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History
- Referred to transportation
Companion bill
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Prohibits a person from operating a motor vehicle with children under the age of 8 in the front seat in most cases
In Assembly Committee · Codes · Sponsor Sandy Galef
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 prohibiting children under the age of eight from riding as a passenger in the front seat of a motor vehicle except under limited circumstances
Purpose
The purpose of this legislation is to prohibit children under the age of 8 from riding as a passenger in the front seat of a vehicle except in certain cases.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Subdivisions 2, 5, 6, and 7 of section 1229-c of the Vehicle and Traffic Law is amended to prohibit children under the age of eight from riding as passengers in the front seat of a motor vehicle with the following exceptions: (1) there are no rear seats; (2) a child safety seat or booster seat cannot be properly installed in the rear seat; (3) all rear seats are already occupied by other occupants who are also under the age of eight; or if (4) medical reasons necessitate the child should not ride in the rear seat.
Section 2: Provides the effective date.
Justification
Preventable injuries are the number one killer of children (ages 14 and under) across the country. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2013 an average of 3 children 14 and younger were killed and an estimated 470 were injured in traffic crashes every day in the United States.
Experts agree that children are safest when buckled up in the back seat. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that retraining children between the ages of 4 to 8 in rear seats rather than front seats reduced their risk of fatal injury by nearly half. The back seat location provides greater protection for the head on collisions, the most serious type of crash, by removing children away from the point of impact.
New York State now requires all children up to age 16 to wear seat belts in both front and rear seats, while children under age 8 must be also properly restrained in a car seat or booster seat. Child passenger safety can be strengthened by requiring young children to sit in the rear seat. Furthermore, this bill allows flexibility for large families and/or parents who may be transporting other children.
Legislative history
S.4773 (2011-12): Referred to Transportation S .2238-A (2009-10): Referred to Transportation S.281-A (2007-08): Referred to Transportation S.3908-A (2005-06): Referred to Transportation S.6910 (2004): Referred to Transportation
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law, provided that any person who violates the provisions of subdivision 2-a of section 1229-c of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, as added by section two of this act within the twelve months following such effective date, shall be subject to a warning but shall not be issued an appearance ticket and shall not be liable for a fine.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.