Assembly Bill A10617

                                BILL NUMBER:A10617

TITLE  OF BILL:   An act to amend the penal law, in relation to creating
the offense of vehicular assault in the third degree

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To establish new criminal sanctions  in
order  to  adequately  deter  and  punish motorists who seriously injure
pedestrians as a result of dangerous and unlawful driving.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:  Section 1 of the bill provides that the
act shall be known as "Elle's Law". Section 2 of the  bill  would  amend
the  Penal Law by adding new section 120.03-a, establishing the crime of
Vehicular Assault in the Third  Degree,  a  class  E  felony.  Vehicular
Assault  in  the Third Degree would be committed when a driver seriously
injures a pedestrian and the driver was operating his-or her vehicle  in
violation  of  Title  VII ("rules of the road") of the Vehicle & Traffic
Law ("VTL") thereby causing the injury. Section 3 of the  bill  provides
for an immediate effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:    In 2009, 3-year-old Elle Vandenberghe was crossing the
street in New York City when a motorist who had passed by an open  park-
ing  spot, backed up the wrong way on a one-way street through an inter-
section and struck  Elle  while  she  was  hi  the  crosswalk.  Injuries
sustained from the impact have left Elle with permanent brain damage and
limited  use the right side of her body. Doctors say that Elle may never
walk again. Although the motorist  displayed  a  blatant  disregard  for
              

pedestrian  safety  and  consequently left Elle permanently disabled, he
was issued only a minor traffic infraction, paid a small  fine  and  was
free to get back behind the wheel, subject to no further penalty.

Current law fails to adequately address the significant problem of driv-
ers  who  flagrantly violate and blatantly disregard the VTL's "rules of
the road" by speeding, refusing to obey traffic signals, or  by  commit-
ting  other  "moving"  violations, even when such driving results in the
tragedy of a serious pedestrian injury. Prosecutors are unable to charge
drivers who seriously injure innocent  pedestrians  under  the  existing
Vehicular  Assault  laws,  even  when  the serious injury was the direct
result of the driver's VTL violation, unless it can be proven the driver
was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.   This unfortunate  reality
leaves  our  pedestrians  vulnerable,  offends the public conscience and
invalidates the underlying objective of licensing drivers, and should be
addressed.

In 2008 there were over 15,000 pedestrian/motor vehicle accidents in the
State of New York alone. More than half  of  those  accidents  were  the
direct  fault of the motorist and left nearly 5,000 New Yorkers injured.
2% of the total pedestrian/motor vehicle accidents in 2008 were  alcohol
or  drug related and carried criminal charges under current law, leaving
thousands of New Yorkers and families of individuals who had been  seri-
ously  injured with no legal recourse while allowing thousands of motor-
ists who injured a pedestrian last year due to driver  error  to  pay  a
minor traffic violation and get back behind the wheel.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: None.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Act to take effect immediately.