Requires the use of seatbelts by volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance service workers; provides exception for vehicles which do not have restraint systems provided by the manufacturer or to volunteer firefighters not seated within the confines of the vehicle or emergency medical personnel providing patient care in the rear compartment of an ambulance.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4187--A
Cal. No. 300
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 5, 2015
___________
Introduced by Sens. FLANAGAN, LATIMER, MARCHIONE, VALESKY -- read twice
and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
on Transportation -- reported favorably from said committee, 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 use of
seatbelts by volunteer firefighters
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 4 of section 1229-c of the
2 vehicle and traffic law, as separately amended by chapters 232 and 509
3 of the laws of 2004, is amended to read as follows:
4 (a) "motor vehicle" shall include all motor vehicles which are
5 required by section three hundred eighty-three of this chapter or regu-
6 lation or would be required if such motor vehicle were registered in New
7 York state to be equipped by a safety belt but shall not include those
8 vehicles which are used as school buses, as such term is defined in
9 section one hundred forty-two of this chapter and those vehicles which
10 are authorized emergency vehicles, as such term is defined in section
11 one hundred one of this chapter, provided, however, that for purposes of
12 this section, "motor vehicle" shall also include fire vehicles owned
13 and/or operated by a fire company as defined by subdivision two of
14 section one hundred of the general municipal law and ambulances owned
15 and/or operated by a voluntary ambulance service as defined by subdivi-
16 sion three of section one hundred of the general municipal law;
17 § 2. Subdivision 3-a of section 1229-c of the vehicle and traffic law,
18 as amended by chapter 403 of the laws of 2009, is renumbered subdivision
19 3-b.
20 § 3. Section 1229-c of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by
21 adding a new subdivision 10-a to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09766-02-5
S. 4187--A 2
1 10-a. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this
2 section, no person sixteen years of age or over shall be a passenger in
3 the rear seat of a fire vehicle owned and/or operated by a fire company
4 as defined by subdivision two of section one hundred of the general
5 municipal law or in the rear seat of an ambulance owned and/or operated
6 by a voluntary ambulance service as defined by subdivision three of
7 section one hundred of the general municipal law unless such person is
8 restrained by a safety belt approved by the commissioner. Provided,
9 however, that the provisions of this subdivision shall not apply: (a) to
10 a passenger in the rear seat of such fire vehicle or ambulance if such
11 seat is not required to be equipped with safety belts pursuant to the
12 provisions of section three hundred eighty-three of this chapter, nor
13 (b) to emergency medical personnel during the course of providing
14 patient care in the rear compartment of an ambulance in accordance with
15 applicable patient care standards, guidelines and protocols established
16 pursuant to article thirty of the public health law.
17 § 4. Subdivision 5 of section 1229-c of the vehicle and traffic law,
18 as amended by chapter 241 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as
19 follows:
20 5. Any person who violates the provisions of subdivision three or
21 ten-a of this section shall be punished by a civil fine of up to fifty
22 dollars. Any person who violates the provisions of subdivision one, two,
23 eleven or thirteen of this section shall be punished by a civil fine of
24 not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars. In any
25 prosecution or proceeding alleging a violation of paragraph (b) of
26 subdivision one or paragraph (c) of subdivision two of this section, it
27 shall be an affirmative defense that the passenger subject to the
28 requirements of such paragraphs was restrained by a safety belt and
29 measures more than four feet nine inches in height and/or weighs more
30 than one hundred pounds.
31 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
32 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
