What's happening
This bill raises fines and adds escalating penalties, including registration suspension, for vehicles repeatedly caught by red light cameras.
Why it matters
Escalating fines aim to significantly increase the financial consequences for repeat red light camera violations. with fines rising from $50 for first/second offenses up to $350 for a sixth violation within two years. This change could impact driver behavior, especially for those who repeatedly break traffic laws.
Insurance companies will be notified if a vehicle is caught five times in two years. , which could lead to higher insurance premiums or policy changes for owners with repeated violations. This creates an additional, indirect financial deterrent beyond the fines themselves.
After six violations within two years, vehicle registration will be suspended for 90 days (except for rental cars). This introduces a substantial real-world penalty that can affect daily mobility, employment, and vehicle ownership costs for chronic offenders.
The law mandates formal warning and notification processes. , requiring certified mail alerts to vehicle owners after the fourth violation, ensuring due process and clear communication before insurance notification or registration suspension takes effect. This could help prevent unintentional escalation for owners unaware of their violation count.
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Who cares
Vehicle owners with repeat camera violations
The bill would raise fine caps to $150 for a third violation, $250 for a fourth, $300 for a fifth and $350 for a sixth within two years, with a 90-day registration suspension after a sixth documented violation for non-rental vehicles.
Auto insurers
Insurers would be informed of all documented violations over the past two years when an insured non-rental vehicle reaches five documented violations in that period.
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles
The department would have to send certified-mail warnings after a vehicle’s fourth documented violation in two years about impending insurer notification and suspension.
Rental vehicle companies
Rental vehicles would be exempt from the bill’s insurer-notification and registration-suspension provisions, but not its escalating fine caps.
Headline styles
Increase Fines for Repeat Violators
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Assembly Member · Assembly District 44
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to transportation
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
10258
IN ASSEMBLY
March 27, 2018
Introduced by M. of A. CARROLL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to implementing escalating penalties for vehicles which have been documented multiple times by a photo violation monitoring device for failure to comply with traffic-control indications
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision (e) of section 1111-a of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 479 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
(e) 1. An owner liable for a violation of subdivision (d) of section eleven hundred eleven of this article pursuant to a local law or ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall be liable for monetary penalties in accordance with a schedule of fines and penalties to be set forth in such local law or ordinance, except that in a city which, by local law, has authorized the adjudication of such owner liability by a parking violations bureau, such schedule shall be promulgated by such bureau. The liability of the owner pursuant to this section shall not exceed fifty dollars for [each violation] the first two violations within a two year period, one hundred fifty dollars for the third violation within a two year period, two hundred fifty dollars for the fourth violation within a two year period, three hundred dollars for the fifth violation within a two year period, and three hundred fifty dollars for the sixth violation within a two year period; provided, however, that such local law or ordinance may provide for an additional penalty not in excess of twenty-five dollars for each violation for the failure to respond to a notice of liability within the prescribed time period.
2. (i) The company by which a vehicle has been documented five times within a two year period by a photo violation monitoring device for failure of an operator thereof to comply with traffic-control indications is insured shall be informed of all such documented violations over the past two years.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15155-01-8
A. 10258 2
(ii) The registration of a vehicle which has been documented six times within a twenty-four month period by a photo violation monitoring device for failure of an operator thereof to comply with traffic-control indications shall be suspended for a period of ninety days commencing ten days after the notice of liability for the sixth violation has been mailed.
(iii) This paragraph shall not apply to a rental vehicle, as defined in section one hundred thirty-seven-a of this chapter.
3. The department shall, by certified mail, alert the owner of a registered vehicle after the vehicle's fourth documentation in two years by a photo violation monitoring device for failure of an operator thereof to comply with traffic-control indications that the company by which such vehicle is insured will be informed of all such violations over the past two years and such vehicle shall be suspended for ninety days after two more documentations.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, the amendments made to subdivision (e) of section 1111-a of the vehicle and traffic law made by section one of this act shall not affect the repeal of such subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.