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History
- Referred to transportation
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law and the penal law, in relation to increasing fines and penalties for passing a stopped school bus
Purpose or general idea of bill
Provides for increased monetary penalties for passing a school bus and applies criminal penalties to those who injure or kill a person while doing so.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 Subdivision C of Section 1174 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law is amended as follows: (i) increases the range of fines for passing a school bus for the first time from a minimum of $250 and a maximum of $400 to a minimum of $400 and a maximum of $750. (ii) increases the range of fines for passing a school bus for the second time from a minimum of $600 and a maximum of $750 to a minimum of $950 and a maximum of $1150 (iii) increases the range of fines for passing a school bus for the third time within a three year period from a minimum of $750 and a maximum of $1000 to a minimum of $1150 to a maximum of $1500. (iv) requires that a person who injures someone while passing a school bus be charged with aggravated vehicular assault and if a person is killed in the incident requires a charge of criminally negligent homicide.
Justification
The National highway Transportation administration reports that each year, an average of 11 passengers under the age of 19 die in school bus accidents. Most of the most serious injuries and deaths occur when children are hit by a school bus or by passing motorists while getting on or off the bus.
More than 25 children each year die in pedestrian accidents involving school buses. In fact, three times as many children are killed in school bus accidents while getting on or off the bus than while riding it.
Pedestrians account for more than 40 percent of school bus-related fatalities. Many of these injuries occur when children are boarding or exiting the school bus, due to the driver's "blind spot," which extends approximately 10 feet around the bus.
These statistics clearly demonstrate the importance of strengthening penalties against those who illegally pass a school bus, and especially for those that injure another person while doing so.
Prior legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.