Bill Text: NY A00167 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes a driver safety course and a driver safety course fund.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - referred to transportation [A00167 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-A00167-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 167 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 4, 2017 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. GANTT -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to a driver safety course; to amend the state finance law, in relation to a driver safety course fund; to amend the insurance law, the military law, the executive law, the vehicle and traffic law, the economic development law and the penal law, in relation to making technical changes there- to; and to repeal certain provisions of the vehicle and traffic law and the state finance law relating thereto The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Articles 12-B and 12-C of the vehicle and traffic law are 2 REPEALED and a new article 12-B is added to read as follows: 3 ARTICLE 12-B 4 DRIVER SAFETY COURSE 5 Section 399-a. Statement of purpose. 6 399-b. Establishment and implementation of driver safety course. 7 399-c. Course content. 8 399-d. Fees. 9 399-e. Advertising. 10 399-f. Report by commissioner. 11 399-g. Regulations. 12 § 399-a. Statement of purpose. The purpose of this article is to 13 foster and maintain driver competency through the creation of a driver 14 safety course. 15 § 399-b. Establishment and implementation of driver safety course. The 16 commissioner shall establish and implement an internet based driver 17 safety course for the purposes of training new drivers, and granting 18 point and insurance reduction benefits. The commissioner shall not 19 contract with or otherwise utilize any non-governmental entities in the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01094-01-7A. 167 2 1 establishment or implementation of this course, except that the commis- 2 sioner shall contract with a software solution and network infrastruc- 3 ture provider. Such software solution and network infrastructure provid- 4 er shall be incorporated and located within the state, have conducted 5 business with the state for a period of not less than ten years, offer 6 course content as part of their services, and use biometric technologies 7 to guarantee security. The commissioner shall implement a system that 8 allows an on-line participant to verify his or her identity and ensures 9 that such student's identity and on-line transaction is secure. The 10 commissioner shall endeavor to contract software solution and network 11 infrastructure providers certified under article fifteen-A of the execu- 12 tive law. 13 § 399-c. Course content. The commissioner shall contract with a tech- 14 nology contractor who is well-known in the community and specializes in 15 traffic safety curriculum development to develop a curriculum for the 16 driver safety course in conjunction with the governor's traffic safety 17 committee. This curriculum shall contain instruction on driver attitude, 18 collision awareness, the proper use of automobile safety devices, defen- 19 sive driving, drug and alcohol impairment, safe use of automobile tech- 20 nology, school and work zone safety, toll plaza safety, driving while 21 drowsy, driver distractions, road rage, school bus safety, and such 22 other subjects as the commissioner may prescribe. This curriculum shall 23 be reviewed and updated annually. 24 § 399-d. Fees. The commissioner is authorized to impose a fee upon 25 each student who enrolls in the driver safety course which shall not 26 exceed one hundred dollars. The proceeds from such fee shall be deposit- 27 ed in the driver safety course fund as established by section eighty- 28 nine-g of the state finance law. 29 § 399-e. Advertising. The governor's traffic safety committee shall 30 develop and implement a program to actively market and promote the driv- 31 er safety course to the general public. 32 § 399-f. Report by commissioner. The commissioner shall report annual- 33 ly to the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speak- 34 er of the assembly the number of students taking the course, amount of 35 revenue received, the location of students by county, and whether the 36 course is taken for pre-licensing, insurance, or point reduction 37 purposes. 38 § 399-g. Regulations. The commissioner shall promulgate such rules and 39 regulations as are necessary to effectuate the provisions of this arti- 40 cle. 41 § 2. Subdivision 4 of section 502 of the vehicle and traffic law is 42 REPEALED and a new subdivision 4 is added to read as follows: 43 4. Examinations. (a) Upon submission of an application for a driver's 44 license, the applicant shall be required (i) to take and pass a test 45 relating to traffic laws, and such other traffic related matters that 46 the commissioner may prescribe, (ii) to take and pass a behind the wheel 47 examination, and (iii) to satisfactorily complete the driver safety 48 course under article twelve-B of this chapter. 49 (b) The commissioner shall cause the applicant to take a vision test 50 and a test for color blindness. Upon passage of the vision test, the 51 application may be accepted and the application fee shall be payable. 52 (c) The commissioner shall make available to each applicant for a 53 commercial driver's license instructional handbooks outlining the 54 requirements necessary to qualify for such a license, and containing a 55 discussion of the offenses which will result in disqualification from 56 operating a commercial motor vehicle as defined in section five hundredA. 167 3 1 one-a of this article. Such handbooks shall be available in languages as 2 the commissioner may prescribe. 3 (d) The commissioner may waive the requirement for passage of a test 4 under subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of this subdivision, for those 5 applicants who hold a valid or renewable driver's license issued by 6 another jurisdiction or the United States government. 7 (e) The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations establish- 8 ing eligibility standards for the taking and passing of knowledge tests 9 in other than written form. 10 § 3. Section 89-g of the state finance law is REPEALED and a new 11 section 89-g is added to read as follows: 12 § 89-g. Driver safety course fund. 1. There is hereby established in 13 the joint custody of the state comptroller and the commissioner of taxa- 14 tion and finance a special fund to be known as the "driver safety course 15 fund". 16 2. Such fund shall consist of all fees received by the department of 17 motor vehicles pursuant to the provisions of article twelve-B of the 18 vehicle and traffic law, and all other moneys appropriated, credited or 19 transferred thereto from any other fund or source pursuant to law. 20 3. The moneys in the driver safety course fund shall be kept separate 21 and shall not be commingled with any other moneys in the custody of the 22 commissioner of taxation and finance and the state comptroller. 23 4. The moneys in the driver safety course fund shall be annually 24 distributed as follows: not more than thirty percent of the moneys in 25 such fund shall be expended by the department of motor vehicles for the 26 purposes of administering and implementing the provisions of article 27 twelve-B of the vehicle and traffic law; not more than thirty percent of 28 the moneys in such fund shall be transferred to the dedicated highway 29 and bridge trust fund; not more than fifteen percent of the moneys in 30 such fund shall be expended for the administration of department of 31 motor vehicle regional offices located in the city of Albany, city of 32 Rochester, town of Oyster Bay, town of Bethpage, city of Syracuse, 33 village of North Syracuse, village of West Haverstraw, village of Amity- 34 ville, town of Islip, town of Huntington, town of Brookhaven, town of 35 Riverhead, city of Peekskill, city of White Plains, and city of Yonkers, 36 provided however, in the event that any of the aforementioned offices 37 has closed, relocated, or experienced a significant reduction of activ- 38 ities, no moneys shall be expended for the purpose of administration of 39 any regional office under this section; not more than five percent or 40 five million dollars, whichever is less, of the moneys in such fund 41 shall be expended by the governor's traffic safety committee for adver- 42 tising and curriculum development of the driver safety program; not more 43 than five percent or five million dollars, whichever is less, of the 44 moneys in such fund shall be expended by the department of transporta- 45 tion for culvert maintenance; not more than five percent or five million 46 dollars, whichever is less, of the moneys in such fund shall be expended 47 by the department of transportation and the division of state police for 48 work and school zone safety programs; not more than five percent or five 49 million dollars, whichever is less, of the moneys in such fund shall be 50 expended by non metropolitan transportation authority public transporta- 51 tion authorities for the para transit operations; and not more than five 52 percent or five million dollars, whichever is less, of the moneys in 53 such fund shall be expended by the metropolitan transportation authority 54 for handicapped accessible equipment. 55 § 4. Subsection (a) of section 2336 of the insurance law, as amended 56 by chapter 751 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:A. 167 4 1 (a) Any schedule of rates or rating plan for motor vehicle liability 2 and collision insurance submitted to the superintendent shall provide 3 for an appropriate reduction in premium charges for any insured for a 4 three year period after successfully completing a motor vehicle [acci-5dent prevention] driver safety course, known as the national safety 6 council's defensive driving course, or any driver improvement course 7 approved by the department of motor vehicles as being equivalent to the 8 national safety council's defensive driving course, provided that[,9except as provided in article twelve-C of the vehicle and traffic law,] 10 there shall be no reduction in premiums for a self instruction defensive 11 driving course or a course which does not provide for actual classroom 12 instruction for a minimum number of hours as determined by the depart- 13 ment of motor vehicles. Such reduction in premium charges shall be 14 subsequently modified to the extent appropriate, based upon analysis of 15 loss experience statistics and other relevant factors. All such accident 16 prevention courses shall be monitored by the department of motor vehi- 17 cles and shall include components of instruction in "Road Rage" aware- 18 ness and in "Work Zone Safety" awareness as defined by the commissioner 19 of motor vehicles. The provisions of this section shall not apply to 20 attendance at a program pursuant to article twenty-one of the vehicle 21 and traffic law as a result of any traffic infraction. 22 § 4-a. Subsection (a) of section 2336 of the insurance law, as amended 23 by chapter 585 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows: 24 (a) Any schedule of rates or rating plan for motor vehicle liability 25 and collision insurance submitted to the superintendent shall provide 26 for an appropriate reduction in premium charges for any insured for a 27 three year period after successfully completing a motor vehicle [acci-28dent prevention] driver safety course, known as the national safety 29 council's defensive driving course, or any driver improvement course 30 approved by the department of motor vehicles as being equivalent to the 31 national safety council's defensive driving course, provided that in 32 either event there shall be no reduction in premiums for a self instruc- 33 tion defensive driving course or a course which does not provide for 34 actual classroom instruction for a minimum number of hours as determined 35 by the department of motor vehicles. Such reduction in premium charges 36 shall be subsequently modified to the extent appropriate, based upon 37 analysis of loss experience statistics and other relevant factors. All 38 such accident prevention courses shall be monitored by the department of 39 motor vehicles and shall include components of instruction in "Road 40 Rage" awareness and in "Work Zone Safety" awareness as defined by the 41 commissioner of motor vehicles. The provisions of this section shall not 42 apply to attendance at a program pursuant to article twenty-one of the 43 vehicle and traffic law as a result of any traffic infraction. 44 § 5. Section 301-c of the military law, as added by chapter 489 of 45 the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows: 46 § 301-c. [Accident prevention] Driver safety course information. The 47 division of military and naval affairs shall provide returning service- 48 men and women who have returned from a combat theater or combat zone of 49 operations with information about [accident prevention] driver safety 50 courses approved by the commissioner of motor vehicles pursuant to arti- 51 cle twelve-B of the vehicle and traffic law. This information may be 52 provided in written form to be available at Yellow Ribbon Reintegration 53 programs or any other reintegration programs offered by the division or 54 may be made available online on the division's website. The division 55 shall also provide a link to the department of motor vehicles websiteA. 167 5 1 pages containing information about the [accident prevention] driver 2 safety courses. 3 § 6. Subdivision 20 of section 353 of the executive law, as added by 4 chapter 489 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows: 5 20. To make available information on [accident prevention] driver 6 safety courses approved by the commissioner of motor vehicles online on 7 the division's website. The division shall provide a link to the depart- 8 ment of motor vehicles website pages containing information on the 9 [accident prevention] driver safety courses. 10 § 7. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 4 of section 503 of the vehicle and 11 traffic law, as added by section 2 of part E of chapter 59 of the laws 12 of 2004, is amended to read as follows: 13 (e) Any completion of a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driver 14 safety course approved pursuant to article twelve-B of this chapter 15 shall not serve to reduce the calculation of points on a person's driv- 16 ing record for the purposes of this section. 17 § 8. Subdivision 3 of section 509-bb of the vehicle and traffic law, 18 as added by chapter 599 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as 19 follows: 20 (3) For purposes of this section, one such accident shall not be 21 counted if the person successfully completes a motor vehicle [accident22prevention] driver safety course approved by the commissioner. 23 § 9. Paragraphs (d) and (f) of subdivision 1 of section 509-c of the 24 vehicle and traffic law, paragraph (d) as amended and paragraph (f) as 25 added by chapter 599 of the laws of 1993, are amended to read as 26 follows: 27 (d) for a period of one year, if that person has accumulated nine or 28 more points on his or her driving record for acts that occurred during 29 an eighteen month period on or after September fifteenth, nineteen 30 hundred eighty-five, provided, however, that the disqualification shall 31 terminate if the person has reduced the points to less than nine through 32 the successful completion of a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driv- 33 er safety course. 34 (f) for a period of one year, if that person fails to pass a road test 35 administered pursuant to section five hundred nine-bb of this article; 36 provided, however, that such person shall be given the opportunity to 37 complete a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driver safety course 38 approved by the commissioner and to then undergo a second road test 39 administered pursuant to section five hundred nine-bb of this article, 40 and such disqualification shall cease if such person passes such second 41 road test. 42 § 10. Paragraphs (d) and (f) of subdivision 2 of section 509-c of the 43 vehicle and traffic law, paragraph (d) as amended and paragraph (f) as 44 added by chapter 599 of the laws of 1993, are amended to read as 45 follows: 46 (d) for a period of one year, if that person accumulates nine or more 47 points on his or her driving record for acts occurring during an eigh- 48 teen month period, provided, however, that the disqualification shall 49 terminate if the person has reduced the points to less than nine through 50 the successful completion of a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driv- 51 er safety course. 52 (f) for a period of one year, if that person fails to pass a road test 53 administered pursuant to section five hundred nine-bb of this article; 54 provided, however, that such person shall be given the opportunity to 55 complete a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driver safety course 56 approved by the commissioner and to then undergo a second road testA. 167 6 1 administered pursuant to section five hundred nine-bb of this article, 2 and such disqualification shall cease if such person passes such second 3 road test. 4 § 11. Paragraphs (d) and (f) of subdivision 1 of section 509-cc of the 5 vehicle and traffic law, paragraph (d) as amended and paragraph (f) as 6 added by chapter 599 of the laws of 1993, are amended to read as 7 follows: 8 (d) for a period of one year, if that person has accumulated nine or 9 more points on his or her driving record for acts that occurred during 10 an eighteen month period on or after September fifteenth, nineteen 11 hundred eighty-five, provided, however, that the disqualification shall 12 terminate if the person has reduced the points to less than nine through 13 the successful completion of a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driv- 14 er safety course. 15 (f) for a period of one year, if that person fails to pass a road test 16 administered pursuant to section five hundred nine-bb of this article; 17 provided, however, that such person shall be given the opportunity to 18 complete a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driver safety course 19 approved by the commissioner and to then undergo a second road test 20 administered pursuant to section five hundred nine-bb of this article, 21 and such disqualification shall cease if such person passes such second 22 road test. 23 § 12. Paragraphs (e) and (g) of subdivision 2 of section 509-cc of the 24 vehicle and traffic law, paragraph (e) as amended and paragraph (g) as 25 added by chapter 599 of the laws of 1993, are amended to read as 26 follows: 27 (e) for a period of one year, if that person accumulates nine or more 28 points on his or her driving record for acts occurring during an eigh- 29 teen month period, provided, however, that the disqualification shall 30 terminate if the person has reduced the points to less than nine through 31 the successful completion of a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driv- 32 er safety course. 33 (g) for a period of one year, if that person fails to pass a road test 34 administered pursuant to section five hundred nine-bb of this article; 35 provided, however, that such person shall be given the opportunity to 36 complete a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driver safety course 37 approved by the commissioner and to then undergo a second road test 38 administered pursuant to section five hundred nine-bb of this article, 39 and such disqualification shall cease if such person passes such second 40 road test. 41 § 13. Paragraph 1 of subdivision (c) of section 1146 of the vehicle 42 and traffic law, as amended by chapter 333 of the laws of 2010, is 43 amended to read as follows: 44 1. A driver of a motor vehicle who causes serious physical injury as 45 defined in article ten of the penal law to a pedestrian or bicyclist 46 while failing to exercise due care in violation of subdivision (a) of 47 this section, shall be guilty of a traffic infraction punishable by a 48 fine of not more than seven hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment for 49 not more than fifteen days or by required participation in a motor vehi- 50 cle [accident prevention] driver safety course pursuant to paragraph 51 (e-1) of subdivision two of section 65.10 of the penal law or by any 52 combination of such fine, imprisonment or course, and by suspension of a 53 license or registration pursuant to subparagraph (xiv) or (xv) of para- 54 graph b of subdivision two of section five hundred ten of this chapter.A. 167 7 1 § 14. Subdivision 18-h of section 100 of the economic development law, 2 as added by chapter 489 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 18-h. to include in the "NY-USA Proud" program those companies who 5 provide [accident prevention] driver safety courses approved by the 6 commissioner of motor vehicles at a reduced rate to the servicemen and 7 women who have returned from a combat theater or combat zone of oper- 8 ations. 9 § 15. Paragraph (e-1) of subdivision 2 of section 65.10 of the penal 10 law, as added by chapter 571 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as 11 follows: 12 (e-1) Participate in a motor vehicle [accident prevention] driver 13 safety course. The court may require such condition where a person has 14 been convicted of a traffic infraction for a violation of article twen- 15 ty-six of the vehicle and traffic law where the commission of such 16 violation caused the serious physical injury or death of another person. 17 For purposes of this paragraph, the term "motor vehicle [accident18prevention] driver safety course" shall mean a motor vehicle [accident19prevention] driver safety course approved by the department of motor 20 vehicles pursuant to article twelve-B of the vehicle and traffic law; 21 § 16. This act shall take effect September 1, 2017; provided that the 22 amendments to subsection (a) of section 2336 of the insurance law made 23 by section four of this act shall be subject to the expiration and 24 reversion of such subsection pursuant to section 5 of chapter 751 of the 25 laws of 2005, as amended, when upon such date the provisions of section 26 four-a of this act shall take effect.
