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Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Reported and committed to codes
- Referred to transportation
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Makes the owner of a vehicle used to pass or overtake a stopped school bus jointly liable with the operator thereof when violation is on camera or observed
In Assembly Committee · Transportation · Sponsor Peter Rivera
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, in relation to the liability of owners of motor vehicles used to overtake or pass a stopped school bus receiving or discharging passengers and authorizing the use of photographic evidence in the prosecution of such traffic infraction; and to amend the penal law, in relation to assault in the third degree and criminally negligent homicide
This legislation makes the owner of a vehicle used to pass or overtake a stopped school bus jointly liable with the operator thereof when violation is on camera or observed
Summary of provisions
Section one of the bill amends the vehicle and traffic law by adding a new section 225-a to make an owner of a vehicle used to pass or overtake a stopped school bus jointly liable with the operator thereof when violation is on camera or observed
Read the full memo (841 words)
Section two amends section heading and subdivision 1 of section 226 of the vehicle and traffic law, as added by chapter 1074 of the laws of 1969 to permit violation notices to be issues if such passing is recorded on camera or observed by school bus operator.
Section 3 accounts for instances if the vehicle was driven without the authorization of the owner.
Section 4 allows for persecution based on photographic evidence or observation of school bus operator
Sections 5 and 6 amend the penal law to add passing of school bus to the categories for which harsher penalties are given in case of causing injury or death of another person.
Justification
In our state, current estimates indicate that motorists illegally pass a stopped school bus more than 75,000 times per day. This alarming statistic places our children at risk of injury or even death. Illegally passing motorists have been responsible for killing two of New York's children in the past four years and several more children have been injured.
This legislation facilitates the apprehending and conviction of those who illegally pass school buses and ensures proper prosecution when a child is injured or killed by an illegally passing motorist. In 2002, the Kansas State Department of Education released a 32-year national study on school bus loading and unloading zones and found that 1,102 students were killed by another vehicle while boarding or during egression.
Many school districts have already been installing cameras on their buses to protect our children and to stop this illegal passing. For example the Canandaigua City School District has been selected to participate in a statewide pilot project related to school bus safety and the dangerously high incidence of illegally passing school buses. New York Association for Pupil Transportation has partnered with the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee to install an "ELSAG" digital mobile license plate reader on a Canandaigua City School District school bus. The camera is part of a pilot project funded by DMV and the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee with funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The reader is similar to those used by many law enforcement agencies. It is designed to assist in the identification and apprehension of individuals who pass stopped school buses. Such passing of stopped school buses is a crime and poses serious dangers to our children. A previous pilot of this equipment demonstrated that motorists were passing the school bus on an average of 1.6 times per day.
One child death is always one too many, yet staggering numbers demonstrate how many close calls occur each day.
A one-day Virginia study conducted in 1996 of 119 school districts found that 3,394 motorists illegally passed a stopped school bus. For a 180-day school year, that would equate to over 600,000 violations. Even more alarming was that 187 of these violations were on the right-side of the bus where students egress.
The same year, the Illinois Department of Transportation's Division of Traffic Safety surveyed 250 school bus drivers over a 41-day period. 135 drivers responded with 3,450 violations. This is estimated to be over 1.9 million violations in one year.
A 1997 survey conducted by the National survey of Speeding and Other Unsafe Driving Actions, commissioned by NHTSA, actually found that 99 percent of drivers interviewed said the most dangerous unsafe driving behavior was passing a school bus with its lights flashing and stop arm extended, more so than speeding, racing, ignoring stop signs/red lights, crossing railroad tracks with red lights blinking, or passing in a no-passing zone.
A one-day study conducted in 119 of 131 school districts in Virginia (September 1996) found 3,394 motorists illegally passed a stopped school bus. For a 180-day school year, that would be over 600,000 violations. 187 of these violations were on the right-side of the bus where students egress.
People lose children for lots of reasons, unfortunately, and this doesn't have to be one of them.
Legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal impact on the state
None.
Effective date
Effective date shall be 1st of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.