Senate Bill No. 354
(By Senators Kessler and Unger)
____________
[Introduced January 27, 2010; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §17C-4-1, §17C-4-2, §17C-4-3, §17C-4-5,
§17C-4-6, §17C-4-7, §17C-4-8, §17C-4-9, §17C-4-10, §17C-4-11,
§17C-4-14, §17C-4-15 and §17C-4-16 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to reporting crashes
to a law-enforcement agency; increasing property damage
notification threshold; updating law-enforcement reporting
requirements; and changing responsibility for receiving
reports and preparation of reports to the Division of
Highways.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17C-4-1, §17C-4-2, §17C-4-3, §17C-4-5, §17C-4-6,
§17C-4-7, §17C-4-8, §17C-4-9, §17C-4-10, §17C-4-11, §17C-4-14,
§17C-4-15 and §17C-4-16 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. CRASHES.
§17C-4-1. Crashes involving death or personal injuries.
(a) The driver of any vehicle involved in
an accident a crash
resulting in injury to or death of any person shall immediately
stop the vehicle at the scene of the
accident crash or as close
thereto as possible but shall then forthwith return to and shall
remain at the scene of the
accident crash until he or she has
complied with the requirements of section three of this article:
Provided, That the driver may leave the scene of the
accident crash
as may reasonably be necessary for the purpose of rendering
assistance to an injured person as required by said section three.
Every such stop shall be made without obstructing traffic more than
is necessary.
(b) Any person violating the provisions of subsection (a) of
this section after being involved in
an accident a crash resulting
in the death of any person is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be punished by confinement in a
correctional facility for not more than three years or fined not
more than $5,000, or both.
(c) Any person violating the provisions of subsection (a) of
this section after being involved in
an accident a crash resulting
in physical injury to any person is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by confinement in a
county or regional jail for not more than one year, or fined not
more than $1,000, or both.
(d) The commissioner shall revoke the
driver's license or
permit to drive and any nonresident operating privilege of any person convicted pursuant to the provisions of this section for a
period of one year.
§17C-4-2. Crashes involving damage to vehicle.
The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident
a crash
resulting only in damage to a vehicle which is driven or attended
by any person shall immediately stop such vehicle at the scene of
such accident
crash
or as close thereto as possible but shall
forthwith return to and in every event shall remain at the scene of
such accident
crash
until he has fulfilled the requirements of
section three of this article. Every such stop shall be made
without obstructing traffic more than is necessary. Any person
failing to stop or comply with said requirements under such
circumstances is guilty of a misdemeanor and, subject to the
penalties prescribed in section one, article eighteen of this
chapter.
§17C-4-3. Duty to give information and render aid.
The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident a crash
resulting in injury to or death of any person or damage to any
vehicle which is driven or attended by any person shall give his or
her name, address and the registration number of the vehicle he or
she is driving and shall upon request and if available exhibit his
or her driver's license to the person struck or the driver or
occupant of or person attending any vehicle collided with and shall
render to any person injured in such accident crash reasonable
assistance, including the carrying, or the making arrangements for the carrying of such person to a physician, surgeon or hospital for
medical or surgical treatment if it is apparent that such treatment
is necessary or if such carrying is requested by the injured
person.
§17C-4-5. Duty upon striking fixtures upon a highway.
The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident a crash
resulting only in damage to fixtures or other property legally upon
or adjacent to a highway shall take reasonable steps to locate and
notify the owner or person in charge of such property of such fact
and of his or her name and address and of the registration number
of the vehicle he or she is driving and shall upon request and if
available exhibit his or her driver's license and shall make report
of such accident crash when and as required in section seven of
this article. Any person failing to make the notification required
by this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction,
shall be fined not more than $150.
§17C-4-6. Immediate reports of crashes.
The driver of a vehicle involved in an accident a crash
resulting in injury to or death of any person or total property
damage to an apparent extent of five hundred dollars $1,000 or more
shall immediately by the quickest means of communication, whether
oral or written, give notice of such accident crash to the local
police department if such accident crash occurs within a
municipality, otherwise to the office of the county sheriff or the
nearest office of the West Virginia State Police.
§17C-4-7. Reports of crashes.
(a) Every law-enforcement officer who, in the regular course
of duty, investigates a motor vehicle accident crash occurring on
the public streets or highways of this state resulting in bodily
injury to or death of any person or total property damage to an
apparent extent of five hundred dollars $1,000 or more shall,
either at the time of and at the scene of the accident crash or
thereafter by interviewing participants or witnesses, within
twenty-four hours after completing such investigation, forward a
written prepare report of such accident to the division. The
division shall prepare a form for such accident report and, after
approval of such form by the commissioner, the superintendent of
the West Virginia state police and the commissioner of highways,
shall supply copies of such form to police departments, sheriffs
and other appropriate law-enforcement agencies. Every accident
report required under the provisions of this section shall be made
on such form crash either electronically or in writing.
(b) The investigating law-enforcement officer shall submit the
report electronically or in writing to the Division of Highways in
the form and manner approved by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles,
the Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police and the
Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. The Division of Highways shall
supply electronic submission capability or paper copies of such
form to police departments, sheriffs and other appropriate law
enforcement agencies.
(c) In the event that the investigating law-enforcement
officer can not complete the investigation within twenty-four
hours, he or she shall submit a preliminary report of the crash to
the Division of Highways within ten days and submit the final
report within twenty-four hours of completion of the investigation.
§17C-4-8. When driver unable to report.
Whenever the driver of a vehicle is physically incapable of
making an immediate report of an accident notification of a crash
as required in section six of this article and there was another
occupant in the vehicle at the time of the accident crash capable
of making a report notification, such occupant shall make or cause
to be made said report notification not made by the driver.
§17C-4-9. Crash report forms.
(a) The Division of Highways shall prepare and upon request
supply to the State Police or municipal police departments,
coroners, sheriffs, Division of Natural Resources, and other
suitable agencies or individuals, electronic submission
capabilities or paper forms for accident crash reports required
hereunder. appropriate with respect to the persons required to
make such reports and the purposes to be served
(b) The written format of the crash reports to be made by
investigating officers shall call for shall provide sufficiently
detailed information to disclose with reference to a traffic
accident the cause, conditions then existing, and the persons and
vehicles involved.
(b) (c) Every accident crash report required to be made in
writing shall be made on in the appropriate form approved provided
by the Division of Highways and shall contain all of the
information required therein unless not available.
(c) (d) Every such report shall also contain information
sufficient to enable the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles to
determine whether the requirements for security upon motor vehicles
is in effect in accordance with chapter seventeen-d of this code.
§17C-4-10. Penalty for failure to report.
The commissioner may suspend the driver's license or permit to
drive and any nonresident operating privileges of any person
failing to report an accident crash as herein provided under
section six of this article. until such report has been filed Any
person convicted of failing to make a report notification as
required herein shall be punished as provided in section one,
article eighteen of this chapter.
§17C-4-11. Coroners to report on crash victims.
Every coroner or other official performing like functions
shall on or before the tenth day of each month report in writing to
the department Division of Highways the death of any person within
his or her jurisdiction during the preceding calendar month as the
result of a traffic accident crash giving the time and place of the
accident crash and the circumstances relating thereto.
§17C-4-14. Division to tabulate and analyze crash reports.
The
department Division of Highways
shall tabulate and may
analyze all accident crash reports and shall publish annually, or
at more frequent intervals, statistical information based thereon
as to the number and circumstances of traffic accident crash.
§17C-4-15. Any incorporated city, town, etc., may require crash
reports.
Any incorporated city, town, village or other municipality may
by ordinance require that the driver of a vehicle involved in an
accident crash shall file with a designated city department a
report of such accident crash. All such reports shall be for the
confidential use of the city department.
§17C-4-16. Crashes involving state and municipal property;
reports to be provided.
Whenever a report of a motor vehicle accident crash prepared
by a member of the West Virginia State Police, conservation officer
of the Division of Natural Resources, a member of a county
sheriff's department or a municipal police officer, in the regular
course of their duties, indicates that as a result of such accident
crash damage has occurred to any bridge, sign, guardrail or other
property, exclusive of licensed motor vehicles, a copy of such
report shall, in the case of such property belonging to the
Division of Highways, be provided to the Commissioner of the
Division of Highways, and, in the case of such property belonging
to a municipality, be provided to the mayor of that municipality. The copies of such reports shall be provided to the commissioner or
mayor, as applicable, without cost to them.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to update the terms and
procedures for the notification after traffic crashes and
completion of the required reports by investigating law-enforcement
officers. Crash reports are now sent to the Division of Highways,
not the division of Motor Vehicles. The word "accident" is
replaced by the word "crash." Research in highway safety now
reflects that "crash" is the term of art to describe motor vehicle
collisions and is used in most states and encompasses a wider range
of potential causes for vehicular crashes than does the term
accident.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.