Senate Bill S5402A

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S5402A

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in
relation to requiring all insurance companies to provide the New York
city department of transportation with information regarding motor
vehicle accidents within such city

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

The purpose of the bill is to require all insurance companies to
provide the New York city department of transportation with insurance
statistic and other information relating to all motor vehicle
accidents occurring on streets and highways within the city of New
York.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill amends the vehicle and traffic law by adding a
new section 607 that will require any insurance company which receives
an accident report pursuant to this chapter, in a city having a
population of one million or more, to provide the department of
transportation with statistics and other relevant information related
to motor vehicle accidents occurring with such city.

Section 2 provides that this act shall take effect immediately;
provided, however, that the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
              

rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its
effective date is authorized to be made and completed on or before
such effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

The New York city department of transportation ("DOT") currently bases
its assessment of traffic control needs upon the standards as set
forth by the federal government. As part of this analysis the DOT
relies upon statistics received from the New York Police Department
("NYPD") regarding the number traffic accidents at any given inter-
section. Given that there continue to be numerous intersections in
obvious need of traffic controls, which have been found by DOT to not
require any control, it is overly apparent that the use of these NYPD
statistics alone is insufficient. Therefore, it would seem reasonable
to require motor vehicle insurance companies to report statistics of
accidents occurring upon city streets and highways to DOT. In this way
DOT will have access to additional, verifiable, information regarding
the number of accidents occurring at any given intersection within the
city.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

None.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately, provided, however, that the
addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary
for the implementation of this act on its effective date is authorized
to be made and completed on or before such effective date.