A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to provide penalties for persons WHO CAUSE BODILY INJURY OR DEATH WHEN failing to yield the right‑of‑Way under certain circumstances.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Chapter 20 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 20-160.1.  Failure to yield causing injury or death; penalties.
(a)	Unless the conduct is covered under some other provision of law providing greater punishment, a person who commits the offense of failure to yield while approaching or entering an intersection, turning at a stop or yield sign, entering a roadway, upon the approach of an emergency vehicle, or at highway construction or maintenance shall be punished in the following manner:
(1)	Except as provided in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection, when there is bodily injury resulting from the violation, the violator shall be fined two hundred dollars ($200.00).
(2)	When there is serious bodily injury but no death resulting from the violation, the violator shall be fined five hundred dollars ($500.00) and the violator's drivers license or commercial drivers license shall be suspended for 90 days.
(3)	When a death results from the violation, the violator shall be fined one thousand dollars ($1,000) and the violator's drivers license or commercial drivers license shall be suspended for six months.
(b)	As used in this section, 'bodily injury' means a cut, abrasion, bruise, burn, disfigurement, physical pain, illness, any impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty, or any other injury to the body, no matter how temporary. 'Serious bodily injury' means bodily injury that involves a substantial risk of death, extreme physical pain, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2003, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.