Allows for the use of green lights or alternating green and amber lights on municipal vehicles being used for snow removal; relates to the operation of vehicles when approaching such a parked, stopped or standing hazard vehicle.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
811--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 6, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WALLACE, NORRIS, McMAHON, LUPARDO, TAGUE -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Transportation -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the use of
green lights on municipal hazard vehicles designed for ice and snow
removal and in relation to the operation of vehicles when approaching
such a parked, stopped or standing hazard vehicle
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph 5 of subdivision 41 of section 375 of the vehicle
2 and traffic law, as added by chapter 197 of the laws of 1970, the open-
3 ing paragraph as amended by chapter 349 of the laws of 2004, is amended
4 to read as follows:
5 5. Green light. (a) One green light may be affixed to any motor vehi-
6 cle owned by a member of a volunteer ambulance service, or on a motor
7 vehicle owned by a member of such person's family, or by a business
8 enterprise in which such person has a proprietary interest or by which
9 he is employed, provided such member has been authorized in writing to
10 so affix a green light by the chief officer of such service as desig-
11 nated by the members thereof. Such green light may be displayed exclu-
12 sively by such member of a volunteer ambulance service only when engaged
13 in an emergency operation. The use of green lights on vehicles shall be
14 restricted for use only by a member of a volunteer ambulance service as
15 provided for in this paragraph except as otherwise provided for in
16 subparagraph c of this paragraph.
17 (b) As used in this paragraph volunteer ambulance service means: [a.]
18 (i) a non-profit membership corporation (other than a fire corporation)
19 incorporated under or subject to the provisions of the membership corpo-
20 rations law, or any other law, operating its ambulance or ambulances on
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02241-02-1
A. 811--A 2
1 a non-profit basis for the convenience of the members thereof and their
2 families or of the community or under a contract with a county, city,
3 town or village pursuant to section one hundred twenty-two-b of the
4 general municipal law; or
5 [b.] (ii) an unincorporated association of persons operating its ambu-
6 lance or ambulances on a non-profit basis for the convenience of the
7 members and their families or of the community.
8 (c)(i) In addition to the amber light authorized to be displayed
9 pursuant to paragraph three of this subdivision, one or more green
10 lights or combination green and amber lights may be affixed to a hazard
11 vehicle designed for ice and snow removal owned and operated by the
12 state or by a county, city, town or village. Such green light or lights
13 may be displayed on a hazard vehicle designed for ice and snow removal
14 owned and operated by the state or by a county, city, town or village
15 when such vehicle is engaged in a hazardous operation and is also
16 displaying the amber light or lights required to be displayed during a
17 hazardous operation pursuant to paragraph three of this subdivision.
18 Nothing contained in this subparagraph shall be deemed to authorize the
19 use of green lights on hazard vehicles designed for ice and snow removal
20 owned and operated by the state or by a county, city, town or village
21 unless such hazard vehicles also display one or more amber lights as
22 otherwise authorized in this subdivision.
23 (ii) The commissioner is authorized to promulgate rules and regu-
24 lations relating to the use, placement, power and display of green
25 lights on a hazard vehicle designed for ice and snow removal owned and
26 operated by the state or by a county, city, town or village.
27 § 2. Subdivision (b) of section 1144-a of the vehicle and traffic law,
28 as amended by section 3 of part C of chapter 58 of the laws of 2020, is
29 amended to read as follows:
30 (b) Every operator of a motor vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid
31 colliding with a hazard vehicle which is parked, stopped or standing on
32 the shoulder or on any portion of such highway and such hazard vehicle
33 is displaying one or more amber lights pursuant to the provisions of
34 paragraph three of subdivision forty-one of section three hundred seven-
35 ty-five of this chapter or, if such hazard vehicle is designed for the
36 towing or pushing of disabled vehicles such hazard vehicle is displaying
37 one or more amber lights or one or more blue or combination blue and
38 amber lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph three or subpara-
39 graph b-1 of paragraph four, as applicable, of subdivision forty-one of
40 section three hundred seventy-five of this chapter or, if such hazard
41 vehicle owned and operated by the state or by a county, city, town or
42 village is designed for the removal of ice and snow such hazard vehicle
43 is displaying one or more amber lights or one or more green or combina-
44 tion green and amber lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph
45 three or subparagraph (c) of paragraph five, as applicable, of subdivi-
46 sion forty-one of section three hundred seventy-five of this chapter.
47 For operators of motor vehicles on parkways or controlled access high-
48 ways, such due care shall include, but not be limited to, moving from a
49 lane which contains or is immediately adjacent to the shoulder where (i)
50 such hazard vehicle displaying one or more amber lights pursuant to the
51 provisions of paragraph three of subdivision forty-one of section three
52 hundred seventy-five of this chapter or (ii) such hazard vehicle
53 designed for the towing or pushing of disabled vehicles displaying one
54 or more amber lights or one or more blue or combination blue and amber
55 lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph three or subparagraph b-1
56 of paragraph four, as applicable, of subdivision forty-one of section
A. 811--A 3
1 three hundred seventy-five of this chapter or (iii) such hazard vehicle
2 owned and operated by the state or by a county, city, town or village is
3 displaying one or more amber lights or one or more green or combination
4 green and amber lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph three or
5 subparagraph (c) of paragraph five, as applicable, of subdivision
6 forty-one of section three hundred seventy-five of this chapter, is
7 parked, stopped or standing to another lane, provided that such movement
8 otherwise complies with the requirements of this chapter including, but
9 not limited to, the provisions of sections eleven hundred ten and eleven
10 hundred twenty-eight of this title.
11 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
12 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
13 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
14 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
15 on or before such effective date.