BILL NUMBER: S7336
SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the use of
photo speed violation monitoring systems for the purposes of enforcement
of license plate obstruction, concealment, and/or distortion violations
in the city of New York; to amend chapter 189 of the laws of 2013,
amending the vehicle and traffic law and the public officers law relat-
ing to establishing in a city with a population of one million or more a
demonstration program implementing speed violation monitoring systems in
school speed zones by means of photo devices, in relation to making
technical corrections and extending such provisions related thereto; and
to repeal certain provisions of the vehicle and traffic law relating
thereto
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To renew and improve New York City's school zone speed camera program.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sections one through three of this bill makes a number of amendments to
Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) § 1180-b, which is the statute that
enables New York City to operate an automated enforcement program for
speeding in school zones, including:
- Clarifying the daily setup and testing procedures for stationary vs.
mobile cameras
- Allowing NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to upload images of
distorted or obstructed license plates ("ghost plates") to a shared
database that other governmental entities such as MTA Bridges and
Tunnels, the NYS Thruway Authority, the NYPD, and the NYC Sheriff's
Office already use to try to decode scrambled plates and take necessary
enforcement actions. Allowing NYC DOT to upload images of ghost plates
to this database, and to access other agencies' images in turn, is what
will allow DOT to issue the notices of liability for speeding and/or
plate obstruction provided in this bill when they might otherwise be
blocked by a ghost plate.
-Providing that, in the event that a speeding vehicle is also guilty of
a plate obstruction that violates the provisions of subparagraphs (ii),
(ii-a), or (iii) of paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section 402 of
VTL, DOT shall issue an additional notice of liability (NOL) of $250
-Extending the timeline by which DOT must issue an NOL for a ghost plate
obstruction from 14 business days to 45 business days, in order to allow
DOT additional time to run the ghost plate through the shared database
described above
-Making an edit to conform the reporting requirement in VTL §
1180-b(m)(4) and (6) with the reporting requirement in VTL §
1180-b(m)(5)
-Providing that DOT must include data in its annual report on how many
NOLs it issues for ghost plates that violates the provisions of subpara-
graphs (ii), (ii-a), or (iii) of paragraph (b) of subdivision one of
section 402 of VTL
- Providing that DOT must include data in its annual report on how many
times cameras have detected a speeding vehicle but were, unable to issue
an NOL due to an obstructed plate
-Removing an outdated reporting requirement on hours of operation for
the school zones speed camera program
Sections four through 11 make conforming edits to VTL §§ 235, 236, 237,
239, 240, 241, 1809, and 1809-e to fit the new NOLs that would be issued
for speeding vehicles that also have obstructed plates into the existing
adjudication and fines procedures for speeding NOLs.
Sections 12 and 13 repeal subdivision 13 and 12, respectively, of
Section 237 of VTL and Section 14 creates a new subdivision 13 of
Section 237 in VTL. This new subdivision 13 is effectively a conforming
amendment that fits the new NOLs that DOT would issue for speeding vehi-
cles that also have obstructed plates into existing language that
describes the functions, powers, and duties of the Parking Violations
Bureau (in practice, the New York City Department of Finance) as the
adjudicating entity for NOLs.
Section 15 extends the authority for NYC to operate a school zones speed
camera program through July 1st, 2030.
Section 16 sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Speeding motorists continue to put bikers, pedestrians, and other vehi-
cles in unnecessary danger in New York City. The New York City Depart-
ment of Transportation (NYC DOT) reports that the risk of pedestrian
death from being struck by a speeding vehicle increases from 5% at a
speed of 20 miles per hour to 45% at a speed of 30 miles per hour. From
2001 to 2023, more than 200 people were killed in crashes within the
five boroughs where speeding was a major contributing factor, and speed-
ing often goes hand in hand with other reckless behavior like red light
running.
Chapter 189 of the Laws of 2013 established a five-year demonstration
program to allow a small amount of speed safety cameras to be used near
schools in New York City at certain hours of the day. This law was
renewed and expanded most recently with the passage of Chapter 229 of
2022, which eliminated the restriction that only allowed cameras to
operate between the hours of 6:00am and 10:00pm during the week after
DOT reported steep declines in speeding infractions in locations where
speed safety cameras had been installed, benefitting all pedestrians and
other road users in the surrounding area and not simply schoolchildren
in the mornings and afternoons.
In its latest annual report on the program, DOT reports that speeding in
locations with cameras has fallen by a stunning 94% on average, result-
ing in record-low levels of pedestrian deaths. Seventy-four percent of
drivers receive no more than one or two tickets a year, suggesting that
the cameras are effective at deterring repeat behavior, and school zones
with speed cameras in NYC saw 14% fewer injuries and fatalities than
control locations without cameras. In 2023, more than 97% of tickets
were issued to drivers going between 36 and 45 miles per hour, and 50%
of tickets were issued to vehicles with registrations outside of New
York City and not to local residents.
This bill renews New York City's wildly successful school zone speed
camera program while ensuring that it is able to address the growing
problem of license plate fraud, or ghost plates, in which an increasing
number of drivers attempt to cover or deface their license plates in
order to evade automated enforcement. While in 2013, at the start of the
speeding camera program, only ten percent of captured images were
rejected due to an inability to capture a plate number, by 2023, 45% of
images were rejected, with 65% of these rejections due to license plate
fraud. This bill allows NYC DOT to upload images of ghost plates to a
shared database, allowing DOT to unscramble scrambled plates while
incorporating a new $250 fine into the speed camera program for speeding
vehicles that have also been caught with an obscured plate. This bill
will help tamp down on these extreme evaders while giving real teeth to
the increased fines that the legislature recently created for ghost
plate violations under Subpart A of Part WW of Ch. 56 of 2024.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate

Statutes affected:
S7336: 1180-b vehicle and traffic law, 235 vehicle and traffic law, 235(1) vehicle and traffic law, 236 vehicle and traffic law, 236(1) vehicle and traffic law, 239 vehicle and traffic law, 239(1) vehicle and traffic law, 1809 vehicle and traffic law, 1809(1-a) vehicle and traffic law, 1809-e vehicle and traffic law, 1809-e(1) vehicle and traffic law, 237 vehicle and traffic law, 237(13) vehicle and traffic law, 237(12) vehicle and traffic law