ENROLLED
H. B. 2961
(By Delegates Perry, Shaver,
Beach and Fleischauer)
[Passed March 8, 2003; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section seven, article twelve, chapter
seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to school buses
generally; and requiring the state board of education develop
a policy concerning idling of school buses.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seven, article twelve, 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 12. SPECIAL STOPS REQUIRED.
§17C-12-7. Overtaking and passing school bus; penalties; signs
and warning lights upon buses; removal of warning
lights, lettering, etc., upon sale of buses;
highways with separate roadways; limitation on
idling.
(a) The driver of a vehicle, upon meeting or overtaking from
either direction any school bus which has stopped for the purpose
of receiving or discharging any school children, shall stop the
vehicle before reaching the school bus when there is in operation
on the school bus flashing warning signal lights, as referred to in
section eight of this article, and the driver shall not proceed
until the school bus resumes motion, or is signaled by the school
bus driver to proceed or the visual signals are no longer actuated.
This section applies wherever the school bus is receiving or
discharging children including, but not limited to, any street,
highway, parking lot, private road or driveway: Provided, That the
driver of a vehicle upon a controlled access highway need not stop
upon meeting or passing a school bus which is on a different
roadway or adjacent to the highway and where pedestrians are not
permitted to cross the roadway. Any driver acting in violation of
this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction,
shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than two hundred
dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not more than six months,
or both fined and imprisoned. If the identity of the driver cannot
be ascertained, then any owner or lessee of the vehicle in
violation of this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction, shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than
one hundred dollars. The conviction shall not subject the owner or
lessee to further administrative or other penalties for the offense, notwithstanding other provisions of this code to the
contrary.
(b) Every bus used for the transportation of school children
shall bear upon the front and rear of the bus a plainly visible
sign containing the words "school bus" in letters not less than
eight inches in height. When a contract school bus is being
operated upon a highway for purposes other than the actual
transportation of children either to or from school, all markings
on the contract school bus indicating "school bus" shall be covered
or concealed. Any school bus sold or transferred to another owner
by a county board of education, agency or individual shall have all
flashing warning lights disconnected and all lettering removed or
permanently obscured, except when sold or transferred for the
transportation of school children.
(c) The state board of education shall write a policy
governing the idling of school buses.