Bill Text: NY A07905 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
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) 2024-01-03 - referred to transportation [A07905 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A07905-Introduced.html
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. LBD11883-01-3A. 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 this25section shall: for a first conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of26not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than four hundred27dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days or by both such28fine and imprisonment; for a conviction of a second violation, both of29which were committed within a period of three years, such person shall30be punished by a fine of not less than six hundred dollars nor more than31seven hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one32hundred eighty days or by both such fine and imprisonment; upon a33conviction of a third or subsequent violation, all of which were commit-34ted within a period of three years, such person shall be punished by a35fine of not less than seven hundred fifty dollars nor more than one36thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one hundred eighty37days 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.
