Relates to the requirement of exercising due care in the operation of a motor vehicle to avoid colliding with any bicyclist, pedestrian or domestic animal

2 Co-sponsors

• Ruth Hassell-Thompson
• Jeffrey D. Klein

BILL NUMBER:S5292C

Title of bill

An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the requirement of exercising due care in the operation of a motor vehicle

Purpose

To penalize vehicle operators who injure others when failing to exercise due care while operating a motor vehicle.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill dedicates this legislation to Hayley Ng and Diego Martinez.

Section 2 of the bill amends section 1146 of the vehicle and traffic law by:

* Designating the current provisions of section 1146 as paragraph (a);

* Adding a new paragraph (b) establishing that a driver who causes physical injury to a pedestrian or bicyclist while failing to exercise due care shall be guilty of a traffic infraction and subject to enumerated penalties;

* Adding a new paragraph (c) establishing that a driver who causes serious physical injury to a pedestrian or bicyclist while failing to exercise due care shall be guilty of a traffic infraction and subject to enumerated penalties;

* Adding a new paragraph (d) that designates a second offense as a class B misdemeanor;

* Adding a new paragraph (e) permitting the courts to impose other penalties.

Section 3 of the bill sets forth the effective date.

Justification

This legislation has been introduced in part in response to the untimely, tragic deaths of Hayley Ng and Diego Martinez, two children who were killed in New York city in January 2009 when a delivery van, which had been left in gear while the driver stepped out of the vehicle, hopped the curb and hit the children. The driver in question was not charged with any infraction resulting from the deaths of the children.

Pedestrians and cyclists who travel on New York State's public roads are at particular risk of injury or death from collision. In 2007, a total of 322 public road users were killed and 20,845 were injured on New York roads. While this group was involved in only 6 percent of total crashes in the state, they accounted for 24 percent of all

crash fatalities. Children and seniors account for a disproportionate number of deaths and injuries. In New York City, motor vehicles remain the leading cause of accidental child death and, on average, 85 percent of these children are pedestrians. Seniors are more prone to fatality if involved in a crash than the general population. In New York City, people aged 65 years and older make up about 12 percent of the population, yet comprised 39 percent of the city's pedestrian fatalities from 2002 through 2006. (New York City is highlighted because almost half of these injuries and fatalities occur within the five boroughs.)

At present in New York State vehicular homicide charges, such as criminally negligent homicide, are rarely pursued. This legislation addresses this by providing district attorneys with an additional option that maybe appropriate in certain cases. The states of Oregon and Illinois have recently established approaches similar to the one taken in this bill in their vehicle codes.

Legislative history

This is a new bill in the Assembly.

Fiscal impact on the state

Minimal.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law.