BILL NUMBER:  S359

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to the placement of school crossing guards

 PURPOSE :

The purpose of this bill is to require the City of New York to place
school crossing guards on each and every corner of a city block
containing a public or private school serving students enrolled in any
grade between kindergarten through eight. Additionally, if the said
school borders a street with four or more traffic lanes, the City of
New York shall be required to place additional school crossing guards
on the opposite corners of these busy thoroughfares during arrival and
dismissal times as set forth by the school.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

This bill will amend Section 14-118 of the administrative code of the
City of New York by adding two new subdivisions to Section 1, "d"
requiring a school crossing guard on each and every corner of every
city block containing a public or private school with students
enrolled in any grades between kindergarten through eight and "e"
requiring an additional school crossing guard be placed at said school
              

on the opposite side of any street corner with four or more traffic
lanes during arrival and dismissal times.

 JUSTIFICATION :

On December 20, 2013, Noshat Nahian, an 8 year old student was struck
and killed on 615' Street and Northern Boulevard while crossing the
street on his way to PS 152. There was no school crossing guard
assigned to the corner. In December 2012, Miguel Torres, an eleven
year old student at PS 145 was struck and killed at 80th Street and
Northern Boulevard while crossing the street on his way to school.
There was one school crossing guard on the school side of the street,
however, Northern Boulevard is seven lanes wide and the student and
crossing guard could not interact. No young student should have to
cross a seven lane roadway without proper supervision.

Every school, public or private, that has students enrolled in any
grade between kindergarten through eight should have a school crossing
guard at every corner of every city block containing the said school
for the purposes of assisting in the safe passage of students across
streets immediately surrounding the school during arrival and
dismissal times. Additionally, any street that has four or more
traffic lanes immediately bordering a school should be required to
have at least one school crossing guard on each side of these large
capacity roadways.

In light of a number of preventable traffic related deaths to
schoolchildren in my district and a total of 173 pedestrians killed
throughout the City of New York in 2013, the need to ensure the safety
of our students is more pressing than ever. In the first two weeks of
this year alone, traffic accidents killed eleven people. In several
instances of school related traffic accidents, children were crossing
busy thoroughfares with six or more lanes with no school crossing
guards on the opposite corners of the street during school hours.
This bill can and will prevent some of these tragic accidents.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015-2016 S6927
A.8604/S.6591 of 2014.
 FISCAL IMPACT :

None to the State.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.