Requires green lights on municipal snowplows to face in the rear direction; restricts the use of green lights or a combination of green and amber lights on privately-owned vehicles utilized for ice and snow removal; prohibits the use of a device displaying combination green and white flashing lights on privately-owned vehicles utilized for ice and snow removal.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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6552
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 17, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. GRIFFO -- 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 the use of
flashing green lights on snow plows
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph c of paragraph 5 of subdivision 41 of section
2 375 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 71 of the laws
3 of 2024, is amended to read as follows:
4 (c)(i) In addition to the amber light authorized to be displayed
5 pursuant to paragraph three of this subdivision, one or more rear-facing
6 green lights or combination green and amber lights may be affixed to a
7 hazard vehicle designed for ice and snow removal owned and operated by
8 the state or by a county, city, town or village. Such green light or
9 lights may be displayed on a hazard vehicle designed for ice and snow
10 removal owned and operated by the state or by a county, city, town or
11 village when such vehicle is engaged in a hazardous operation and is
12 also displaying the amber light or lights required to be displayed
13 during a hazardous operation pursuant to paragraph three of this subdi-
14 vision. Green lights or combination green and amber lights authorized
15 by this subparagraph shall be displayed and directed only in a rear-fac-
16 ing manner. Nothing contained in this subparagraph shall be deemed to
17 authorize the use of green lights on hazard vehicles designed for ice
18 and snow removal owned and operated by the state or by a county, city,
19 town or village unless such hazard vehicles also display one or more
20 amber lights as otherwise authorized in this subdivision.
21 (ii) (A) Nothing contained in this subparagraph shall be deemed to
22 authorize the use of:
23 (1) green lights or a combination of green and amber lights on
24 privately-owned vehicles utilized for ice and snow removal unless such
25 vehicles are owned and operated by a party to a written contract with
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10919-01-5
S. 6552 2
1 the state or with a county, city, town or village providing for ice and
2 snow removal on the roads of the municipality, and such vehicle is to be
3 used for that purpose within the municipality to which the contract
4 pertains at the time the lights are on; or
5 (2) a device displaying combination green and white flashing lights on
6 privately-owned vehicles utilized for ice and snow removal.
7 (B) Any such privately-owned vehicle under contract as described in
8 this clause shall be subject to the restrictions of clause (i) of this
9 subparagraph with respect to the display, usage and period of operation
10 of such lights. Any person violating the provisions of this clause
11 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
12 (iii) The commissioner is authorized to promulgate rules and regu-
13 lations relating to the use, placement, power and display of green
14 lights on a hazard vehicle designed for ice and snow removal owned and
15 operated by the state or by a county, city, town or village.
16 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
17 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
18 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
19 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
20 on or before such effective date.
