Defines the term "electric assisted bicycle" for purposes of the applicability of the vehicle and traffic law; provides that no person sixteen years of age or younger shall operate an electric assisted bicycle; requires persons eighteen years of age or younger to wear a helmet when operating an electric assisted bicycle.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1357--B
Cal. No. 945
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 6, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sens. DILAN, LIBOUS -- read twice and ordered printed, and
when printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee -- reported favorably from said commit-
tee, ordered to first and second report, ordered to a third reading,
amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of
third reading
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the defi-
nition of electric assisted bicycle
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 102 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by
2 chapter 931 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 102. Bicycle. 1. Every two or three wheeled device upon which a
4 person or persons may ride, propelled by human power through a belt, a
5 chain or gears, with such wheels in a tandem or tricycle, except that it
6 shall not include such a device having solid tires and intended for use
7 only on a sidewalk by pre-teenage children.
8 2. An electric assisted device with two or three wheels which has a
9 saddle and fully operative pedals for human propulsion and also has an
10 electric motor. The electric assisted bicycle's electric motor shall:
11 have a power output of not more than seven hundred fifty watts; be inca-
12 pable of propelling the device at a speed of more than twenty miles per
13 hour on level ground; and be incapable of further increasing the speed
14 of the device when human power is used to propel the device at or more
15 than twenty miles per hour.
16 § 2. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section
17 1238-a to read as follows:
18 § 1238-a. Additional provisions applicable to electric assisted bicy-
19 cles, operators and passengers. 1. In addition to complying with all of
20 the rules, regulations and provisions applicable to bicycles contained
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03255-09-1
S. 1357--B 2
1 in this article, an electric assisted bicycle as defined in section one
2 hundred two of this chapter shall comply with the following require-
3 ments:
4 (a) Meet the equipment and manufacturing requirements for bicycles
5 adopted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (16 C.F.R. 1512.1, et
6 seq.) or the requirements adopted by the National Highway Traffic Safety
7 Administration (49 C.F.R. 571.1, et seq.) in accordance with the
8 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (15 U.S.C. Sec.
9 1381, et seq.) for motor driven cycles; and
10 (b) Operate in a manner so that the electric motor is disengaged or
11 ceases to function when the brakes are applied, or operate in a manner
12 such that the motor is engaged through a switch or mechanism that, when
13 released, will cause the electric motor to disengage or cease to func-
14 tion.
15 2. No person less than sixteen years of age shall operate an electric
16 assisted bicycle, and no lawful operator shall allow any person less
17 than sixteen years of age to operate such bicycle he or she is operating
18 or riding.
19 3. A lawful operator under eighteen years of age shall not operate an
20 electric assisted bicycle unless he or she is wearing a helmet meeting
21 standards established by the commissioner. For the purposes of this
22 subdivision, wearing a helmet means having a helmet of good fit fastened
23 securely on the head of such wearer with the helmet straps securely
24 fastened.
25 4. (a) Any person who violates the provisions of subdivision two or
26 three of this section shall pay a civil fine not to exceed fifty
27 dollars.
28 (b) The court shall waive any fine for which a person who violates the
29 provisions of subdivision three of this section would be liable if such
30 person supplies the court with proof that between the date of violation
31 and the appearance date for such violation such person purchased or
32 rented a helmet.
33 (c) The court may waive any fine for which a person who violates the
34 provisions of subdivision three of this section would be liable if the
35 court finds that due to reasons of economic hardship such person was
36 unable to purchase a helmet or due to such economic hardship such person
37 was unable to obtain a helmet from a statewide or local helmet distrib-
38 ution program.
39 5. The failure of any person to comply with the provisions of this
40 section shall not in any way bar, preclude or foreclose an action for
41 personal injury or wrongful death by or on behalf of such person, nor in
42 any way diminish or reduce the damages recoverable in any such action.
43 6. A police officer shall only issue a summons for a violation of
44 subdivision two or three of this section by a person less than sixteen
45 years of age to the parent or guardian of such person if the violation
46 by such person occurs in the presence of such person's parent or guardi-
47 an and where such parent or guardian is sixteen years of age or more.
48 Such summons shall only be issued to such parent or guardian, and shall
49 not be issued to the person less than sixteen years of age.
50 § 3. Section 125 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chap-
51 ter 365 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
52 § 125. Motor vehicles. Every vehicle operated or driven upon a public
53 highway which is propelled by any power other than muscular power,
54 except (a) electrically-driven mobility assistance devices operated or
55 driven by a person with a disability, (a-1) electric personal assistive
56 mobility devices operated outside a city with a population of one
S. 1357--B 3
1 million or more, (b) vehicles which run only upon rails or tracks, (c)
2 snowmobiles as defined in article forty-seven of this chapter, [and] (d)
3 all terrain vehicles as defined in article forty-eight-B of this
4 chapter, and (e) electric assisted bicycles as defined in section one
5 hundred two of this article. For the purposes of title four of this
6 chapter, the term motor vehicle shall exclude fire and police vehicles
7 other than ambulances. For the purposes of titles four and five of this
8 chapter the term motor vehicles shall exclude farm type tractors and all
9 terrain type vehicles used exclusively for agricultural purposes, or for
10 snow plowing, other than for hire, farm equipment, including self-pro-
11 pelled machines used exclusively in growing, harvesting or handling farm
12 produce, and self-propelled caterpillar or crawler-type equipment while
13 being operated on the contract site.
14 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
15 have become a law.
