§20-7-18 Care in handling watercraft; duty to render aid after a collision, accident or casualty; accident reports. - West Virginia Statutes

§20-7-18. Care in handling watercraft; duty to render aid after a collision, accident or casualty; accident reports.
(a) No person shall operate a motorboat, jet ski or other motorized vessel or manipulate any water skis, surfboard or similar device in a reckless or negligent manner so as to endanger the life, limb or property of any person.

(b) No person shall operate any motorboat, jet ski or other motorized vessel, or manipulate any water skis, surfboard or similar device while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance or drug, under the combined influence of alcohol and any controlled substance or any other drug, or while having an alcohol concentration in his or her blood of eight hundredths of one percent or more, by weight.

(c) It shall be the duty of the operator of a vessel involved in a collision, accident or other casualty, so far as he or she can do so without serious danger to his or her own vessel, crew and passengers (if any), to render to other persons affected by the collision, accident or other casualty such assistance as may be practicable and as may be necessary in order to save them from or minimize any danger caused by the collision, accident or other casualty, and also to give his or her name, address and identification of his or her vessel in writing to any person injured and to the owner of any property damaged in the collision, accident or other casualty.

(d) The operator of a vessel involved in a collision, accident or other casualty shall file an accident report with the director if the incident results in a loss of life, in a personal injury that requires medical treatment beyond first aid or in excess of five hundred dollars damage to a vessel or other property. The report shall be made on such forms and contain information as prescribed by the director. Upon a request duly made by an authorized official or agency of the United States, any information compiled or otherwise available to the director pursuant to this subsection shall be transmitted to the official or agency.