Bill Text: NJ S2050 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires investigating law enforcement officer to contact next of kin of unconscious motor vehicle accident victim who has been transported to hospital emergency room.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-12-15 - Substituted by A1812 [S2050 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-S2050-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH M. KYRILLOS, JR.
District 13 (Middlesex and Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Requires investigating law enforcement officer to contact next of kin of unconscious motor vehicle accident victim who has been transported to hospital emergency room.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning next of kin notification and supplementing chapter 2 of Title 53 of the Revised Statutes and chapter 14 of Title 40A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, whenever a person involved in a motor vehicle accident on a highway or road under the jurisdiction of the State Police is transported to the emergency room of a medical facility and is unconscious or otherwise incapable of communication, the member of the State Police who responded to the accident scene or other member investigating the accident shall notify the next of kin of the whereabouts of the accident victim as soon as possible.
2. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, whenever a person involved in a motor vehicle accident on a highway or road under the jurisdiction of a county or municipal police department or force is transported to the emergency room of a medical facility and is unconscious or otherwise incapable of communication, the police officer who responded to the accident scene or other officer investigating the accident shall notify the next of kin of the whereabouts of the accident victim as soon as possible.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month after enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the responding law enforcement officer or other officer investigating a motor vehicle accident to notify the next of kin of the whereabouts of an accident victim who has been transported to the emergency room of a medical facility when that victim is unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate this information. The officer is required to make this notification as soon as possible.
Notifying the next of kin of a person who has been admitted to an emergency room as a result of a motor vehicle accident is usually done by hospital staff. It is the sponsor's belief that the law enforcement officer who responds to the accident scene or is investigating the accident is in a better position than hospital staff to notify in a timely manner the next of kin of the victim's whereabouts when the victim is unable to do so.
