NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1115
SPONSOR: Rosenthal L TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring
child restraint systems to be equipped with sensor technology to alert
drivers of the presence of a child
PURPOSE:
This legislation will protect children by expanding the use of sensors
with child car restraint systems.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends the vehicle and traffic law by adding a new section
1229-e.
Section two sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In July of 2019, a pair of one-year-old twins tragically died after
being forgotten in the back seat of a hot car. Their father reported to
work, not realizing he had not dropped the children off at daycare, only
realizing his mistake upon leaving work later that day. Horrendous
accidents such as this one are unfortunately not uncommon, with an aver-
age of 38 deaths occurring nationwide under these circumstances each
year.
These memory lapses may occur with anyone but can become even more
common when a person drives the same route each day, allowing their mind
to go on "autopilot" and forget stops along the way. Increased stress
and a lack of sleep may also contribute to a person forgetting to
complete certain tasks, no matter how important they may be. Technology
currently exists to alert drivers to the presence of a child in the
backseat of their car to help prevent such tragedies.
This legislation will require all car seats sold by retailers in New
York State to come with sensor technology to alert the driver to a child
in the car seat once the ignition has been turned off.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: A.3454 - Referred to Transportation
2019-20: A.8592 - Referred to Transportation
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1115
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 13, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring
child restraint systems to be equipped with sensor technology to alert
drivers of the presence of a child
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 1229-e to read as follows:
3 § 1229-e. Child car restraint system sensor. 1. For purposes of this
4 section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "Child restraint system" shall have the same meaning as defined in
6 paragraph (b) of subdivision four of section twelve hundred
7 twenty-nine-c of this article.
8 (b) "Motor vehicle" shall have the same meaning as defined in para-
9 graph (a) of subdivision four of section twelve hundred twenty-nine-c of
10 this article.
11 2. (a) All child restraint systems sold by or through any retail busi-
12 ness entity shall be required to be fixed with sensor technology which
13 shall monitor the presence of a child in such child restraint systems.
14 (b) Such sensor technology shall work in conjunction with a receiver
15 connected to a mobile application accessible by the driver or owner of
16 the motor vehicle through a mobile device or via a motor vehicle's diag-
17 nostics port to notify the driver to the presence of a child secured in
18 the child restraint system. When a child is secured in the child
19 restraint system, the sensor technology shall notify the driver of the
20 motor vehicle of the child's presence through an alert:
21 (i) upon turning off the ignition at the end of a trip; or
22 (ii) if the child restraint system is not properly secured during a
23 trip.
24 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01251-01-3
