Senate Bill No. 504
(By Senators White and Buckalew)
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[Introduced March 24, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section forty-nine, article fifteen,
chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
the offense of operating a vehicle without wearing safety
belts; changing the violation to a primary offense; and
penalty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section forty-nine, article fifteen, chapter seventeen- c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, 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
state police.
(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 may 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 may 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 state police 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 change the offense of
failure to wear safety belts to a primary offense.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.