Senate Bill No. 203
(By Senator Oliverio)
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[Introduced February 16, 2005; referred to the Committee
on Transportation and Infrastructure.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §17C-15-46 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the use of child
safety booster seats for children under eight years of age
unless the child is at least four feet nine inches tall or
taller.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17C-15-46 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15. EQUIPMENT.
§17C-15-46. Child passenger safety devices required; child safety
seats and booster seats.
Every driver who transports a child under the age of nine
eight years in a passenger automobile, van or pickup truck other
than one operated for hire shall, while such the motor vehicle is
in motion and operated on a street or highway of this state, provide for the protection of such the child by properly placing,
maintaining and securing such the child in a child passenger safety
device system meeting applicable federal motor vehicle safety
standards: Provided, That if a child is under the age of eight
years and at least four years of age or at least forty pounds in
weight four feet nine inches tall, a safety belt shall be
sufficient to meet the requirements of this section.
Any person who violates any provision of this section is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than ten dollars nor more than twenty dollars.
A violation of this section shall not be deemed does not by
virtue of such the violation to constitute evidence of negligence
or contributory negligence or comparative negligence in any civil
action or proceeding for damages.
If any provision of this section or the application thereof to
any person or circumstance is held invalid, such the invalidity
shall may not affect other provisions or applications of this
section and to this end the subsections of this section are
declared to be severable.
If all seat belts in a vehicle are being used at the time of
examination by a law officer and the vehicle contains more
passengers than the total number of seat belts or other safety
devices as installed in compliance with federal motor vehicle
safety standards, the driver shall may not be considered as violating in violation of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the use of child
safety booster seats for children under eight years of age, unless
the child is at least four feet nine inches tall or taller.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.