H. B. 2430
(By Delegate Mahan)
[Introduced
February 16, 2005
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary .]
A BILL to amend and reenact §17C-15-49 of the code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to removing the provision
of the code that prohibits primary enforcement by police
action of the legal requirement to wear a seatbelt.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17C-15-49 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15. EQUIPMENT.
§17C-15-49. Operation of vehicles with safety belts; exception;
penalty; civil actions; educational program by
Division of Public Safety.
(a) Effective the first day of September, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-three, a person may not operate a passenger vehicle
on a public street or highway of this State unless the person, any
passenger in the back seat under eighteen years of age, and any passenger in the front seat of such passenger vehicle is restrained
by a safety belt meeting applicable federal motor vehicle safety
standards. For the purposes of this section, the term "passenger
vehicle" means a motor vehicle which is designed for transporting
ten passengers or less, including the driver, except that such term
does not include a motorcycle, a trailer, or any motor vehicle
which is not required on the date of the enactment of this section
under a federal motor vehicle safety standard to be equipped with
a belt system. The provisions of this section shall apply to all
passenger vehicles manufactured after the first day of January, one
thousand nine hundred sixty-seven, and being 1968 models and newer.
(b) The required use of safety belts as provided herein does
not apply to a duly appointed or contracted rural mail carrier of
the United States Postal Service who is actually making mail
deliveries or to a passenger or operator with a physically
disabling condition whose physical disability would prevent
appropriate restraint in such safety belt if the condition is duly
certified by a physician who shall state the nature of the
disability as well as the reason such restraint is inappropriate.
The Division of Motor Vehicles shall adopt rules, in accordance
with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to
establish a method to certify the physical disability and to
require use of an alternative restraint system where feasible or to
waive the requirement for the use of any restraint system.
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section
shall be fined not more than twenty-five dollars. No court costs
or other fees shall be assessed for a violation of this section.
Enforcement of this section shall be accomplished only as a
secondary action when a driver of a passenger vehicle has been
detained for probable cause of violating another section of this
code.
(d) A violation of this section is not admissible as evidence
of negligence or contributory negligence or comparative negligence
in any civil action or proceeding for damages, and shall not be
admissible in mitigation of damages:
Provided, That the court may,
upon motion of the defendant, conduct an in-camera hearing to
determine whether an injured party's failure to wear a safety belt
was a proximate cause of the injuries complained of. Upon such a
finding by the court, the court may then, in a jury trial, by
special interrogatory to the jury, determine (1) that the injured
party failed to wear a safety belt and (2) that the failure to wear
the safety belt constituted a failure to mitigate damages. The
trier of fact may reduce the injured party's recovery for medical
damages by an amount not to exceed five percent thereof. In the
event the plaintiff stipulates to the reduction of five percent of
medical damages, the court shall make the calculations and the
issue of mitigation of damages for failure to wear a safety belt
shall not be presented to the jury. In all cases, the actual computation of the dollar amount reduction shall be determined by
the court.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, no points may be entered on any driver's record
maintained by the Division of Motor Vehicles as a result of a
violation of this section.
(f) Commencing the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-three, the Governor's Highway Safety Program, in
cooperation with the Division of Public Safety and any other state
departments or agencies and with county and municipal
law-enforcement agencies, shall initiate and conduct an educational
program designed to encourage compliance with safety belt usage
laws. This program shall be focused on the effectiveness of safety
belts, the monetary savings and the other benefits to the public
from usage of safety belts and the requirements and penalties
specified in this law.
(g) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to
abrogate or alter the provisions of section forty-six of this
article relating to the mandatory use of child passenger safety
devices.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
remove the provision of
the code that prohibits primary enforcement by police action of the
legal requirement to wear a seatbelt.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.