ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 420
(By Senators Snyder, Unger, Anderson, Edgell, Kessler and Ball, original
sponsors)
____________
[Passed March 11, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]
____________
AN ACT 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 the duties of
drivers involved in accidents; clarifying duty to remain at
scene of accident and to render aid to an injured person;
and increasing the criminal penalties for leaving the scene
of an accident resulting in a person's death.
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 complied with
the requirements of section three of this article: Provided,
That the driver may leave the scene of the accident as may
reasonably be necessary for the purpose of rendering assistance
to an injured person as required by said section three. Every
such stop shall be made without obstructing traffic more than is
necessary.
(b) Any person failing to stop or to comply with said
requirements under such circumstances shall violating the provisions of subsection (a) of
this section 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 confinement in a correctional
facility for not thirty days nor more than more than three years or by fine of fined not less than one hundred thousand dollars nor more than
five thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(c) Any person violating the provisions of subsection (a) of
this section after being involved in an accident resulting in
physical 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 fiveone thousand dollars, or both.
(c) (d) The commissioner shall revoke the license or permit to
drive and any nonresident operating privilege of the any person so
convicted pursuant to the provisions of this section for a period
of one year.