Senate Bill S4427A

                                BILL NUMBER:S4427A

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the transportation law, in relation to
requiring safety reports to potential customers of contract carriers
of passengers by motor vehicle

PURPOSE:

To require contract carriers of passengers by motor vehicle to provide
and explain their most recent federal Safety Status Measurement System
(SMS) scores before entering into a contract with a customer.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends Section 140 of the Transportation Law
by adding a new subdivision 11 to require that no contract carrier of
passengers by motor vehicle shall enter into a contract to provide
services to any customer without first providing:

- a written copy of the carrier's three most recent Safety Status
Measurement System (SMS) scores, and - an explanation of how the score
is calculated and what it means

Section two of the bin provides that this act shall take effect
immediately.

              

EXISTING LAW:

Currently, contract carriers are not required to provide copies of
their safety sataus measurement system scores to potential customers.

JUSTIFICATION:

Customers of motor carrier companies must be able to rely on those
companies to operate safely, but in many instances customers sign
contracts without access to carriers' safety records.

Accidents involving common carriers are not uncommon in New York. On
March 12, 2011; fifteen people died from an accident that occurred
when a driver reportedly flipped his bus while trying to avoid a
swerving tractor-trailer. After further investigation the driver was
found to be operating the vehicle under a fraudulent license with a
history of multiple license suspensions. The carrier, World Wide
Tours, has recently been under investigation for issues involving
fatigued drivers. Two days after the accident 36 buses were stopped at
police checkpoints. Of the buses stopped, 10 drivers had violations so
serious that they were made to stop driving immediately. It is vital
that we put safeguards in place, so that no more lives are lost.

By utilizing the Safety Measurement System (SMS), companies will no
longer be able to hide from their past transgressions. SMS was
developed to track the on-road safety performance of carriers and
drivers to identify candidates for interventions, determine the
specific safety problems that a carrier or driver exhibits, and to
monitor whether safety problems are improving or worsening. The SMS
score is determined by analyzing data to quantify performance in the
following categories: Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving, Driver


Fitness, Controlled Substance/Alcohol Abuse, Vehicle Maintenance,
Cargo-Related Issues, and Crash Indicator. Once a company's score is
calculated, they are placed in a peer group with other companies who
have received similar scores.

Without requiring carriers to provide copies of safety records to
customers, there will be no motivation for carriers to take more
serious actions against drivers with multiple violations. This
legislation would ensure that all potential customers have direct
access to critical information about the safety records of motor
vehicle carriers, and it would provide additional incentive for
carriers to improve their own safety ratings.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2013: S.4427 - Referred to Transportation
2011-2: S.5093 - Referred to Transportation

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect immediately.