STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1798
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 17, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PERRY -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, the highway law and the
general municipal law, in relation to the regulation of electric
scooters
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "The Innovative
2 Transportation Act of 2019".
3 § 2. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section
4 102-c to read as follows:
5 § 102-c. Electric scooter. A two-wheeled device that has handlebars
6 and a floorboard that is designed to be stood upon while riding, is
7 powered by an electric motor with an output of less than seven hundred
8 fifty watts, or one horsepower, and does not exceed fifteen miles per
9 hour.
10 § 3. Section 125 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter
11 365 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
12 § 125. Motor vehicles. Every vehicle operated or driven upon a public
13 highway which is propelled by any power other than muscular power,
14 except (a) electrically-driven mobility assistance devices operated or
15 driven by a person with a disability, (a-1) electric personal assistive
16 mobility devices operated outside a city with a population of one
17 million or more, (b) vehicles which run only upon rails or tracks, (c)
18 snowmobiles as defined in article forty-seven of this chapter, [and] (d)
19 all terrain vehicles as defined in article forty-eight-B of this
20 chapter, and (e) electric scooters as defined in section one hundred
21 two-c of this article. For the purposes of title four of this chapter,
22 the term motor vehicle shall exclude fire and police vehicles other than
23 ambulances. For the purposes of titles four and five of this chapter the
24 term motor vehicles shall exclude farm type tractors and all terrain
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06688-01-9
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1 type vehicles used exclusively for agricultural purposes, or for snow
2 plowing, other than for hire, farm equipment, including self-propelled
3 machines used exclusively in growing, harvesting or handling farm
4 produce, and self-propelled caterpillar or crawler-type equipment while
5 being operated on the contract site.
6 § 4. Section 159 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended to read as
7 follows:
8 § 159. Vehicle. Every device in, upon, or by which any person or prop-
9 erty is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except devices
10 moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks
11 and electric scooters as defined in section one hundred two-c of this
12 article.
13 § 5. Section 1230 of the vehicle and traffic law, subdivision (b) as
14 amended by chapter 694 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as
15 follows:
16 § 1230. Effect of regulations. (a) The parent of any child and the
17 guardian of any ward shall not authorize or knowingly permit any such
18 child or ward to violate any of the provisions of this article.
19 (b) These regulations applicable to bicycles, electric scooters, or to
20 in-line skates shall apply whenever a bicycle or electric scooter is, or
21 in-line skates are, operated upon any highway, upon private roads open
22 to public motor vehicle traffic and upon any path set aside for the
23 exclusive use of bicycles, electric scooters, or in-line skates, or
24 [both] all three.
25 § 6. Section 1231 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chap-
26 ter 694 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows:
27 § 1231. Traffic laws apply to persons riding bicycles or electric
28 scooters or skating or gliding on in-line skates. Every person riding a
29 bicycle or electric scooter or skating or gliding on in-line skates upon
30 a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all
31 of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this title,
32 except as to special regulations in this article and except as to those
33 provisions of this title which by their nature can have no application.
34 § 7. Section 1232 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended to read as
35 follows:
36 § 1232. Riding on bicycles and electric scooters. (a) A person
37 propelling a bicycle shall not ride other than upon or astride a perma-
38 nent and regular seat attached thereto, nor shall he ride with his feet
39 removed from the pedals.
40 (b) No bicycle or electric scooter shall be used to carry more persons
41 at one time than the number for which it is designed and equipped.
42 § 8. Subdivision 1 of section 1233 of the vehicle and traffic law, as
43 amended by chapter 703 of the laws of 2004, is amended to read as
44 follows:
45 1. No person riding upon any bicycle, electric scooter, coaster,
46 in-line skates, roller skates, skate board, sled, or toy vehicle shall
47 attach the same or himself or herself to any vehicle being operated upon
48 a roadway.
49 § 9. Section 1234 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chap-
50 ter 16 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
51 § 1234. Riding on roadways, shoulders, bicycle, electric scooter or
52 in-line skate lanes and bicycle or in-line skate paths. (a) Upon all
53 roadways, any bicycle, electric scooter or in-line skate shall be driven
54 either on a usable bicycle or in-line skate lane or, if a usable bicycle
55 or in-line skate lane has not been provided, near the right-hand curb or
56 edge of the roadway or upon a usable right-hand shoulder in such a
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1 manner as to prevent undue interference with the flow of traffic except
2 when preparing for a left turn or when reasonably necessary to avoid
3 conditions that would make it unsafe to continue along near the right-
4 hand curb or edge. Conditions to be taken into consideration include,
5 but are not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles,
6 electric scooters, in-line skates, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards
7 or traffic lanes too narrow for a bicycle, or electric scooter or person
8 on in-line skates and a vehicle to travel safely side-by-side within the
9 lane.
10 (b) Persons riding bicycles or electric scooters or skating or gliding
11 on in-line skates upon a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast.
12 Persons riding bicycles or electric scooters or skating or gliding on
13 in-line skates upon a shoulder, bicycle or in-line skate lane, or bicy-
14 cle or in-line skates path, intended for the use of bicycles or in-line
15 skates may ride two or more abreast if sufficient space is available,
16 except that when passing a vehicle, bicycle, electric scooter or person
17 on in-line skates, or pedestrian, standing or proceeding along such
18 shoulder, lane or path, persons riding bicycles or electric scooters or
19 skating or gliding on in-line skates shall ride, skate, or glide single
20 file. Persons riding bicycles or electric scooters or skating or gliding
21 on in-line skates upon a roadway shall ride, skate, or glide single file
22 when being overtaken by a vehicle.
23 (c) Any person operating a bicycle or electric scooter or skating or
24 gliding on in-line skates who is entering the roadway from a private
25 road, driveway, alley or over a curb shall come to a full stop before
26 entering the roadway.
27 § 10. Section 1235 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chap-
28 ter 703 of the laws of 2004, is amended to read as follows:
29 § 1235. Carrying articles. No person operating a bicycle or electric
30 scooter shall carry any package, bundle, or article which prevents the
31 driver from keeping at least one hand upon the handle bars. No person
32 skating or gliding on in-line skates shall carry any package, bundle, or
33 article which obstructs his or her vision in any direction. No person
34 operating a skate board shall carry any package, bundle, or article
35 which obstructs his or her vision in any direction.
36 § 11. Section 1236 of the vehicle and traffic law, subdivision (a) as
37 amended by chapter 16 of the laws of 2009 and subdivisions (d) and (e)
38 as added by chapter 887 of the laws of 1976, is amended to read as
39 follows:
40 § 1236. Lamps and other equipment on bicycles and electric scooters.
41 (a) Every bicycle or electric scooter when in use during the period from
42 one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise shall be
43 equipped with a lamp on the front which shall emit a white light visible
44 during hours of darkness from a distance of at least five hundred feet
45 to the front and with a red or amber light visible to the rear for three
46 hundred feet. Effective July first, nineteen hundred seventy-six, at
47 least one of these lights shall be visible for two hundred feet from
48 each side.
49 (b) No person shall operate a bicycle or electric scooter unless it is
50 equipped with a bell or other device capable of giving a signal audible
51 for a distance of at least one hundred feet, except that a bicycle or
52 electric scooter shall not be equipped with nor shall any person use
53 upon a bicycle or electric scooter any siren or whistle.
54 (c) Every bicycle or electric scooter shall be equipped with a brake
55 which will enable the operator to make the braked wheels skid on dry,
56 level, clean pavement, provided, however, such brake of an electric
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1 scooter shall also operate in a manner so that the electric motor is
2 disengaged or ceases to function when the brake is applied.
3 (d) Every new bicycle or electric scooter shall be equipped with
4 reflective tires or, alternately, a reflex reflector mounted on the
5 spokes of each wheel, said tires and reflectors to be of types approved
6 by the commissioner. The reflex reflector mounted on the front wheel
7 shall be colorless or amber, and the reflex reflector mounted on the
8 rear wheel shall be colorless or red.
9 (e) Every bicycle or electric scooter when in use during the period
10 from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise shall be
11 equipped with reflective devices or material meeting the standards
12 established by rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner;
13 provided, however, that such standards shall not be inconsistent with or
14 otherwise conflict with the requirements of subdivisions (a) and (d) of
15 this section.
16 § 12. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section
17 1242 to read as follows:
18 § 1242. Tampering with an electric scooter. 1. No person shall tamper
19 with or modify an electric scooter to:
20 (a) increase the output of such scooter to seven hundred fifty watts
21 or greater;
22 (b) engage the electric motor when:
23 (i) the operator of such scooter has applied the brakes; or
24 (ii) such scooter has achieved a speed of fifteen miles per hour or
25 greater.
26 2. A violation of the provisions of subdivision one of this section
27 shall constitute a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of up to one
28 hundred fifty dollars or a sentence of imprisonment for up to fifteen
29 days or both such fine and imprisonment.
30 § 13. Section 316 of the highway law, as amended by chapter 655 of the
31 laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows:
32 § 316. Entitled to free use of highways. The authorities having charge
33 or control of any highway, public street, park, parkway, driveway, or
34 place, shall have no power or authority to pass, enforce or maintain any
35 ordinance, rule or regulation by which any person using a bicycle, elec-
36 tric scooter or tricycle shall be excluded or prohibited from the free
37 use of any highway, public street, avenue, roadway, driveway, parkway,
38 park, or place, at any time when the same is open to the free use of
39 persons having and using other pleasure carriages, except upon such
40 driveway, speedway or road as has been or may be expressly set apart by
41 law for the exclusive use of horses and light carriages. But nothing
42 herein shall prevent the passage, enforcement or maintenance of any
43 regulation, ordinance or rule, regulating the use of bicycles, electric
44 scooters or tricycles in highways, public streets, driveways, parks,
45 parkways, and places, or the regulation of the speed of carriages, vehi-
46 cles or engines, in public parks and upon parkways and driveways in the
47 city of New York, under the exclusive jurisdiction and control of the
48 department of parks and recreation of said city, nor prevent any such
49 authorities in any other city from regulating the speed of any vehicles
50 herein described in such manner as to limit and determine the proper
51 rate of speed with which such vehicle may be propelled nor in such
52 manner as to require, direct or prohibit the use of bells, lamps and
53 other appurtenances nor to prohibit the use of any vehicle upon that
54 part of the highway, street, park, or parkway, commonly known as the
55 footpath or sidewalk.
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1 § 14. Section 180 of the general municipal law, as amended by chapter
2 668 of the laws of 2004, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 180. Ordinances to regulate use of bicycles and electric scooters.
4 The governing boards of municipal corporations as defined in section two
5 of this chapter, may adopt local laws to regulate the use of bicycles
6 and electric scooters on the public highways, streets, avenues, walks,
7 parks and public places within their limits. Such local laws shall be
8 supplemental and in addition to the provisions of the vehicle and traf-
9 fic law relating to vehicles and not in conflict therewith. Provided
10 further that such local laws shall not impose any charge, tax or other-
11 wise not provide for the free use of bicycles, electric scooters and
12 tricycles.
13 § 15. This act shall take effect immediately.