Add Art 34-E §§1300 - 1305, amd §§1180 & 1809-d, V & T L
Establishes a highway safety corridor on the Southern State Parkway between exit seventeen and exit thirty-one; provides for enhanced traffic enforcement and a reporting requirement.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10623
IN SENATE
June 1, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. BYNOE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to establishing
a highway safety corridor on the Southern State Parkway
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new
2 article 34-E to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 34-E
4 SOUTHERN STATE PARKWAY HIGHWAY SAFETY CORRIDOR
5 Section 1300. Legislative intent.
6 1301. Definitions.
7 1302. Southern State Parkway highway safety corridor.
8 1303. Traffic control signs.
9 1304. Enhanced traffic enforcement.
10 1305. Reporting requirements.
11 § 1300. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds and declares
12 that the Southern State Parkway has experienced a significant number of
13 speeding-related crashes and reckless driving incidents, injuries, and
14 fatalities, creating substantial risks to motorists and the general
15 public. The legislature further finds that the New York State Police
16 have undertaken targeted traffic safety initiatives, including "Opera-
17 tion Southern Shield," to increase enforcement and reduce dangerous
18 driving behavior along the Southern State Parkway. The legislature
19 therefore declares that designating a highway safety corridor along a
20 portion of the Southern State Parkway, together with enhanced enforce-
21 ment, traffic safety monitoring, and public notification measures, is
22 necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public.
23 § 1301. Definitions. As used in this article:
24 1. "Commissioner" shall mean the commissioner of the department of
25 transportation.
26 2. "Southern State Parkway highway safety corridor" shall mean the
27 portion of the Southern State Parkway between exit seventeen and exit
28 thirty-one.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07012-05-6
S. 10623 2
1 3. "Highway safety corridor", or "corridor", shall mean a section of a
2 highway which has a dangerous traffic and accident history necessitating
3 increased penalties and enhanced enforcement to mitigate future inci-
4 dents.
5 § 1302. Southern State Parkway highway safety corridor. The area of
6 the Southern State Parkway between exit seventeen and exit thirty-one is
7 hereby designated a highway safety corridor for the purposes of this
8 article.
9 § 1303. Traffic control signs. 1. The commissioner shall install and
10 maintain signage identifying the beginning and the end of the Southern
11 State Parkway highway safety corridor, pursuant to this article.
12 2. A sign reading "HIGHWAY SAFETY CORRIDOR - FINES DOUBLED" shall be
13 installed at the beginning of the corridor and after each interchange
14 along such corridor, pursuant to this article.
15 3. A sign reading "END HIGHWAY SAFETY CORRIDOR" shall be installed
16 immediately at the end of the corridor.
17 4. All signage pursuant to this section shall conform to the manual on
18 traffic control devices maintained pursuant to section one thousand six
19 hundred eighty of this chapter.
20 § 1304. Enhanced traffic enforcement. The superintendent of state
21 police, in consultation with the commissioner, may provide enhanced
22 enforcement activities within the Southern State Parkway highway safety
23 corridor, including enforcement initiatives consistent with the objec-
24 tives of the state police "Operation Southern Shield" initiative.
25 § 1305. Reporting requirements. 1. The commissioner, in consultation
26 with the superintendent of the state police, shall prepare and publish
27 an annual report regarding the Southern State Parkway highway safety
28 corridor. Upon completion, such report shall be made available to rele-
29 vant stakeholders, including but not limited to the Nassau County Police
30 Department, local police departments, and local, state, and federal
31 transportation authorities.
32 2. Such report shall include, but not be limited to:
33 (a) the number of crashes, including the severity of such crashes
34 occurring within the corridor;
35 (b) the number of injuries and fatalities occurring within the corri-
36 dor;
37 (c) the number and type of traffic citations issued within the corri-
38 dor;
39 (d) traffic volume and speed data, where available;
40 (e) enforcement activities conducted within the corridor;
41 (f) general trends observed pertaining to the aforementioned collected
42 data; and
43 (g) recommendations for roadway safety improvements, where applicable.
44 § 2. Subdivision (f) of section 1180 of the vehicle and traffic law,
45 as amended by chapter 432 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as
46 follows:
47 (f) Except as provided in subdivision (g) of this section and except
48 when a special hazard exists that requires lower speed for compliance
49 with subdivision (a) or (e) of this section or when a lower maximum
50 speed limit has been established, no person shall drive a vehicle
51 through a highway construction or maintenance work area at a speed in
52 excess of the posted work area speed limit or through a highway safety
53 corridor in excess of the posted highway safety corridor speed limit.
54 The agency having jurisdiction over the affected street or highway may
55 establish work area speed limits or highway safety corridor speed limits
56 which are less than the normally posted speed limits; provided, however,
S. 10623 3
1 that such normally posted speed limit may exceed the work area speed
2 limit or highway safety corridor speed limit by no more than twenty
3 miles per hour; and provided further that no such work area speed limit
4 or highway safety corridor speed limit may be established at less than
5 twenty-five miles per hour.
6 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 1809-d of the vehicle and traffic law,
7 as added by chapter 223 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as
8 follows:
9 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, whenever proceedings in
10 an administrative tribunal or court result in a finding of liability or
11 conviction for a violation of paragraph two of subdivision (d) or subdi-
12 vision (f) of section eleven hundred eighty or article thirty-four-E of
13 this chapter or any other statute, local law, ordinance or rule involv-
14 ing the maximum speed limits in highway construction [or] areas, mainte-
15 nance work areas, or highway safety corridors, there shall be levied a
16 mandatory surcharge in addition to any other sentence, fine or penalty
17 otherwise permitted or required, in the amount of fifty dollars. Such
18 surcharge shall not be deemed a monetary penalty for the purposes of
19 section two hundred thirty-seven of this chapter or section 19-203 of
20 the administrative code of the city of New York.
21 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
22 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
23 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
24 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
25 on or before such date.
