Senate Bill No. 444
(By Senators Unger and Hunter)
____________
[Introduced March 3, 2005; 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 §17C-4A-1, §17C-4A-2,
§17C-4A-3, §17C-4A-4, §17C-4A-5 and §17C-4A-6, all relating to
careless driving generally; providing a short title; defining
"careless driving"; establishing the offense of careless
driving; providing criminal penalties for violations;
requiring the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles
to assess points against the driver's license of a person
convicted of careless driving; requiring the Commissioner of
the Division of Motor Vehicles to suspend the license of a
person convicted of careless driving that causes the
unintentional death of another person or causes serious bodily
injury to another person; and requiring the Commissioner of
the Division of Motor Vehicles to propose legislative rules.
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 §17C-4A-1, §17C-4A-2,
§17C-4A-3, §17C-4A-4, §17C-4A-5 and §17C-4A-6, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 4A. CARELESS DRIVING.
§17C-4A-1. Short title.
This article dealing with careless driving shall be known and
may be cited as "Danny's Law."
§17C-4A-2. Definition.
The term "careless driving" means the operation of a motor
vehicle
on a street, road or highway without due care and attention
or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the
street, road or highway.
§17C-4A-3. Careless driving; penalties.
Any person who drives any vehicle upon any street or highway,
or upon any residential street, or in any parking area, or upon the
ways of any institution of higher education, whether public or
private, or upon the ways of any state institution, or upon the
property of any county boards of education, or upon any property
within the State Park and Public Recreation System established by
the Director of the Division of Natural Resources pursuant to
section three, article four, chapter twenty of this code
without
due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the street, road or highway
is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less
than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and upon
conviction for a second or subsequent offense shall be fined not
less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars.
§17C-4A-4. Additional fines for violations causing serious bodily
injury or the unintentional death of another person.
Any person convicted of violating the provisions of section
three of this article which causes the unintentional death of
another person, shall be fined four thousand dollars in addition to
the penalties provided in section three of this article.
Any person convicted of violating the provisions of section
three of this article which causes serious bodily injury to another
person
, shall be fined two thousand dollars in addition to the
penalties provided in section three of this article.
For the
purpose of this section, "serious bodily injury" means any bodily
injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes
serious, permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment
of function of any bodily member or organ.
§17C-4A-5. Exceptions.
The provisions of this section do not apply to those areas
which have been temporarily closed for racing sport events or which
may be set aside by the Director of the Division of Natural
Resources within the State Park and Recreation System for exclusive use by motorcycles or other recreational vehicles
.
§17C-4A-6. Assessment of points and suspension of license.
In addition to any penalty imposed for careless driving under
the provisions of section three of this article, the Commissioner
of the Division of Motor Vehicles shall assess six points against
the driver's license of any person convicted of a first offense
under section three of this article and
shall suspend for three
months the driver's license of any person convicted of a second or
subsequent offense.
In addition to any penalty imposed for
violating the
provisions of section four of this article which causes the
unintentional death of another person, the Commissioner of the
Division of Motor Vehicles shall suspend for six months the
driver's license
of the person convicted of the offense
.
If the
offense
which causes the unintentional death of another person
is
also a second or subsequent violation of section three of this
article, the six-month suspension shall be in addition to any
period of suspension for a second or subsequent violation of
section three.
In addition to any penalty imposed for
violating the
provisions of section four of this article which causes serious
bodily injury to another person
,
the Commissioner of the Division
of Motor Vehicles shall suspend for six months the driver's license
of the person convicted of the offense
.
If the offense
which causes the
causes serious bodily injury to another person
is also
a second or subsequent violation of section three of this article,
the six month suspension shall be in addition to any period of
suspension for a second or subsequent violation of section three.
T
he Commissioner of Motor Vehicles shall assess six points
against the driver's license of any driver of a motor vehicle or
other conveyance found guilty of violating section three of this
article on a first offense upon receiving notice from a circuit
clerk, magistrate court or municipal court of this state of the
conviction. Circuit clerks, magistrate courts and municipal courts
of this state shall promptly notify the Commissioner of the
convictions.
The Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles shall
suspend the driver's license of any driver of a
motor vehicle or
other conveyance
who is found guilty of violating section three of
this article on a second or subsequent offense
upon receiving
notice from a circuit clerk, magistrate court or municipal court of
this state of the conviction. Circuit clerks, magistrate courts
and municipal courts of this state shall promptly notify the
Commissioner of the convictions
.
The Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles shall
suspend the driver's license of any driver of a
motor vehicle or
other conveyance
who is found guilty of violating section four of
this article
upon receiving notice from a circuit clerk, magistrate court or municipal court of this state of the conviction. Circuit
clerks, magistrate courts and municipal courts of this state shall
promptly notify the Commissioner of the convictions
.
The Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles shall
propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to
effectuate the purposes of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
establish the offense of
careless driving and provide criminal penalties for violations. In
addition, the bill requires the Commissioner of the Division of
Motor Vehicles to assess points against the driver's license of a
person convicted of careless driving and to suspend the license of
a driver convicted of a second or subsequent offense. The bill
also requires the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles to
suspend the drivers license of any person convicted of careless
driving that causes the unintentional death of another person or
causes serious bodily injury to another person. The bill requires
the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles to propose rules
to implement the provisions of the article.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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