S1296-2013 - NY Senate Open Legislation - Requires police accident reports to indicate whether the use of a mobile phone contributed to such vehicle accident

Requires police accident reports to indicate whether a mobile phone was in use at the time of such vehicle accident.

Sponsor: STAVISKY / Co-sponsor(s): AVELLA
Law Section: Vehicle and Traffic Law / Law: Amd S603, V & T L

S1296-2013 Actions

Feb 28, 2013: ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
Feb 27, 2013: 2ND REPORT CAL.
Feb 12, 2013: 1ST REPORT CAL.64
Jan 9, 2013: REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION

S1296-2013 Meetings

Transportation: Feb 12, 2013, Transportation: Feb 28, 2013

S1296-2013 Calendars

S1296-2013 Votes

VOTE: COMMITTEE VOTE: - Transportation - Feb 12, 2013

Ayes (17): Fuschillo, Robach, Carlucci, Gallivan, Larkin, Maziarz, Nozzolio, Smith, Young, Zeldin, Dilan, Diaz, Kennedy, Perkins, Squadron, Stavisky, Gipson
Ayes W/R (2): O'Mara, Ranzenhofer

S1296-2013 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S1296

TITLE  OF  BILL:    An  act  to  amend the vehicle and traffic law, in
relation to requiring accident reports to indicate  whether  a  mobile
phone was in use at the time of the accident

PURPOSE: To allow police, the Department of Motor Vehicles and private
researchers   the  ability  to  gather  information  more  effectively
regarding the relationship between automobile accidents and the use of
mobile telephones in New York State.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: This  bill  amends  subdivision  1  of
section  603  of the vehicle and traffic law as amended by chapter 432
of the laws of 1997. This bill provides that every automobile accident
report prepared by a police or judicial officer  distinctly  indicates
whether a mobile telephone was in use at the time of said accident.

JUSTIFICATION:  Individuals  distracted  by  the use of a mobile phone
while operating a motor vehicle have become  an  increasing  cause  of
automobile accidents on the roads of this state. Past reports from the
University  of  Toronto and the Rochester Institute of Technology have
determined that driving while using a mobile phone increases the  risk
of  having  an  accident by 400% and drivers with mobile phones run an
eleven-fold risk of being killed behind the wheel. As  use  of  mobile
phones increases, the accident statistics have increased as well.

In New York, the use of mobile phones while driving has become all too
common.  In  the year following July 12,2011, more than 20,000 tickets
were written for texting while driving. On April  24,  2012,  Governor
Cuomo announced that more than 65,000 drivers had been cited for using
handheld  electronic  devices  since the beginning of the year.  These
statistics show that motorists  continue  to  use  their  cell  phones
despite  the  state  cell  phone  ban. This legislation will allow the
state to determine the efficacy of the cell phone ban legislation.

The severity of this situation is obscured by the fact that there  are
no  accurate statistics for determining the correlation between mobile
phones, and automobile accidents in  New  York  State.  The  Rochester
Institute  of  Technology  report relied on data recorded in Oklahoma,
which requires the reporting of  the  presence  of  mobile  phones  in
vehicles  involved in an accident. This legislation would require that
the same information be included in official accident reports  in  New
York  State. In addition, the report must state whether it is known or
suspected that a mobile phone was a  cause  of  such  accident.  As  a
result,  the  police,  the  Department  of  Motor Vehicles and private
researchers will  have  a  more  accurate  source  of  data  regarding
accidents  in  which  mobile  phones  were involved in New York State.
Such information may be used to  support  proposed  measures  to  help
effectively prevent more automobile accidents.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: Previously introduced.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE  DATE:  This  act  shall take effect 180 days after it shall
have become law, provided, however,  that  any  rules  or  regulations


necessary  for the implementation of the provisions of this act on its
effective date shall be promulgated on or before such date.

S1296-2013 Text

 S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 
                                          1296
 2013-2014 Regular Sessions
 I N  SENATE
 (PREFILED)
 January 9, 2013
 
 Introduced  by Sen. STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
 

AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in  relation  to  requiring
 accident  reports to indicate whether a mobile phone was in use at the
 time of the accident
 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

Section  1.  Subdivision  1  of section 603 of the vehicle and traffic
 law, as amended by chapter 432 of the laws of 1997, is amended  to  read
 as follows:

 1.  Every  police or judicial officer to whom an accident resulting in
 injury to a person shall have been reported, pursuant to  the  foregoing
 provisions  of this chapter, shall immediately investigate the facts, or
 cause the same to be investigated, and report the matter to the  commis
 sioner  forthwith; provided, however, that the report of the accident is
 made to the police officer or judicial officer within  five  days  after
 such  accident.  Every  coroner, or other official performing like func
 tions, shall likewise make a report to the commissioner with respect  to
 all  deaths found to have been the result of motor vehicle or motorcycle
 accidents.   Such report shall include  information  on  the  width  and
 length  of  trucks,  tractors,  trailers  and semitrailers, which are in
 excess of ninety-five inches in width or thirty-four feet in length  and
 which  are  involved in such accidents, whether such accident took place
 in a work area and whether it was being operated with an  overweight  or
 overdimension permit.  Such report shall distinctly indicate and include
 information  as  to whether the inflatable restraint system inflated and
 deployed. SUCH REPORT SHALL DISTINCTLY INDICATE AND INCLUDE  INFORMATION
 AS  TO  WHETHER A MOBILE TELEPHONE, AS SUCH TERM IS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH
 (A) OF SUBDIVISION ONE OF SECTION TWELVE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE-C  OF  THIS
 CHAPTER,  WAS  IN USE AT THE TIME OF SAID ACCIDENT. Nothing contained in
 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD03549-01-3
        S. 1296                             2
 this subdivision shall be deemed  to  preclude  a  police  officer  from
 reporting any other accident which, in the judgment of such police offi
 cer,  would be required to be reported to the commissioner by the opera
 tor of a vehicle pursuant to section six hundred five of this article.
 

S 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it  shall have become a law, provided, however, any rules or regulations
 necessary for the implementation of the provisions of this  act  on  its
 effective date shall be promulgated on or before such date.

S1296-2013: Requires police accident reports to indicate whether the use of a mobile phone contributed to such vehicle accident