STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 65 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 9, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sen. ROBACH -- 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 permitting a driver to not have a hand on the steering mechanism of a vehicle while a driving automation system is engaged The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 1226 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by 2 chapter 506 of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 1226. Control of steering mechanism. No person shall operate a motor 4 vehicle without having at least one hand or, in the case of a physically 5 handicapped person, at least one prosthetic device or aid on the steer- 6 ing mechanism at all times when the motor vehicle is in motion unless a 7 driving automation system, as defined in SAE J3016 as periodically 8 revised, is engaged to perform steering function. 9 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed- 10 ing the date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to 11 violations committed on and after such date. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05154-01-9