---
type: "Bill"
title: "Duties of drivers approaching stationary vehicles displaying certain warning lights; penalty."
description: "Makes a driver's failure to move into a nonadjacent lane on a highway with at least four lanes when approaching a stationary vehicle displaying flashing, blinking, or alternating blue, red, or amber lights, or, if changing lanes would be unreasonable or unsafe, to proceed with due caution and maintain a safe speed, reckless driving, which is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor. Under current law, a first such offense is a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of not more than $250, and a second such offense is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1911"
citation: "Virginia HB 1911 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Appropriations", "Motor Vehicles"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Christopher K. Peace"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 39
vote_count: 15
first_action: "2019-01-04"
last_action: "2019-04-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/89452753-5a26-45ca-8f88-2f562052fc5d"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1911"
source_hash: "3bf293b6d9c37f35e68f888ace59c56b39f670146df533c3c824424c889c4e6d"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 1911 (2019) — Duties of drivers approaching stationary vehicles displaying certain warning lights; penalty.

Makes a driver's failure to move into a nonadjacent lane on a highway with at least four lanes when approaching a stationary vehicle displaying flashing, blinking, or alternating blue, red, or amber lights, or, if changing lanes would be unreasonable or unsafe, to proceed with due caution and maintain a safe speed, reckless driving, which is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor. Under current law, a first such offense is a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of not more than $250, and a second such offense is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0850)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0850)
2. **House subcommittee amendments and substitutes adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://committees.lis.virginia.gov/subcommitteeaction.aspx?ses=191&bil=HB1911)
3. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1911ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1911ER)
4. **House: Committee substitute printed 19106242D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1911H1)
5. **House: Conference substitute printed 19107667D-H2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1911H2)
6. **House: Governor's substitute printed 19107782D-H3** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1911H3)
7. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101248D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1911)
8. **Senate amendments engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+amd+HB1911ASE)
9. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 19106735D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1911S1)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- House concurred in Governor's recommendation — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate concurred in Governor's recommendation — **32–6** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute with amendment — **37–3** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance with amendment — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate substitute with amendment rejected by House 19106735D-S1 — **0–99** (fail) · lower
- Conference report agreed to by House — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate rejected Governor's recommendation — **11–27** (fail) · upper
- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **37–2** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Reconsideration of Governor's recommendation agreed to — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate insisted on substitute with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Christopher K. Peace — primary (person)
- Hyland F. "Buddy" Fowler, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Jennifer L. McClellan — cosponsor (person)
- Margaret B. Ransone — cosponsor (person)
- Michael P. Mullin — cosponsor (person)
- Ryan T. McDougle — cosponsor (person)
- Siobhan S. Dunnavant — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-01-04** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19101248D `introduction`
- **2019-01-04** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-29** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-04** Committee substitute agreed to 19106242D-H1
- **2019-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1911H1
- **2019-02-05** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-11** Rereferred to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-20** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-20** Reading of substitute waived
- **2019-02-20** Committee substitute agreed to 19106735D-S1
- **2019-02-20** Reading of amendment waived
- **2019-02-20** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2019-02-20** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute with amendment HB1911S1
- **2019-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-02-21** Senate substitute with amendment rejected by House 19106735D-S1 (0-Y 99-N)
- **2019-02-21** Senate requested conference committee
- **2019-02-21** House acceded to request
- **2019-02-21** Conferees appointed by House
- **2019-02-21** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2019-02-22** Amended by conference committee
- **2019-02-22** Conference substitute printed 19107667D-H2
- **2019-02-23** Conference report agreed to by House (99-Y 0-N)
- **2019-03-07** Enrolled
- **2019-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-03-09** Signed by President
- **2019-03-11** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2019
- **2019-03-11** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-22** Governor's recommendation received by House
- **2019-03-22** Governor's substitute printed 19107782D-H3
- **2019-04-03** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-04-03** House concurred in Governor's recommendation (99-Y 0-N)
- **2019-04-03** Passed by temporarily
- **2019-04-03** Communicated to Governor
- **2019-04-03** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, May 3, 2019
- **2019-04-29** Approved by Governor-Chapter 850 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/89452753-5a26-45ca-8f88-2f562052fc5d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).