NY State Senate Bill 2017-S8467

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Transportation Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
May 08, 2018	referred to transportation

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A10878
Current Committee:: Senate Transportation
Law Section:: Vehicle and Traffic Law
Laws Affected:: Add §603-c, V & T L

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires the police or district attorney to request the cell phone records of drivers involved in car accidents that result in a fatality or serious physical injury.

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8467

SPONSOR: MURPHY
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in
relation to requesting the cell phone records of drivers involved in car
accidents

 
PURPOSE:

To set forth procedures for law enforcement to request certain cell
phone records of drivers involved in car crashes involving a fatality or
serious physical injury.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section One - The Vehicle and Traffic Law is amended by adding a new
Section 603-c to require police or the district attorney to request the
cell phone records of both drivers involved in a crash when a fatality
or serious physical injury to a person occurs. Such accident must be
either discovered by a police officer, or reported to a police officer
within five days of occurrence. This shall assist law enforcement as an

investigatory tool in ascertaining any possible reasons for such crash
by indicating the cell phone usage of each driver at the time of the
accident.

Section Two - Sets forth an immediate effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Distracted driving claimed 3,450 lives in the United States during 2016,
according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Further, motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers injured
391,000 people in 2015, according to NHTSA data. In New York State,
distracted driving took the lives of 127 people and injured another
26,155 people in 2016. In total, police across the State reported 51,630
vehicle crashes due to driver distraction in 2016, according to the
Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research.

When a driver talks, texts or otherwise uses his or her cellphone while
driving this takes the driver's attention away from appropriately think-
ing about the driving task and watching the road and surrounding envi-
ronment, thereby putting every person on or near the road in danger.
This bill would assist investigations into the causes and/or contribut-
ing factors to vehicle crashes in New York State and require law
enforcement to check into the phone usage of both drivers at the time of
the accident with the data preserved by the cell phone companies. Not
only is this information a vital investigatory tool in the case of a
building a prosecutorial case but it will also allow families of acci-
dent victims the possibility of more information as to what led to such
crash.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8467
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                May 8, 2018
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  MURPHY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
 
 AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation  to  requesting
   the cell phone records of drivers involved in car accidents
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is  amended  by  adding  a  new
 section 603-c to read as follows:
   §  603-C. ACCIDENTS; POLICE OR DISTRICT ATTORNEY REQUEST OF CELL PHONE
 RECORDS. 1. IN ADDITION TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION SIX HUNDRED THREE
 OF THIS ARTICLE, WHENEVER A MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT RESULTS IN A  SERIOUS
 PHYSICAL  INJURY  OR  DEATH  TO  A  PERSON,  AND SUCH ACCIDENT EITHER IS
 DISCOVERED BY A POLICE OFFICER, OR REPORTED TO A POLICE  OFFICER  WITHIN
 FIVE  DAYS  AFTER  SUCH  ACCIDENT  OCCURRED,  THE POLICE OR THE DISTRICT
 ATTORNEY OF THE COUNTY WHERE THE ACCIDENT  OCCURRED  SHALL  REQUEST  THE
 CELL PHONE RECORDS OF ALL DRIVERS INVOLVED WITH SUCH ACCIDENT.
   2.  THE PURPOSE OF REQUESTING CELL PHONE RECORDS AS REQUIRED BY SUBDI-
 VISION ONE OF THIS SECTION SHALL BE TO ASSIST  WITH  ANY  INVESTIGATIONS
 MADE  PURSUANT  TO  SECTION  SIX HUNDRED THREE OR SIX HUNDRED THREE-A OF
 THIS ARTICLE. SUCH RECORDS SHALL INDICATE THE CELL PHONE USAGE  OF  EACH
 DRIVER AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT.
   3.  FOR  PURPOSES  OF THIS SECTION, THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL HAVE THE
 FOLLOWING MEANINGS:
   (A) "SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY" SHALL HAVE THE SAME MEANING AS SUCH TERM
 IS DEFINED IN SECTION 10.00 OF THE PENAL LAW; AND
   (B) "CELL PHONE USAGE" SHALL MEAN HOLDING A CELL PHONE WHILE  VIEWING,
 TAKING  OR  TRANSMITTING  IMAGES,  PLAYING GAMES, OR, FOR THE PURPOSE OF
 PRESENT OR FUTURE COMMUNICATION:   PERFORMING A COMMAND  OR  REQUEST  TO
 ACCESS  A  WORLD  WIDE  WEB  PAGE, COMPOSING, SENDING, READING, VIEWING,
 ACCESSING, BROWSING, TRANSMITTING, SAVING  OR  RETRIEVING  E-MAIL,  TEXT
 MESSAGES, INSTANT MESSAGES, OR OTHER ELECTRONIC DATA.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD15740-01-8

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S8467

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Transportation Committee

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Details

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S8467

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Terrence Murphy

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Transportation Committee

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Details

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2017-S8467 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments