ENGROSSED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 21

(By Senator Bailey)

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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;

reported February 19, 1997.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section four-b, article three, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section two, article fifteen of said chapter, all relating to providing a minimum fine of one hundred dollars for traffic violations in construction zones or areas when workers are present; and erecting road signs at specific locations to inform the public of certain requirements in the use of headlamps.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four-b, article three, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section two, article fifteen of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. TRAFFIC SIGNS, SIGNALS AND MARKINGS.

§17C-3-4b. Traffic violations in construction zones posting requirement; criminal penalties.

(a) At each and every location where street or highway construction work is to be conducted a sign shall be posted at least one thousand feet from the construction site, or as close to one thousand feet from the construction site as is practicable given the location of the site when workers are present, notifying all motorists as to the speed limit and displaying the words "constructionroad work".
(b) Any person who violates any posted speed restriction or traffic restriction at such construction site referred to in subsection (a) of this section, when workers are present, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars not nor more than two hundred dollars or incarcerated in a county or regional jail not more than twenty days, or both.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude prosecution of any operator of a motor vehicle who commits a violation of any other provision of this code for such violation.
ARTICLE 15. EQUIPMENT.

 §17C-15-2. When lighted lamps are required.
(a) Every vehicle other than a school bus, motorcycle, motor-driven cycle or moped operated upon a highway within this state at any time from sunset to sunrise, or during fog, smoke, rain or other unfavorable atmospheric conditions, or at any other time when there is not sufficient light to render clearly discernible persons and vehicles on the highway at a distance of five hundred feet ahead, shall display lighted head lamps and illuminating devices as hereinafter respectively required for different classes of vehicles, subject to exceptions with respect to parked vehicles as provided for in subsection (c), section fifteen-c of this article. Every school bus, motorcycle, motor-driven cycle and moped shall display lighted head lamps at all times when upon the highway.
 (b) The commissioner shall erect road signs on interstate highways in this state at all points of ingress into the state informing motorists of the requirement set forth in subsection (a) of this section that vehicles display lighted headlamps during inclement weather.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for a minimum fine of $100.00 for traffic violations in construction areas when workers are present and to require the commissioner of highways to erect signs in certain locations to inform drivers of the requirement to use headlights in inclement weather.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.)