BILL NUMBER:  S3785

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the
processing of accident reports


 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

To provide more timely information about accident locations, thereby
improving mitigation efforts at dangerous locations to prevent future
accidents.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

The bill would add a new Section 606 to the Vehicle and Traffic Law,
to require the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
to give priority to the processing of reports of accidents involving
serious physical injury or death.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Factors contributing to motor vehicle related deaths and injuries are
generally broken into two categories, the factors that contribute to
the actual cause of the accident, and those that contribute to the
              

severity of the accident. According to testimony submitted at a recent
Assembly joint hearing on "Preventing Deaths and Injuries Caused by
Reckless or Negligent Drivers," while human factors are the major
causes of accidents, the severity of an accident can be attributed to
factors such as speed, angle of collision, rigidity of the object
impacted, the design of the roadside environment, the vehicle itself,
and the location and action of the occupants.

Engineering and the design of the roadside environment can help to
reduce both the probability and the severity of vehicle crashes. But
one of the most important features of a preventive safety program is
data that is timely, thereby allowing for the identification of high
risk or problem areas and more rapid response to addressing factors at
such locations.

This bill is intended to ensure that the data necessary for roadside
accident mitigation efforts is available in a timelier manner by
prioritizing the processing of accident reports involving serious
physical injury or death. Having this data available more quickly
after the occurrence of an accident will allow quicker response for
making any necessary changes at accident locations to avoid or reduce
the severity of potential future crashes.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :

Unknown.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
90 days after enactment.