A02180 Summary:
BILL NO A02180

SAME AS No same as

SPONSOR O’Mara

COSPNSR

MLTSPNSR

Amd S600, V & T L

Enacts “Steven’s Law”; requires passengers of motor vehicles involved in
personal injury accidents to report such accident when the operator of
such
motor vehicle does not stop or provide information to the injured party.

A02180 Actions:
BILL NO A02180

01/15/2009 referred to transportation

A02180 Votes:

A02180 Memo:
BILL NUMBER: A2180

TITLE OF BILL : An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in
relation to enacting “Steven’s Law” to require the reporting of
personal injury motor vehicle accidents by passengers

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL : To require a passenger of a motor
vehicle involved in a personal injury accident to report the accident
when he or she knows the operator of the motor vehicle did not stop
and provide information to either the injured party and/or to a police
officer.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS : Section 1 amends section 600 of the
vehicle and traffic law to add a new subdivision 3 that provides that
a passenger, knowing or having cause to know that personal injury has
been caused to another person due to an incident involving the motor
vehicle of which they are a passenger, and where the operator of said
vehicle has not stopped an provided information to the injured party
and/or a police officer, the passenger shall report the incident as
soon as physically able to the nearest police station or judicial
officer.

Failure to do so shall constitute a class B misdemeanor and is
punishable by a fine of not less than $250 or more than $500 in
addition to any other penalties provided by law.

Section 2 provides that this act shall take effect on the first of
November after the date on which it shall have become law.

JUSTIFICATION : On March 22, 2007, 17-year old Steven Bacon was the
victim of a hit-and-run accident in the town of Ashland. His body
wasn’t discovered until the next day. The driver of the vehicle turned
himself into police the next day but only after the driver of another
vehicle – a friend of the driver – who witnessed the incident,
insisted that he turn himself in. Also in the vehicle that killed
Steven Bacon was a passenger who was also a witness to the incident.

Although no one can know for certain whether Steven Bacon would’ve
survived his injuries had his body been discovered sooner, there is no
doubt that there were people with knowledge that something horrible
had happened that night whose failure to come forward resulted in
Steven Bacon’s body laying in the culvert on the shoulder of the road
for well over 12 hours.

The driver was charged, in addition to manslaughter in the second
degree, with leaving the scene of a personal injury accident in
violation of vehicle and traffic law section 600(2). However, his
passenger was under no legal obligation to report the accident even
though he was fully aware that a body flew over the car in which he
was riding, and also aware that the driver neither stopped nor
reported the incident. This legislation creates that legal obligation
for a passenger of a vehicle to report the incident if the driver does
not.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY : 2008: referred to transportation

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS : None

EFFECTIVE DATE : The first of November after the date on which it
shall have become law.