STATE OF NEW YORK
__________________________________________________ ______________________
4014
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 7, 2009
___________
Introduced by Sen. MORAHAN -- 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 the defi-
nition of electric assisted bicycle
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new
2 section 102-c to read as follows:
3 § 102-c. Electric assisted bicycle. A bicycle with two or three wheels
4 which has a saddle and fully operative pedals for human propulsion and
5 also has an electric motor. The electric assisted bicycle's electric
6 motor shall: have a power output of not more than one thousand watts; be
7 incapable of propelling the device at a speed of more than twenty miles
8 per hour on level ground; and be incapable of further increasing the
9 speed of the device when human power is used to propel the device at or
10 more than twenty miles per hour.
11 § 2. Section 125 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter
12 365 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
13 § 125. Motor vehicles. Every vehicle operated or driven upon a public
14 highway which is propelled by any power other than muscular power,
15 except (a) electrically-driven mobility assistance devices operated or
16 driven by a person with a disability, (a-1) electric personal assistive
17 mobility devices operated outside a city with a population of one
18 million or more, (b) vehicles which run only upon rails or tracks, (c)
19 snowmobiles as defined in article forty-seven of this chapter, [and] (d)
20 all terrain vehicles as defined in article forty-eight-B of this
21 chapter, and (e) electric assisted bicycles as defined in section one
22 hundred two-c of this article. For the purposes of title four of this
23 chapter, the term motor vehicle shall exclude fire and police vehicles
24 other than ambulances. For the purposes of titles four and five of this
25 chapter the term motor vehicles shall exclude farm type tractors and all
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03706-02-9
S. 4014 2
1 terrain type vehicles used exclusively for agricultural purposes, or for
2 snow plowing, other than for hire, farm equipment, including self-pro-
3 pelled machines used exclusively in growing, harvesting or handling farm
4 produce, and self-propelled caterpillar or crawler-type equipment while
5 being operated on the contract site.
6 § 3. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section
7 1238-a to read as follows:
8 § 1238-a. Additional provisions applicable to electric assisted bicy-
9 cles, operators and passengers. 1. In addition to complying with all of
10 the rules, regulations and provisions applicable to bicycles contained
11 in this article, an electric assisted bicycle as defined in section one
12 hundred two-c of this chapter shall comply with the following require-
13 ments:
14 (a) Meet the equipment and manufacturing requirements for bicycles
15 adopted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (16 C.F.R. 1512.1, et
16 seq.) or the requirements adopted by the National Highway Traffic Safety
17 Administration (49 C.F.R. 571.1, et seq.) in accordance with the
18 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (15 U.S.C. Sec.
19 1381, et seq.) for motor driven cycles; and
20 (b) Operate in a manner so that the electric motor is disengaged or
21 ceases to function when the brakes are applied, or operate in a manner
22 such that the motor is engaged through a switch or mechanism that, when
23 released, will cause the electric motor to disengage or cease to func-
24 tion.
25 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of section twelve hundred thirty-
26 eight of this article, no person less than sixteen years of age shall
27 operate or ride as a passenger upon an electric assisted bicycle, and no
28 person sixteen years of age or older shall allow any person less than
29 sixteen years of age to operate or ride as a passenger upon such bicy-
30 cle.
31 3. No person sixteen years of age or older shall operate or ride as a
32 passenger on an electric assisted bicycle unless such person is wearing
33 a helmet meeting standards established by the commissioner. For the
34 purposes of this subdivision, wearing a helmet means having a helmet of
35 good fit fastened securely on the head of such wearer with the helmet
36 straps securely fastened.
37 4. (a) Any person who violates the provisions of subdivision two or
38 three of this section shall pay a civil fine not to exceed fifty
39 dollars.
40 (b) The court shall waive any fine for which a person who violates the
41 provisions of subdivision three of this section would be liable if such
42 person supplies the court with proof that between the date of violation
43 and the appearance date for such violation such person purchased or
44 rented a helmet.
45 (c) The court may waive any fine for which a person who violates the
46 provisions of subdivision three of this section would be liable if the
47 court finds that due to reasons of economic hardship such person was
48 unable to purchase a helmet or due to such economic hardship such person
49 was unable to obtain a helmet from the statewide in-line skate and bicy-
50 cle helmet distribution program, as established in section two hundred
51 six of the public health law, or a local distribution program.
52 5. The failure of any person to comply with the provisions of this
53 section shall not constitute contributory negligence or assumption of
54 risk, and shall not in any way bar, preclude or foreclose an action for
55 personal injury or wrongful death by or on behalf of such person, nor in
56 any way diminish or reduce the damages recoverable in any such action.
S. 4014 3
1 6. A police officer shall only issue a summons for a violation of
2 subdivision two or three of this section by a person less than sixteen
3 years of age to the parent or guardian of such person if the violation
4 by such person occurs in the presence of such person's parent or guardi-
5 an and where such parent or guardian is eighteen years of age or more.
6 Such summons shall only be issued to such parent or guardian, and shall
7 not be issued to the person less than sixteen years of age.
8 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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S4014 - NY Senate Open Legislation - MORAHAN - Defines the term electric assisted bicycle - New York State Senate
