Senate Bill No. 433
(By Senator Love)
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[Introduced January 28, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section four-a, article three,
chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend
and reenact section eight, article ten of said chapter, all
relating to
providing a felony penalty for drivers who
injure someone when failing to comply with individuals
directing traffic at construction, maintenance or accident
sites.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four-a, article three, chapter seventeen-c of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section eight,
article ten of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. TRAFFIC SIGNS, SIGNALS AND MARKINGS.
§17C-3-4a. Obedience to traffic-control instructions at site of
street or highway construction or maintenance;
penalty.
(a) The driver of any vehicle shall obey the traffic-control
instructions of any law-enforcement officer, emergency service
worker or persons authorized by the commissioner of highways or
by proper local authorities to operate traffic-control devices,
act as flagmen or operate authorized vehicles engaged in work at
or near the site of an accident, street or highway construction
maintenance work, for the purpose of regulating, warning or
guiding traffic, subject to the exceptions granted the driver of
an authorized emergency vehicle in this chapter.
(b) Any person failing to comply with the requirements of
subsection (a) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one
hundred dollars; upon a second conviction within one year
thereafter, shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars;
and upon a third or subsequent conviction, shall be fined not
more than five hundred dollars.
(c) Any person failing to comply with the requirements of
subsection (a) of this section and as a result of the
noncompliance injures any person regulating, warning or guiding traffic
, identified in subsection (a) of this section, is guilty
of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
less than five thousand dollars nor more than one hundred
thousand dollars and imprisoned in a state correctional facility
under the control of the division of corrections for a definite
term of at least one and not more than three years.
ARTICLE 10. PEDESTRIANS' RIGHTS AND DUTIES.
§17C-10-8. Persons working on streets and highways.
(a) The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to
persons engaged in maintenance or construction work on a street
or highway whenever he or she is notified of their presence by
an official traffic-control device or flagman.
(b) Any person failing to comply with the requirements of
subsection (a) of this section and as a result of the
noncompliance injures a
person engaged in the maintenance or
construction work
is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not less than five thousand dollars nor
more than one hundred thousand dollars and imprisoned in a state
correctional facility under the control of the division of
corrections for a definite term of at least one and not more
than three years.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a felony
penalty for drivers who injure someone when failing to comply
with individuals directing traffic at construction, maintenance
or accident sites.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.