Senate Bill No. 191
(By Senators Ross, Anderson, Helmick, Love and Buckalew)
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[Introduced January 21, 1998; referred to the Committee
on Transportation; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to repeal sections ten, thirteen and fifteen, article
four, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend
and reenact sections seven, eight, nine and twelve of said
article, all relating to accident reports generally;
repealing the penalty for failure to report an accident;
repealing the requirement that accident reports are
confidential; repealing the provision that any incorporated
city or town may require accident reports; written reports
of accidents; when accident reports are required to be
filed; when drivers are unable to report; accident report
forms; and garages to report accidents and bullet damage.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections ten, thirteen and fifteen, article four, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be repealed; that sections
seven, eight, nine and twelve of said article be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. ACCIDENTS.
§17C-4-7. Written reports of accidents.
(a) The driver or the attorney or agent of such driver of a
vehicle involved in an accident occurring on the public highways
of this state resulting in bodily injury to or death of any
person or total property damage to an apparent extent of two
hundred fifty dollars or more shall, within five days after such
accident, forward a written report of such accident to the
department of motor vehicles.
(b) The department may require any driver of a vehicle
involved in an accident of which report must be made as provided
in this section to file supplemental reports whenever the
original report is insufficient in the opinion of the department
and may require witnesses of accidents to render reports to the
department.
(c) Every law-enforcement officer who, in the regular course
of duty, investigates a motor vehicle accident occurring on the
public highways of this state resulting in bodily injury to or
death of any person, or total property damage to an apparent extent of seven-hundred fifty dollars or more, of which report
must be made as required in this section either at the time of
and at the scene of the accident or thereafter by interviewing
participants or witnesses shall, within twenty-four hours after
completing such investigation, forward a written report of such
accident to the department. The department shall prepare a form
for such accident report and, after approval of such form by the
commissioner, the superintendent of the department of public
safety state police and the state road 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 subsection (c)
section shall be made on such form.
§17C-4-8. When driver unable to report.
(a) Whenever the driver of a vehicle is physically incapable
of making an immediate report of an accident as required in
section six of this article and there was another occupant in the
vehicle at the time of the accident capable of making a report,
such occupant shall make or cause to be made said report not made
by the driver.
(b) Whenever the driver is physically incapable of making a
written report of an accident as required in section seven of
this article and such driver is not the owner of the vehicle, then the owner of the vehicle involved in such accident shall
within five days after learning of the accident make such report
not made by the driver.
§17C-4-9. Accident report forms.
(a) The department shall prepare and upon request supply to
police departments, coroners, sheriffs, garages the division of
natural resources, and other suitable agencies or individuals,
forms for accident reports required hereunder, appropriate with
respect to the persons required to make such reports and the
purposes to be served. The written reports to be made by persons
involved in accidents and by investigating officers shall call
for sufficiently detailed information to disclose with reference
to a traffic accident the cause, conditions then existing, and
the persons and vehicles involved.
(b) Every accident report required to be made in writing
shall be made on the appropriate form approved by the department
and shall contain all of the information required therein unless
not available.
(c) Every such report shall also contain information
sufficient to enable the commissioner to determine whether the
requirements for the deposit of security under any of the laws of
this state are inapplicable by reason of the existence of
insurance or other exceptions specified therein.
§17C-4-12. Garages to report accidents and bullet damage.
The person in charge of any garage or repair shop to which
is brought any motor vehicle which shows evidence of having been
involved in an accident of which report must be made as provided
in section seven of this article, or struck by any bullet, shall
report to the local police department within twenty-four hours
after such motor vehicle is received, giving the engine number,
registration number, and the name and address of the owner or
operator of such vehicle.
NOTE: This bill partially eliminates the requirement that
owners or operators of motor vehicles file written reports as the
result of accidents. It increases the amount of damages to $750
as the threshold amount required to trigger the requirement that
an accident report be filed. Finally, it eliminates the
confidentiality provision regarding the maintenance of accident
reports.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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