Statute Number

(Click the underlined number to see the statute.)

Description of the law.

Please check the statute for further information.

346.63(2m)

346.65(2q)

This law increased the forfeiture amount for an absolute sobriety offense from $10 (bond=$135.60) to $200 (bond=$375.60), and if a minor under the age of 16 was a passenger in the motor vehicle at the time of the offense, the forfeiture went from $20 (bond=$148.20) to $400 (bond=$627.00). The period of license suspension remains the same under the law, but the law requires DOT to assess 4 (four) demerit points for each violation.

948.53

It is a crime to leave a child transported in a child care vehicle to be left alone.

347.385

“Emergency preemption device” is defined as a device that changes a traffic signal. An “authorized emergency vehicle” may ONLY use this device to change a traffic signal when it is responding to an emergency call, when pursuing an actual or suspected violator of the law, or when responding to, but not when returning from, a fire alarm.

The law makes it a crime to operate a vehicle with a transmitter device unless it is an authorized emergency vehicle.  

347.48 (2m)(c)

347.48(2m)(d)

A driver may be cited for any passenger of any age not wearing a seat belt. (Previously, it was only up to age 15.) This law also removed the phrase that a driver could only be cited if the driver reasonably believed the person was not belted in. Now §347.48 (2m) (c) reads:

“If a motor vehicle is required to be equipped with safety belts in this state, no person may operate that motor vehicle unless each passenger who is at least 8 years old…is properly restrained.”

The provision in the old §347.48 (2m) (d), Stats., that specifies that passengers sitting in seats other than the front seat must be restrained only if the safety belt has a shoulder harness is changed to require such passengers to be properly restrained in all cases in which a safety belt is required to be installed at the seating position.

In addition, §347.48(4)(a)3 was repealed. This was the statute that provided an exemption to allow a passenger to remove a child to tend to the personal needs of the child.

 343.05(5)(b)3a-d

343.44(1)(am)

343.44(2)(e)-(h)

Changes the penalties for causing property damage, injury, or death while operating a vehicle without a valid driver’s license (OWL), operating while suspended (OWS), or operating after revocation (OAR) of an operating privilege. The penalties are:

IF OWL, OWS, or OAR and

Ø      Cause damage to the property of another - $1000

Ø      Cause injury to another person - $5000

Ø      Cause great bodily harm or death to another – Class A misdemeanor

938.17 (2) (a) 1m

When a juvenile who is at least age 12 but not yet age 16 commits a traffic offense, if there is a municipal court, the municipal court has exclusive jurisdiction.

If there is no municipal court an officer may issue a traffic citation to circuit court or refer the child to intake.   

346.18

346.22 (1)(c)-(f)

Where general right-of-way violations result in bodily harm, great bodily harm, and death the forfeitures are increased to $200, $500, and $1,000, respectively. Also, drivers are ordered to complete traffic safety school. (Check 346.18 to see which right-of-way offenses apply.)