Allows for the use of green lights or alternating green and amber lights on municipal vehicles being used for snow removal; relates to the operation of vehicles when approaching such a parked, stopped or standing hazard vehicle.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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3532--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 30, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sens. KENNEDY, GALLIVAN, SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Trans-
portation -- 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 the use of
green lights on municipal hazard vehicles designed for ice and snow
removal and in relation to the operation of vehicles when approaching
such a parked, stopped or standing hazard vehicle
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph 5 of subdivision 41 of section 375 of the vehicle
2 and traffic law, as added by chapter 197 of the laws of 1970, the open-
3 ing paragraph as amended by chapter 349 of the laws of 2004, is amended
4 to read as follows:
5 5. Green light. (a) One green light may be affixed to any motor vehi-
6 cle owned by a member of a volunteer ambulance service, or on a motor
7 vehicle owned by a member of such person's family, or by a business
8 enterprise in which such person has a proprietary interest or by which
9 he is employed, provided such member has been authorized in writing to
10 so affix a green light by the chief officer of such service as desig-
11 nated by the members thereof. Such green light may be displayed exclu-
12 sively by such member of a volunteer ambulance service only when engaged
13 in an emergency operation. The use of green lights on vehicles shall be
14 restricted for use only by a member of a volunteer ambulance service as
15 provided for in this paragraph except as otherwise provided for in
16 subparagraph c of this paragraph.
17 (b) As used in this paragraph volunteer ambulance service means: [a.]
18 (i) a non-profit membership corporation (other than a fire corporation)
19 incorporated under or subject to the provisions of the membership corpo-
20 rations law, or any other law, operating its ambulance or ambulances on
21 a non-profit basis for the convenience of the members thereof and their
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02241-03-1
S. 3532--A 2
1 families or of the community or under a contract with a county, city,
2 town or village pursuant to section one hundred twenty-two-b of the
3 general municipal law; or
4 [b.] (ii) an unincorporated association of persons operating its ambu-
5 lance or ambulances on a non-profit basis for the convenience of the
6 members and their families or of the community.
7 (c)(i) In addition to the amber light authorized to be displayed
8 pursuant to paragraph three of this subdivision, one or more green
9 lights or combination green and amber lights may be affixed to a hazard
10 vehicle designed for ice and snow removal owned and operated by the
11 state or by a county, city, town or village. Such green light or lights
12 may be displayed on a hazard vehicle designed for ice and snow removal
13 owned and operated by the state or by a county, city, town or village
14 when such vehicle is engaged in a hazardous operation and is also
15 displaying the amber light or lights required to be displayed during a
16 hazardous operation pursuant to paragraph three of this subdivision.
17 Nothing contained in this subparagraph shall be deemed to authorize the
18 use of green lights on hazard vehicles designed for ice and snow removal
19 owned and operated by the state or by a county, city, town or village
20 unless such hazard vehicles also display one or more amber lights as
21 otherwise authorized in this subdivision.
22 (ii) The commissioner is authorized to promulgate rules and regu-
23 lations relating to the use, placement, power and display of green
24 lights on a hazard vehicle designed for ice and snow removal owned and
25 operated by the state or by a county, city, town or village.
26 § 2. Subdivision (b) of section 1144-a of the vehicle and traffic law,
27 as amended by section 3 of part C of chapter 58 of the laws of 2020, is
28 amended to read as follows:
29 (b) Every operator of a motor vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid
30 colliding with a hazard vehicle which is parked, stopped or standing on
31 the shoulder or on any portion of such highway and such hazard vehicle
32 is displaying one or more amber lights pursuant to the provisions of
33 paragraph three of subdivision forty-one of section three hundred seven-
34 ty-five of this chapter or, if such hazard vehicle is designed for the
35 towing or pushing of disabled vehicles such hazard vehicle is displaying
36 one or more amber lights or one or more blue or combination blue and
37 amber lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph three or subpara-
38 graph b-1 of paragraph four, as applicable, of subdivision forty-one of
39 section three hundred seventy-five of this chapter or, if such hazard
40 vehicle owned and operated by the state or by a county, city, town or
41 village is designed for the removal of ice and snow such hazard vehicle
42 is displaying one or more amber lights or one or more green or combina-
43 tion green and amber lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph
44 three or subparagraph (c) of paragraph five, as applicable, of subdivi-
45 sion forty-one of section three hundred seventy-five of this chapter.
46 For operators of motor vehicles on parkways or controlled access high-
47 ways, such due care shall include, but not be limited to, moving from a
48 lane which contains or is immediately adjacent to the shoulder where (i)
49 such hazard vehicle displaying one or more amber lights pursuant to the
50 provisions of paragraph three of subdivision forty-one of section three
51 hundred seventy-five of this chapter or (ii) such hazard vehicle
52 designed for the towing or pushing of disabled vehicles displaying one
53 or more amber lights or one or more blue or combination blue and amber
54 lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph three or subparagraph b-1
55 of paragraph four, as applicable, of subdivision forty-one of section
56 three hundred seventy-five of this chapter or (iii) such hazard vehicle
S. 3532--A 3
1 owned and operated by the state or by a county, city, town or village is
2 displaying one or more amber lights or one or more green or combination
3 green and amber lights pursuant to the provisions of paragraph three or
4 subparagraph (c) of paragraph five, as applicable, of subdivision
5 forty-one of section three hundred seventy-five of this chapter, is
6 parked, stopped or standing to another lane, provided that such movement
7 otherwise complies with the requirements of this chapter including, but
8 not limited to, the provisions of sections eleven hundred ten and eleven
9 hundred twenty-eight of this title.
10 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
11 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
12 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
13 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
14 on or before such effective date.