Relates to the passing of stopped school buses; requires each omnibus having a seating capacity in excess of fifteen children or more to have at least one flashing yellow signal lamp on the front thereof and at least one flashing yellow signal lamp on the rear thereof to indicate that such omnibus shall be stopping momentarily; requires the commissioner of motor vehicles to establish a method whereby any violation of section 1174 of the vehicle and traffic law shall be issued to the operator of such vehicle and not to the owner of such vehicle; makes related provisions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4793
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 6, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. E. BROWN, BEEPHAN, MIKULIN -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the passing
of stopped school buses
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 20 of section 375 of the vehi-
2 cle and traffic law, as separately amended by chapters 204 and 221 of
3 the laws of 1976, is amended to read as follows:
4 (a) For each such omnibus having a seating capacity in excess of
5 fifteen children, there shall be colored flashing signal lamps conform-
6 ing to regulations prescribed by the commissioner on the front and on
7 the rear thereof, including at least one flashing yellow signal lamp on
8 the front thereof and at least one flashing yellow signal lamp on the
9 rear thereof and at least one flashing red signal lamp on the front
10 thereof and at least one flashing red signal lamp on the rear thereof.
11 For each such omnibus having a seating capacity of not more than fifteen
12 children, there shall be colored flashing signal lamps conforming to
13 regulations prescribed by the commissioner facing the front and facing
14 the rear thereof, and at least one flashing yellow signal lamp facing
15 the front thereof and at least one flashing yellow signal lamp facing
16 the rear thereof and at least one flashing red signal lamp facing the
17 front thereof and at least one flashing red signal lamp facing the rear
18 thereof. The driver of every such vehicle shall keep such red signal
19 lamps lighted whenever passengers are being received or discharged or
20 whenever [he] such driver has stopped within fifty feet to the rear of a
21 vehicle with such red signal lamps lighted, and shall light [all other]
22 the required flashing yellow signal lamps, as a warning, prior to stop-
23 ping to receive or discharge passengers in accordance with regulations
24 prescribed by the commissioner.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07271-01-5
A. 4793 2
1 § 2. Subdivisions (a) and (c) of section 1174 of the vehicle and traf-
2 fic law, subdivision (a) as amended by chapter 597 of the laws of 1990
3 and subdivision (c) as amended by chapter 433 of the laws of 2024, are
4 amended and a new subdivision (e) is added to read as follows:
5 (a) The driver of a vehicle upon a public highway, street or private
6 road upon meeting or overtaking from either direction any school bus
7 marked and equipped as provided in subdivision twenty of section three
8 hundred seventy-five of this chapter which has stopped on the public
9 highway, street or private road for the purpose of receiving or
10 discharging any passengers, or which has stopped because a school bus in
11 front of it has stopped to receive or discharge any passengers, shall
12 stop the vehicle before reaching such school bus when there is in opera-
13 tion on [said] such school bus a flashing yellow signal lamp or a red
14 visual signal as specified in subdivision twenty of section three
15 hundred seventy-five of this chapter and [said] such driver shall not
16 proceed until such school bus resumes motion, or until signaled by the
17 driver or a police officer to proceed. For the purposes of this section,
18 and in addition to the provisions of section one hundred thirty-four of
19 this chapter, the term "public highway" shall mean any area used for the
20 parking of motor vehicles or used as a driveway located on the grounds
21 of a school or of a board of cooperative educational services facility
22 or any area used as a means of access to and egress from such school or
23 facility.
24 (c) [Every person convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) of this
25 section shall: for a first conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of
26 not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than four hundred
27 dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days or by both such
28 fine and imprisonment; for a conviction of a second violation, both of
29 which were committed within a period of three years, such person shall
30 be punished by a fine of not less than six hundred dollars nor more than
31 seven hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one
32 hundred eighty days or by both such fine and imprisonment; upon a
33 conviction of a third or subsequent violation, all of which were commit-
34 ted within a period of three years, such person shall be punished by a
35 fine of not less than seven hundred fifty dollars nor more than one
36 thousand five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one
37 hundred eighty days or by both such fine and imprisonment.] Within one
38 hundred eighty days of the effective date of the chapter of the laws of
39 two thousand twenty-five which amended this subdivision, the commission-
40 er shall establish a method whereby any violation of this section shall
41 be issued to the operator of the vehicle and not issued to the owner of
42 such vehicle.
43 (e) The provisions of this section shall not apply where there is a
44 divided highway where there is a physical barrier, including, but not
45 limited to, a creek, barrier or grassy mall between different directions
46 of travel.
47 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
