Bill Text: NY A07905 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the passing of stopped school buses; requires each omnibus having a seating capacity in excess of fifteen children or more to have at least one flashing yellow signal lamp on the front thereof and at least one flashing yellow signal lamp on the rear thereof to indicate that such omnibus shall be stopping momentarily; requires the commissioner of motor vehicles to establish a method whereby any violation of section 1174 of the vehicle and traffic law shall be issued to the operator of such vehicle and not to the owner of such vehicle; makes related provisions.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 4-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-01-03 - referred to transportation [A07905 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A07905-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          7905

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      July 19, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. E. BROWN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Transportation

        AN  ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the passing
          of stopped school buses

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 20 of section 375 of the vehi-
     2  cle  and  traffic  law, as separately amended by chapters 204 and 221 of
     3  the laws of 1976, is amended to read as follows:
     4    (a) For each such omnibus having  a  seating  capacity  in  excess  of
     5  fifteen  children, there shall be colored flashing signal lamps conform-
     6  ing to regulations prescribed by the commissioner on the  front  and  on
     7  the  rear thereof, including at least one flashing yellow signal lamp on
     8  the front thereof and at least one flashing yellow signal  lamp  on  the
     9  rear  thereof  and  at  least  one flashing red signal lamp on the front
    10  thereof and at least one flashing red signal lamp on the  rear  thereof.
    11  For each such omnibus having a seating capacity of not more than fifteen
    12  children,  there  shall  be  colored flashing signal lamps conforming to
    13  regulations prescribed by the commissioner facing the front  and  facing
    14  the  rear  thereof,  and at least one flashing yellow signal lamp facing
    15  the front thereof and at least one flashing yellow  signal  lamp  facing
    16  the  rear  thereof  and at least one flashing red signal lamp facing the
    17  front thereof and at least one flashing red signal lamp facing the  rear
    18  thereof.  The  driver  of  every such vehicle shall keep such red signal
    19  lamps lighted whenever passengers are being received  or  discharged  or
    20  whenever  he has stopped within fifty feet to the rear of a vehicle with
    21  such red signal lamps lighted, and shall light [all other] the  required
    22  flashing yellow signal lamps, as a warning, prior to stopping to receive
    23  or discharge passengers in accordance with regulations prescribed by the
    24  commissioner.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11883-01-3
        A. 7905                             2

     1    § 2. Subdivisions (a) and (c) of section 1174 of the vehicle and traf-
     2  fic  law,  subdivision (a) as amended by chapter 597 of the laws of 1990
     3  and subdivision (c) as amended by chapter 254 of the laws of  2002,  are
     4  amended and a new paragraph (e) is added to read as follows:
     5    (a)  The  driver of a vehicle upon a public highway, street or private
     6  road upon meeting or overtaking from either  direction  any  school  bus
     7  marked  and  equipped as provided in subdivision twenty of section three
     8  hundred seventy-five of this chapter which has  stopped  on  the  public
     9  highway,  street  or  private  road  for  the  purpose  of  receiving or
    10  discharging any passengers, or which has stopped because a school bus in
    11  front of it has stopped to receive or discharge  any  passengers,  shall
    12  stop the vehicle before reaching such school bus when there is in opera-
    13  tion  on  [said]  such school bus a flashing yellow signal lamp or a red
    14  visual signal as  specified  in  subdivision  twenty  of  section  three
    15  hundred  seventy-five  of  this chapter and [said] such driver shall not
    16  proceed until such school bus resumes motion, or until signaled  by  the
    17  driver or a police officer to proceed. For the purposes of this section,
    18  and  in addition to the provisions of section one hundred thirty-four of
    19  this chapter, the term "public highway" shall mean any area used for the
    20  parking of motor vehicles or used as a driveway located on  the  grounds
    21  of  a  school or of a board of cooperative educational services facility
    22  or any area used as a means of access to and egress from such school  or
    23  facility.
    24    (c)  [Every person convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) of this
    25  section shall: for a first conviction thereof, be punished by a fine  of
    26  not  less  than  two  hundred  fifty  dollars nor more than four hundred
    27  dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days or by both such
    28  fine and imprisonment; for a conviction of a second violation,  both  of
    29  which  were  committed within a period of three years, such person shall
    30  be punished by a fine of not less than six hundred dollars nor more than
    31  seven hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment for  not  more  than  one
    32  hundred  eighty  days  or  by  both  such  fine and imprisonment; upon a
    33  conviction of a third or subsequent violation, all of which were commit-
    34  ted within a period of three years, such person shall be punished  by  a
    35  fine  of  not  less  than  seven hundred fifty dollars nor more than one
    36  thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one hundred eighty
    37  days or by both such fine and imprisonment.] Within one  hundred  eighty
    38  days  of  the  effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand
    39  twenty-three which amended  this  subdivision,  the  commissioner  shall
    40  establish a method whereby any violation of this section shall be issued
    41  to the operator of the vehicle and not issued to the owner of such vehi-
    42  cle.
    43    (e)  The  provisions  of this section shall not apply where there is a
    44  divided highway where there is a physical barrier,  including,  but  not
    45  limited to, a creek, barrier or grassy mall between different directions
    46  of travel.
    47    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.