Senate Bill S226

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                   226

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 7, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  KRUGER -- 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  requiring
  all  school  buses  in  operation to be equipped with safety belts and
  requiring use of safety belts on school buses

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 5 of section 383 of the vehi-
cle and traffic law, as added by chapter 747 of the  laws  of  1986,  is
amended to read as follows:
  (b)  Passenger seat safety belts for existing school buses. Any school
bus as defined in section one hundred forty-two of this chapter[,  which
is scheduled for retrofitting pursuant to action by a board of education
or  board  of trustees under section thirty-six hundred thirty-five-a of
the education law] shall be retrofitted so that all passenger  seats  on
such  vehicles  are  equipped  with  seat  safety  belts [and additional
padding of a type and specification as approved by the  commissioner  of
transportation through the adoption of rules and regulations. Such rules
and  regulations  shall provide that when any contactable surface of the
school bus as specified in the Federal Motor  Vehicle  Safety  Standard,
49CFR  Section 571.222 is impacted from any direction at twenty-two feet
per second by the head form, the axial acceleration  at  the  center  of
gravity  of  the  head  form  shall  be  such  that the head form impact
requirement shall not exceed eight hundred. Furthermore, the commission-
er shall have the power through rules and regulations to exempt  certain
design  school buses from retrofitting. In granting such exemptions, the
commissioner shall consider safety factors, structural integrity of  the
school buses and any other items deemed necessary to preserve the safety
and  welfare of the school bus passengers. Provided further however that
the commissioner of transportation shall not authorize  retrofitting  of
any  school  bus  manufactured  prior  to  April first, nineteen hundred
seventy-seven].

              

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD02698-01-9

S. 226                              2

  S 2. Subdivisions 1 and 4 of section 1229-c of the vehicle and traffic
law, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 18 of  the  laws  of  2005  and
subdivision  4 as separately amended by chapters 232 and 509 of the laws
of 2004, are amended to read as follows:
  1.  No  person shall operate a motor vehicle in this state unless: (a)
all back seat passengers of such vehicle  under  the  age  of  four  are
restrained  in  a  specially designed seat which meets the Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards set forth in 49 C.F.R.  571.213  and  which  is
either  permanently  affixed  or  is affixed to such vehicle by a safety
belt, or in the event that the weight of such passenger under the age of
four exceeds forty pounds, such passenger may be restrained  (i)  in  an
appropriate  child  restraint  system  as defined in subdivision four of
this section used with combination lap safety and shoulder harness belts
or (ii) by a lap safety belt in the event such vehicle is  not  equipped
with combination lap safety and shoulder harness belts or all the combi-
nation  lap safety and shoulder harness belts are being used to properly
restrain other passengers who are under the age of sixteen; (b) all back
seat passengers of such vehicle who are age four or older but under  age
seven  (i)  are  restrained  in an appropriate child restraint system as
defined in subdivision four of this section used  with  combination  lap
and  shoulder  harness belts or (ii) are restrained in a lap safety belt
in the event such vehicle is not equipped with  combination  lap  safety
and  shoulder harness belts or all the combination lap safety and shoul-
der harness belts are being used to properly restrain  other  passengers
who  are  under the age of sixteen; or (c) in the case of any other back
seat passenger under the age of sixteen, he or she is  restrained  by  a
safety  belt  approved  by  the  commissioner. IN THE CASE OF SCHOOL BUS
PASSENGERS, ALL BACK SEAT PASSENGERS OF SUCH VEHICLES MUST BE RESTRAINED
BY A SAFETY BELT APPROVED BY THE COMMISSIONER.
  4. For the purposes of this section, the following  terms  shall  have
the  following  meanings:  (a)  "motor  vehicle" shall include all motor
vehicles which are required by section  three  hundred  eighty-three  of
this  chapter  or  regulation or would be required if such motor vehicle
were registered in New York state to be equipped [by a safety  belt  but
shall not include] WITH SAFETY BELTS, INCLUDING those vehicles which are
used  as  school  buses,  as such term is defined in section one hundred
forty-two of this chapter [and], BUT SHALL NOT  INCLUDE  those  vehicles
which  are  authorized  emergency  vehicles,  as such term is defined in
section one hundred one of this chapter;
  (b) "child restraint system" shall mean any device, used  in  conjunc-
tion with safety belts, designed for use in a motor vehicle to restrain,
seat,  or position children and which meets the applicable Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards set forth in 49 C.F.R. 571.213; and
  (c) "appropriate child restraint system" shall mean a child  restraint
system  for which the occupant meets the occupant size and weight recom-
mendations of the manufacturer of such system.
  S 3. Subdivision 11 of section 1229-c of the vehicle and traffic  law,
as added by chapter 653 of the laws of 1989 and as renumbered by chapter
104 of the laws of 1991, is amended to read as follows:
  11.  [Notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  subdivision  four  of this
section, no] NO person shall operate a school bus unless all  passengers
under  the age of four are restrained in a specially designed detachable
or removable seat as required by subdivision one  of  this  section,  or
another restraining device approved by the commissioner.
  S  4.  This  act  shall  take  effect  on  the first of September next
succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.