Thiele, De La Rosa, Johns, Skartados, Fahy, Sepulveda, Arroyo, Colton, Abinanti, Paulin, Epstein
MLTSPNSR
Steck
Add §§102-c & 1238-a, amd §125, V & T L
Defines the term "electric assisted bicycle" for purposes of the applicability of the vehicle and traffic law; requires persons sixteen years of age or older to wear a helmet when operating an electric assisted bicycle.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1018
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GANTT -- read once and referred 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 less than seven hundred fifty watts;
7 have a maximum speed of less than twenty miles per hour on a paved level
8 surface when powered solely by such a motor while ridden by an operator
9 who weighs one hundred seventy pounds; and be incapable of further
10 increasing the speed of the device when human power is used to propel
11 the device at or more than twenty miles per hour.
12 § 2. Section 125 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter
13 365 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
14 § 125. Motor vehicles. Every vehicle operated or driven upon a public
15 highway which is propelled by any power other than muscular power,
16 except (a) electrically-driven mobility assistance devices operated or
17 driven by a person with a disability, (a-1) electric personal assistive
18 mobility devices operated outside a city with a population of one
19 million or more, (b) vehicles which run only upon rails or tracks, (c)
20 snowmobiles as defined in article forty-seven of this chapter, [and] (d)
21 all terrain vehicles as defined in article forty-eight-B of this
22 chapter, and (e) electric assisted bicycles as defined in section one
23 hundred two-c of this article. For the purposes of title four of this
24 chapter, the term motor vehicle shall exclude fire and police vehicles
25 other than ambulances. For the purposes of titles four and five of this
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01388-01-7
A. 1018 2
1 chapter the term motor vehicles shall exclude farm type tractors and all
2 terrain type vehicles used exclusively for agricultural purposes, or for
3 snow plowing, other than for hire, farm equipment, including self-pro-
4 pelled machines used exclusively in growing, harvesting or handling farm
5 produce, and self-propelled caterpillar or crawler-type equipment while
6 being operated on the contract site.
7 § 3. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section
8 1238-a to read as follows:
9 § 1238-a. Additional provisions applicable to electric assisted bicy-
10 cles, operators and passengers. 1. In addition to complying with all of
11 the rules, regulations and provisions applicable to bicycles contained
12 in this article, an electric assisted bicycle as defined in section one
13 hundred two-c of this chapter shall comply with the following require-
14 ments:
15 (a) Meet the equipment and manufacturing requirements for bicycles
16 adopted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (16 C.F.R. 1512.1, et
17 seq.) or the requirements adopted by the National Highway Traffic Safety
18 Administration (49 C.F.R. 571.1, et seq.) in accordance with the
19 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (15 U.S.C. Sec.
20 1381, et seq.) for motor driven cycles; and
21 (b) Operate in a manner so that the electric motor is disengaged or
22 ceases to function when the brakes are applied, or operate in a manner
23 such that the motor is engaged through a switch or mechanism that, when
24 released, will cause the electric motor to disengage or cease to func-
25 tion.
26 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of section twelve hundred thirty-
27 eight of this article, no person less than sixteen years of age shall
28 operate or ride as a passenger upon an electric assisted bicycle, and no
29 person sixteen years of age or older shall allow any person less than
30 sixteen years of age to operate or ride as a passenger upon such bicy-
31 cle.
32 3. No person sixteen years of age or older shall operate or ride as a
33 passenger on an electric assisted bicycle unless such person is wearing
34 a helmet meeting standards established by the commissioner. For the
35 purposes of this subdivision, wearing a helmet means having a helmet of
36 good fit fastened securely on the head of such wearer with the helmet
37 straps securely fastened.
38 4. (a) Any person who violates the provisions of subdivision two or
39 three of this section shall pay a civil fine not to exceed fifty
40 dollars.
41 (b) The court shall waive any fine for which a person who violates the
42 provisions of subdivision three of this section would be liable if such
43 person supplies the court with proof that between the date of violation
44 and the appearance date for such violation such person purchased or
45 rented a helmet.
46 (c) The court may waive any fine for which a person who violates the
47 provisions of subdivision three of this section would be liable if the
48 court finds that due to reasons of economic hardship such person was
49 unable to purchase a helmet or due to such economic hardship such person
50 was unable to obtain a helmet from the statewide in-line skate and bicy-
51 cle helmet distribution program 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.
A. 1018 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.
