Senate Bill No. 370
(By Senator Craigo)
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[Introduced February 2, 1998; referred to the Committee
on Transportation.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-six, article fifteen,
chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
restrictions on lamps on motor vehicles; and providing fee
and procedure for authorization for use of yellow flashing
warning lights on certain vehicles.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-six, 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-15-26. Special restrictions on lamps.
(a) Any lighted lamp or illuminating device upon a motor
vehicle other than head lamps, spot lamps, auxiliary lamps or
flashing front-direction signals which projects a beam of light of an intensity greater than three hundred candlepower shall be
so directed so that no part of the beam will strike the level of
the roadway on which the vehicle stands at a distance of more
than seventy-five feet from the vehicle.
(b) No person shall may drive or move any vehicle or
equipment upon any highway with any lamp or device thereon on the
vehicle displaying other than a white or amber light visible from
directly in front of the center thereof on the vehicle except as
authorized by subsection (d) of this section.
(c) Except as authorized in subsections (d) and (f) of this
section and authorized in section nineteen of this article,
flashing lights are prohibited on motor vehicles: Provided, That
any vehicle as a means for indicating right or left turn, or any
vehicle as a means of indicating the same it is disabled or
otherwise stopped for an emergency may have blinking or flashing
lights.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter,
the following colors of flashing warning lights are restricted
for the use of the type of vehicle designated:
(1) Blue flashing warning lights are restricted to police
vehicles. Authorization for police vehicles shall be designated
by the chief administrative official of each police department.
(2) Except for standard vehicle equipment authorized by
section nineteen of this article, red flashing warning lights are restricted to ambulances; firefighting vehicles; hazardous
material response vehicles; industrial fire brigade vehicles;
school buses; Class A vehicles, as defined by section one,
article ten, chapter seventeen-a of this code, of those
firefighters who are authorized by their fire chiefs to have such
the lights; Class A vehicles of members of ambulance services or
duly chartered rescue squads who are authorized by their
respective chiefs to have such the lights; and Class A vehicles
of out-of-state residents who are active members of West Virginia
fire departments, ambulance services or duly chartered rescue
squads who are authorized by their respective chiefs to have such
the lights. Red flashing warning lights attached to such the
Class A vehicles shall may be operated only when responding to or
engaged in handling an emergency requiring the attention of such
the firefighters, members of such the ambulance services, or
chartered rescue squads.
(3) The use of red flashing warning lights shall be is
authorized as follows:
(A) Authorization for all ambulances shall be designated by
the department of health and human resources and the sheriff of
the county of residence.
(B) Authorization for all fire department vehicles shall be
designated by the fire chief and the state fire marshal's office.
(C) Authorization for all hazardous material response vehicles and industrial fire brigades shall be designated by the
chief of the fire department and the state fire marshal's office.
(D) Authorization for all rescue squad vehicles not
operating out of a fire department shall be designated by the
squad chief, the sheriff of the county of residence and the
department of health and human resources.
(E) Authorization for school buses shall be designated as
set out in section twelve, article fourteen, chapter seventeen-c.
(F) Authorization for firefighters to operate Class A
vehicles shall be designated by their fire chiefs and the state
fire marshal's office.
(G) Authorization for members of ambulance services or any
other emergency medical service personnel to operate Class A
vehicles shall be designated by their chief official, the
department of health and human resources and the sheriff of the
county of residence.
(H) Authorization for members of duly chartered rescue
squads not operating out of a fire department to operate Class A
vehicles shall be designated by their squad chiefs, the sheriff
of the county of residence and the department of health and human
resources.
(I) Authorization for out-of-state residents operating Class
A vehicles who are active members of a West Virginia fire
department, ambulance services or duly chartered rescue squads shall be designated by their respective chiefs.
(4) Yellow flashing warning lights are restricted to the
following:
(A) All other emergency vehicles, including tow trucks and
wreckers, authorized by this chapter and by section twenty-seven
of this article;
(B) Postal service vehicles and rural mail carriers, as
authorized in section nineteen of this article;
(C) Rural newspaper delivery vehicles;
(D) Flag car services;
(E) Vehicles providing road service to disabled vehicles;
(F) Service vehicles of a public service corporation;
(G) Snow removal equipment; and
(H) School buses.
(5) The use of yellow flashing warning lights shall be is
authorized as follows:
(A) Authorization for tow trucks, wreckers, rural newspaper
delivery vehicles, flag car services, vehicles providing road
service to disabled vehicles, service vehicles of a public
service corporation and postal service vehicles shall be
designated by the sheriff of the county of residence. The
authorization shall be in writing on a form prescribed by the
sheriff of the county. The form shall include a detailed
description of the authorized vehicle and vehicle drivers and the purpose of the authorization. The sheriff shall collect a
one-time fee of five dollars and shall deposit the fee in the
general county fund. The authorization form does not expire
unless the vehicle or the driver information changes. In that
case the owner of the vehicle shall reapply to the sheriff for a
new authorization form. The sheriff shall charge a five-dollar
fee for each new authorization form. At any time the vehicle
stops being used for purposes set forth in this subsection, the
owner of the authorized vehicle shall return the authorization
form to the sheriff of the county. No person may operate a
yellow flashing warning light for any purpose under this
subsection, unless both the driver and the vehicle are listed on
the authorization form, the authorization form is present in the
vehicle at the time of operation and the vehicle is being
operated for a purpose designated on the authorization form.
(B) Authorization for snow removal equipment shall be
designated by the commissioner of the division of highways.
(C) Authorization for school buses shall be designated as
set out in section twelve, article fourteen, chapter seventeen-c
of this code.
(e) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this
section, any vehicle belonging to a county board of education may
be equipped with a white flashing strobotron warning light. This
strobe light may be installed on the roof of a school bus not to exceed one-third the body length forward from the rear of the
roof edge. The light shall have a single clear lens emitting
light three hundred sixty degrees around its vertical axis and
may not extend above the roof more than six and one-half inches.
A manual switch and a pilot light must shall be included to
indicate the light is in operation.
(f) It shall be unlawful for No person may install or use
flashing warning lights of an unauthorized color to be installed
or used on a vehicle other than as specified in this section,
except that a police vehicle may be equipped with either or both
blue or red warning lights.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a procedure
for authorizing yellow flashing warning lights on tow trucks,
wreckers, rural newspaper delivery vehicles, flag car services,
vehicles providing road service to disabled vehicles, service
vehicles of a public service corporation and postal service
vehicles. The bill requires the appropriate sheriff to charge
five dollars for the authorization.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.