Requires whenever any person driving a vehicle approaches a railroad grade crossing where there is on-track equipment, the driver of such vehicle shall stop not less than fifteen feet from the nearest rail of such railroad, and shall not proceed until they can do so safely.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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9307
IN SENATE
February 27, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. COONEY -- 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 obedience to
certain signals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 1170 of the vehicle and traffic
2 law, as amended by chapter 501 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 (a) Whenever any person driving a vehicle approaches a railroad grade
5 crossing under any of the circumstances stated in this section, the
6 driver of such vehicle shall stop not less than fifteen feet from the
7 nearest rail of such railroad, and shall not proceed until [he] they can
8 do so safely. The foregoing requirements shall apply when:
9 1. An audible or clearly visible electric or mechanical signal device
10 gives warning of the immediate approach of a railroad train or other
11 on-track equipment;
12 2. A crossing gate is lowered or when a human [flagman] flag person
13 gives or continues to give a signal of the approach or passage of a
14 railroad train or other on-track equipment;
15 3. A railroad train approaching within approximately one thousand five
16 hundred feet of the highway crossing emits a signal audible from such
17 distance and such railroad train, by reason of its speed or nearness to
18 such crossing, is an immediate hazard; or
19 4. An approaching railroad train or other on-track equipment is plain-
20 ly visible and is in hazardous proximity to such crossing.
21 [5.] (a-1) Every person convicted of a violation of [this] subdivision
22 (a) of this section shall for a first conviction thereof be punished by
23 a fine of not more than one hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment for
24 not more than fifteen days or by both such fine and imprisonment; for a
25 conviction of a second violation, both of which were committed within a
26 period of eighteen months, such person shall be punished by a fine of
27 not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than
28 forty-five days or by both such fine and imprisonment; upon a conviction
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15022-01-6
S. 9307 2
1 of a third or subsequent violation, all of which were committed within a
2 period of eighteen months, such person shall be punished by a fine of
3 not more than seven hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not
4 more than ninety days or by both such fine and imprisonment.
5 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
