H. B. 2807
(By Delegates Staton and Browning)
[Introduced March 9, 2001; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then Finance.]
A BILL to amend article fifteen, chapter seventeen-c of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
fifty, relating to requiring school buses to have rear impact
underride guards.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article fifteen, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section fifty,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15. EQUIPMENT.
§17C-15-50. Rear impact underride guard required on school buses.
Every school bus operated upon a highway within this state
after the first day of July, two thousand three, is required to be
equipped with a rear impact guard designed to reduce the number of
injuries and fatalities resulting from the collision of passenger
vehicles with the rear ends of school buses. The guards shall be
designed to provide for necessary clearance space to prevent the
buses from scraping or becoming lodged on railroad crossings,
bumps, inclines or other road obstacles which the buses may be
reasonably expected to encounter. The state board of education
shall propose legislative rules, pursuant to article three-b,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to effectuate the provisions of
this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require impact guards on
the rear ends of school buses to prevent or reduce injuries to
passengers in vehicles impacting the rear of the buses. Design of
the guard is left to the state board of education to provide for
necessary clearance of road obstacles.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.