Authorizes a photo radar demonstration program in cities of one million or more imposing civil liability upon vehicle owners for maximum speed limit violations; authorizes such program to install a photo radar device on McGuinness Boulevard in the borough of Brooklyn; provides for the repeal of such demonstration program after three years.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2406--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 23, 2015
___________
Introduced by Sen. SQUADRON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation -- recom-
mitted to the Committee on Transportation in accordance with Senate
Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to civil
liability of vehicle owners for maximum speed limit violations and
providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
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 section 1180-d to read as follows:
3 § 1180-d. Owner liability for failure of operator to comply with maxi-
4 mum speed limits. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each
5 city with a population of one million or more is hereby authorized and
6 empowered to adopt and amend a local law or ordinance establishing a
7 demonstration program imposing monetary liability on the owner of a
8 vehicle for failure of an operator thereof to comply with maximum speed
9 limits in such city in accordance with the provisions of this section.
10 Such demonstration program shall empower the city of New York to install
11 and operate a photo radar device on McGuinness Boulevard in the borough
12 of Brooklyn within such city.
13 (b) In any city which has adopted a local law or ordinance pursuant to
14 subdivision (a) of this section, the owner of a vehicle shall be liable
15 for a penalty imposed pursuant to this section if such vehicle was used
16 or operated with the permission of the owner, express or implied, in
17 violation of subdivision (d) of section eleven hundred eighty of this
18 article, and such violation is evidenced by information obtained from a
19 photo radar system; provided however that no owner of a vehicle shall be
20 liable for a penalty imposed pursuant to this section where the operator
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01255-02-6
S. 2406--A 2
1 of such vehicle has been convicted of the underlying violation of subdi-
2 vision (d) of section eleven hundred eighty of this article.
3 (c) For purposes of this section, "owner" shall have the meaning
4 provided in article two-B of this chapter. For purposes of this section,
5 "photo radar system" shall mean a speed camera installed to work in
6 conjunction with Doppler radar and a computer monitoring system which
7 automatically produces two or more photographs, two or more microphoto-
8 graphs, a videotape or other recorded images of each vehicle at the time
9 it is used or operated in violation of subdivision (d) of section eleven
10 hundred eighty of this article.
11 (d) A certificate, sworn to or affirmed by a technician employed by
12 the city in which the charged violation occurred, or a facsimile there-
13 of, based upon inspection of photographs, microphotographs, videotape or
14 other recorded images produced by a photo radar system, shall be prima
15 facie evidence of the facts contained therein. Any photographs, micro-
16 photographs, videotape or other recorded images evidencing such a
17 violation shall be available for inspection in any proceeding to adjudi-
18 cate the liability for such violation pursuant to a local law or ordi-
19 nance adopted pursuant to this section.
20 (e) An owner liable for a violation of subdivision (d) of section
21 eleven hundred eighty of this article pursuant to a local law or ordi-
22 nance adopted pursuant to this section shall be liable for monetary
23 penalties in accordance with a schedule of fines and penalties to be set
24 forth in such local law or ordinance, except that in a city which, by
25 local law, has authorized the adjudication of such owner liability by a
26 parking violations bureau, such schedule shall be promulgated by such
27 bureau. The liability of the owner pursuant to this section shall not
28 exceed one hundred dollars for each violation; provided, however, that
29 such local law or ordinance may provide for an additional penalty not in
30 excess of twenty-five dollars for each violation for the failure to
31 respond to a notice of liability within the prescribed time period.
32 (f) An imposition of liability under a local law or ordinance adopted
33 pursuant to this section shall not be deemed a conviction as an operator
34 and shall not be made part of the operating record of the person upon
35 whom such liability is imposed nor shall it be used for insurance
36 purposes in the provision of motor vehicle insurance coverage.
37 (g) 1. A notice of liability shall be sent by first class mail to each
38 person alleged to be liable as an owner for a violation of subdivision
39 (d) of section eleven hundred eighty of this article pursuant to this
40 section. Personal delivery on the owner shall not be required. A manual
41 or automatic record of mailing prepared in the ordinary course of busi-
42 ness shall be prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein.
43 2. A notice of liability shall contain the name and address of the
44 person alleged to be liable as an owner for a violation of subdivision
45 (d) of section eleven hundred eighty of this article pursuant to this
46 section, the registration number of the vehicle involved in such
47 violation, the location where such violation took place, the date and
48 time of such violation and the identification number of the camera which
49 recorded the violation or other document locator number.
50 3. The notice of liability shall contain information advising the
51 person charged of the manner and the time in which he or she may contest
52 the liability alleged in the notice. Such notice of liability shall also
53 contain a warning to advise the persons charged that failure to contest
54 in the manner and time provided shall be deemed an admission of liabil-
55 ity and that a default judgment may be entered thereon.
S. 2406--A 3
1 4. The notice of liability shall be prepared and mailed by the city
2 having jurisdiction over the intersection where the violation occurred,
3 or by any other entity authorized by the city to prepare and mail such
4 notification of violation.
5 (h) Adjudication of the liability imposed upon owners by this section
6 shall be by a traffic violations bureau established pursuant to section
7 three hundred seventy of the general municipal law or, if there be none,
8 by the court having jurisdiction over traffic infractions, except that
9 any city which has established an administrative tribunal to hear and
10 determine complaints of traffic infractions constituting parking, stand-
11 ing or stopping violations may, by local law, authorize such adjudi-
12 cation by such tribunal.
13 (i) If an owner receives a notice of liability pursuant to this
14 section for any time period during which the vehicle was reported to the
15 police department as having been stolen, it shall be a valid defense to
16 an allegation of liability for a violation of subdivision (d) of section
17 eleven hundred eighty of this article pursuant to this section that the
18 vehicle had been reported to the police as stolen prior to the time the
19 violation occurred and had not been recovered by such time. For purposes
20 of asserting the defense provided by this subdivision it shall be suffi-
21 cient that a certified copy of the police report on the stolen vehicle
22 be sent by first class mail to the traffic violations bureau, court
23 having jurisdiction or parking violations bureau.
24 (j) 1. In a city where the adjudication of liability imposed upon
25 owners pursuant to this section is by a traffic violations bureau or a
26 court having jurisdiction, an owner who is a lessor of a vehicle to
27 which a notice of liability was issued pursuant to subdivision (g) of
28 this section shall not be liable for the violation of subdivision (d) of
29 section eleven hundred eighty of this article, provided that he or she
30 sends to the traffic violations bureau or court having jurisdiction a
31 copy of the rental, lease or other such contract document covering such
32 vehicle on the date of the violation, with the name and address of the
33 lessee clearly legible, within thirty-seven days after receiving notice
34 from the bureau or court of the date and time of such violation, togeth-
35 er with the other information contained in the original notice of
36 liability. Failure to send such information within such thirty-seven day
37 time period shall render the owner liable for the penalty prescribed by
38 this section. Where the lessor complies with the provisions of this
39 paragraph, the lessee of such vehicle on the date of such violation
40 shall be deemed to be the owner of such vehicle for purposes of this
41 section, shall be subject to liability for the violation of subdivision
42 (d) of section eleven hundred eighty of this article pursuant to this
43 section and shall be sent a notice of liability pursuant to subdivision
44 (g) of this section.
45 2. (i) In a city which, by local law, has authorized the adjudication
46 of liability imposed upon owners by this section by a parking violations
47 bureau, an owner who is a lessor of a vehicle to which a notice of
48 liability was issued pursuant to subdivision (g) of this section shall
49 not be liable for the violation of subdivision (d) of section eleven
50 hundred eighty of this article, provided that:
51 (A) prior to the violation, the lessor has filed with the bureau in
52 accordance with the provisions of section two hundred thirty-nine of
53 this chapter; and
54 (B) within thirty-seven days after receiving notice from the bureau of
55 the date and time of a liability, together with the other information
56 contained in the original notice of liability, the lessor submits to the
S. 2406--A 4
1 bureau the correct name and address of the lessee of the vehicle identi-
2 fied in the notice of liability at the time of such violation, together
3 with such other additional information contained in the rental, lease or
4 other contract document, as may be reasonably required by the bureau
5 pursuant to regulations that may be promulgated for such purpose.
6 (ii) Failure to comply with clause (B) of subparagraph (i) of this
7 paragraph shall render the owner liable for the penalty prescribed in
8 this section.
9 (iii) Where the lessor complies with the provisions of this paragraph,
10 the lessee of such vehicle on the date of such violation shall be deemed
11 to be the owner of such vehicle for purposes of this section, shall be
12 subject to liability for such violation pursuant to this section and
13 shall be sent a notice of liability pursuant to subdivision (g) of this
14 section.
15 (k) If the owner liable for a violation of subdivision (d) of section
16 eleven hundred eighty of this article pursuant to this section was not
17 the operator of the vehicle at the time of the violation, the owner may
18 maintain an action for indemnification against the operator.
19 (l) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the liability
20 of an operator of a vehicle for any violation of subdivision (d) of
21 section eleven hundred eighty of this article.
22 (m) The photo radar devices installed and operated pursuant to the
23 demonstration program, established under subdivision (a) of this
24 section, shall be used solely for the purposes of carrying out photo-
25 monitoring for such demonstration program.
26 (n) Any city which adopts a demonstration program pursuant to subdivi-
27 sion (a) of this section shall submit a report on the results of the use
28 of a photo radar system to the governor, the temporary president of the
29 senate and the speaker of the assembly by March first, two thousand
30 seventeen. Such report shall include, but not be limited to:
31 1. a description of the locations where photo radar systems were used;
32 2. the number of violations recorded at each such location and in the
33 aggregate on a daily, weekly and monthly basis;
34 3. the total number of notices of liability issued;
35 4. the number of fines and total amount of fines paid after first
36 notice of liability;
37 5. the number of violations adjudicated and results of such adjudi-
38 cations including breakdowns of dispositions made;
39 6. the total amount of revenue realized by such city; and
40 7. quality of the adjudication process and its results.
41 § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
42 have become a law and shall remain in full force and effect for three
43 years after such effective date when upon such date the provisions of
44 this act shall be deemed repealed; provided, however, any such local
45 laws as may be enacted pursuant to this act shall remain in full force
46 and effect only until the expiration of three years from such effective
47 date.
