West Virginia House Bill HB4728

West Virginia 2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/22/26
• Refer: 1/22/26

Caption

To require motorists traveling 10 mph or more below the speed limit to activate hazard lights.

Summary

House Bill 4728 would add a new section to West Virginia traffic law requiring drivers to use hazard lights when operating a vehicle more than 10 miles per hour below the posted speed limit on any interstate or state highway. The bill is narrowly focused on a specific driving condition: slower-moving vehicles on higher-speed roads. Its stated purpose is to improve visibility and alert other motorists when a vehicle is traveling significantly below the normal flow of traffic. The bill would amend Chapter 17C, Article 6 of the West Virginia Code, which governs speed restrictions, by creating a new rule for hazard-light use. If enacted, motorists on interstate and state highways would be legally required to activate hazard lights whenever they are driving more than 10 mph under the posted limit. The measure would affect all drivers on those roadways and would likely be enforced as part of traffic safety and equipment compliance rules.

Impact

HB4728 would create a new traffic-safety requirement in West Virginia law by mandating hazard-light use for vehicles traveling more than 10 mph below the speed limit on interstate and state highways. It would add a new statutory section to §17C-6, expanding the state’s rules on speed-related driving conduct and vehicle signaling. The practical effect would fall on motorists, law enforcement, and traffic safety officials, who would need to interpret and enforce the new hazard-light obligation.

Sentiment

There is no recorded committee transcript or vote history provided for this bill, so no direct evidence of support or opposition is available from the legislative record included here. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to be presented as a straightforward roadway safety proposal intended to alert faster-moving traffic to unusually slow vehicles. Because no debate or vote data is available, the overall sentiment cannot be assessed beyond the bill’s apparent safety-oriented purpose.

Contention

No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. Potential areas of debate, if the bill were discussed, could include whether the threshold of 10 mph below the limit is too broad or too narrow, whether hazard lights should be used in all such circumstances, and whether the rule could create confusion for drivers in situations where hazard lights are already used for breakdowns or emergencies. However, these concerns are not attributed to any legislator or stakeholder in the supplied record.