Senate Bill No. 420

(By Senators Snyder, Unger, Anderson, Edgell, Kessler and Ball)

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[Introduced February 4, 1999;

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article four, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to criminal offenses involving leaving the scene of an accident involving a motor vehicle in which there is injury or a death to any person; and increasing criminal penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article four, 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 4. ACCIDENTS.

§17C-4-1. Accidents involving death or personal injuries.

(a) The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to or death of any person shall immediately stop such the vehicle at the scene of such the accident or as close thereto as possible but shall then forthwith return to and in every event shall remain at the scene of the accident until he or she has fulfilled the requirements of section three of this article. Every such stop shall be made without obstructing traffic more than is necessary.
(b) Any person failing to stop or to comply with said these requirements under such circumstances shall after being involved in an accident resulting in the death of any person is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in a correctional facility for not less than thirty days nor more than one year nor more than three years or by fine of not less than one hundred thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment fined and imprisoned. Any person failing to stop or comply with these requirements after being involved in an accident resulting in an injury to any person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by confinement in a county or regional jail for not less than thirty days nor more than one year, or fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or both fined and confined.
(c) The commissioner shall revoke the license or permit to drive and any nonresident operating privilege of the person so convicted for a period of one year.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create separate criminal offenses involving leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in the death or injury of any person.

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