwise
retrieved by a person other than the owner of the motor vehicle at
the time the devise is accessed, except under one of the following
circumstances:
(1) The owner of the motor vehicle or the owner's agent or
legal representative consents to the retrieval of the information;
(2) In response to an order of a court or administrative
authority having jurisdiction to issue the order;
(3) For the purpose of improving motor vehicle safety,
security or traffic management, including medical research of the
human body's reaction to motor vehicle accidents: Provided, That
the identity of the owner or driver is not disclosed in connection
with that retrieved data. The disclosure of the vehicle
identification number (VIN) with the last four digits deleted, for
the purpose of this subsection, does not constitute the disclosure
of the identity of the owner or driver;
(4) The data is retrieved by a licensed new motor vehicle
dealer, or by an automotive technician, for the purpose of
diagnosing, servicing or repairing the motor vehicle: Provided,
That the retrieved data may not be revealed to any person other
than the owner of the motor vehicle without the consent of the owner of the motor vehicle or the owner's agent or legal
representative.
(5) The data is retrieved for the purpose of determining the
need for facilitating emergency medical response in the event of a
motor vehicle crash.
(b) A person, including a service or data processor operating
on behalf of a person, authorized to download or otherwise retrieve
data from a recording device pursuant to subdivision (3),
subsection (a) of this section, may not release that data, except
to share the data among the motor vehicle safety and medical
research communities to advance motor vehicle safety, and only if
the identity of the owner or driver is not disclosed.
§17A-13-4. Disclosure required for recording devices that are part
of a subscription plan.
(a) If a motor vehicle is equipped with a recording device
that is capable of recording or transmitting information as
described in section one of this article and that capability is
part of a subscription service, the fact that the information may
be recorded or transmitted shall be disclosed in the subscription
service agreement.
(b) Subdivision (3), subsection (a), section three of this
article does not apply to subscription services meeting the
requirements of subsection (a) of this section.
§17A-13-5. Effective date of this article.
This section applies to all motor vehicles manufactured on or
after the first day of July, two thousand six.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
regulate the use of
automobile event data recorders.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.