Requires the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident involving no personal injury or death to move the vehicle to a safe location

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill amends Vehicle and Traffic law (VTL) § 600 to provide that removing a vehicle involved in an accident from the roadway in a manner consistent with section 2 of this bill does not constitute "leaving the scene of an accident."

Section 2 of this bill amends VTL § 1200 to require a driver of a vehicle that is in a traffic accident not involving personal injury or death to immediately remove the vehicle from the roadway - but remain in the immediate vicinity of the incident - provided it is practical to do so safely.

Existing law

VTL § 600 requires that drivers involved in an accident causing property damage stop "where the damage occurred" and, before leaving, provide to the party suffering the damage certain information, such as their driver license and insurance identification card data VTL § 1200 establishes basic rules for: stopping, standing, and parking, and does not include the provisions added by this bill.

Statement in support

This bill would require a driver of a vehicle involved in an accident in which no personal injury or death occurred to immediately move or cause the removal of the vehicle from the travel lane to a safe location along the highway in the immediate vicinity of the accident - provided the vehicle is operable and doing so can be done safely. This bill makes clear that so moving a vehicle does not imply that no injuries occurred, and does not deem the driver liable or at fault for the accident.

This proposal would maintain a safe roadway for the traveling public and lessen the negative economic impacts of traffic incidents to motorists and shippers not directly involved in an incident.

The longer a vehicle involved in an incident remains on the roadway, the more likely a secondary incident will occur, increasing the risk of death or serious personal injury to the public and emergency responders. In addition, other users of the highway system lose time and money sitting in incident-related traffic backups, with the cost of these delays impacting the entire community.

This proposal would assist in overall incident management. The removal from the roadway of a vehicle involved in an accident - if possible and safe - is an important step driver:s themselves can take to avoid secondary incidents and congestion. But, drivers must be empowered by law to take that step. Nearly half of the states in the nation have enacted laws like this one, termed "move-it" laws, to encourage or require drivers to move their vehicles out of the roadway if involved in a non-injurious crash. Such laws make sense because moving or clearing vehicles involved in such crashes saves lives, reduces congestion, and improves travel.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that of the 63 million highway crashes in 2002, 4.3 million damaged only property, 1.9 million involved personal injury, and 38,491 resulted in a fatality. Accordingly, for as many as two-thirds of the nation's auto crashes, it is possible that vehicles could be immediately moved out of the travel lanes onto the shoulder, preventing secondary accidents and seducing resulting traffic congestion. Also, twenty percent of incidents are a direct result of the aftermath of an initial accident. That is why it is essential to remove vehicles involved in minor incidents from the roadway as quickly as possible to reduce the likelihood of secondary incidents.

As is current practice, the Department of Transportation would continue to work closely with the State Police on all issues associated with vehicle accidents and highway safety.

Legislative history

2013-2014: Committed to rules

Budget implications

This bill would have no significant budgetary implications, However, this bill may produce overall savings from reduced congestion and fewer secondary accidents, and involve minimal expense associated with the education of the motoring public regarding these changes.

Effective date

This bill would be effective on the first of November following enactment.