Bill Text: NY S02422 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to establishing speed limits in cities with populations in excess of one million people by easing restrictions so cities can establish speed limits below twenty miles per hour.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 19-2)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-02-21 - PRINT NUMBER 2422B [S02422 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S02422-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2422

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 20, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sens. HOYLMAN-SIGAL, BAILEY, BRISPORT, CLEARE, GOUNARDES,
          JACKSON, KAVANAGH,  KENNEDY,  KRUEGER,  LIU,  MYRIE,  PERSAUD,  RAMOS,
          RIVERA, SALAZAR, SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation

        AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to establishing
          speed  limits  in  cities  with  populations  in excess of one million
          people

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

     1    Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Sammy's law".
     2    §  2.  Paragraphs  26 and 27 of subdivision (a) of section 1642 of the
     3  vehicle and traffic law, paragraph 26  as  added  and  paragraph  27  as
     4  amended  by  chapter  248  of  the  laws of 2014, are amended to read as
     5  follows:
     6    26. (a) With respect to highways (which term for the purposes of  this
     7  paragraph shall include private roads open to public motor vehicle traf-
     8  fic)  in such city, other than state highways maintained by the state on
     9  which the department of transportation shall have established higher  or
    10  lower  speed  limits  than the statutory fifty-five miles per hour speed
    11  limit as provided in section sixteen hundred twenty of this title, or on
    12  which the department of transportation shall have designated  that  such
    13  city  shall not establish any maximum speed limit as provided in section
    14  sixteen hundred twenty-four of this title, subject  to  the  limitations
    15  imposed by section sixteen hundred eighty-four of this title, establish-
    16  ment  of  maximum speed limits at which vehicles may proceed within such
    17  city or within designated areas of such city higher or  lower  than  the
    18  fifty-five  miles  per hour maximum statutory limit. No such speed limit
    19  applicable throughout such city or within designated areas of such  city
    20  shall  be  established at less than [twenty-five] twenty miles per hour,
    21  except that school speed limits may  be  established  at  no  less  than

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02070-01-3
        S. 2422                             2

     1  fifteen  miles  per  hour  pursuant to the provisions of section sixteen
     2  hundred forty-three of this article.
     3    (b)  A  city  shall not lower or raise a speed limit by more than five
     4  miles per hour pursuant to this  paragraph  unless  such  city  provides
     5  written  notice  and an opportunity to comment to the community board or
     6  community boards established pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred of
     7  the New York city charter with jurisdiction over the area in  which  the
     8  lower  or higher speed limit shall apply. Such notice may be provided by
     9  electronic mail and shall be provided sixty days prior to the establish-
    10  ment of such lower or higher speed limit.
    11    27. (a) Establishment of  maximum  speed  limits  below  [twenty-five]
    12  twenty  miles  per  hour at which motor vehicles may proceed on or along
    13  designated highways within such city for the explicit purpose of  imple-
    14  menting  traffic  calming  measures  as  such  term  is  defined herein;
    15  provided, however, that no speed limit shall be set below [fifteen] five
    16  miles per hour nor shall such speed limit be established where the traf-
    17  fic calming measure to be  implemented  consists  solely  of  a  traffic
    18  control sign.  Establishment of such a speed limit shall, where applica-
    19  ble,  be  in  compliance with the provisions of sections sixteen hundred
    20  twenty-four and sixteen hundred eighty-four  of  this  [chapter]  title.
    21  Nothing  contained  herein shall be deemed to alter or affect the estab-
    22  lishment of school speed limits pursuant to the  provisions  of  section
    23  sixteen  hundred  forty-three  of this article. For the purposes of this
    24  paragraph, "traffic calming measures" shall mean any physical  engineer-
    25  ing  measure or measures that reduce the negative effects of motor vehi-
    26  cle use, alter driver behavior and improve conditions for  non-motorized
    27  street users such as pedestrians and bicyclists.
    28    (b)  Any  city  establishing  maximum speed limits below [twenty-five]
    29  twenty miles per hour pursuant to clause (i) of this subparagraph  shall
    30  submit  a  report to the governor, the temporary president of the senate
    31  and the speaker of the assembly on or before March first,  two  thousand
    32  fifteen  and biannually thereafter on the results of using traffic calm-
    33  ing measures and speed limits lower than [twenty-five] twenty miles  per
    34  hour  as  authorized  by  this paragraph. This report shall also be made
    35  available to the public by such city on its website. Such  report  shall
    36  include, but not be limited to the following:
    37    (i)  a  description  of  the designated highways where traffic calming
    38  measures and a lower speed limit were established and
    39    (ii) a description of the specific traffic calming measures  used  and
    40  the maximum speed limit established and
    41    (iii)  a  comparison  of  the  aggregate type, number, and severity of
    42  accidents reported on streets on which street calming measures and lower
    43  speed limits were implemented in the year preceding  the  implementation
    44  of  such measures and policies and the year following the implementation
    45  of such measures and policies, to the extent this information  is  main-
    46  tained by any agency of the state or the city.
    47    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.