Senate Bill S2135

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S2135

SPONSOR: LIU
 
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 OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

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 dismiss-
al 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 addi-
tional 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 IS 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, North-
ern 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 cross-
ing guard on each side of these large capacity roadways.

In light of a number of preventable traffic-related deaths to school
children 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 thorough-
fares with six or more lanes with no school crossing guards on the oppo-
site corners of the street during school hours. This bill can and will
prevent some of these tragic accidents.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

01/05/22 REFERRED TO CITIES 1

 
FISCAL IMPACT:

None to the state.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.