Odd/unnecessary motor vehicle law bills

[RobbieL2415]

Found some odd bills being circulated around the NY State Assembly:

First one:
IN ASSEMBLY

                                     January 9, 2017
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. PRETLOW -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Transportation

        AN ACT in relation to prohibiting certain trucks from operating  upon  a
          certain portion of the Bronx River Parkway

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of general, special  or
     2  local  law,  rule or regulation to the contrary, it shall be unlawful to
     3  operate any open pickup truck on the  historic  ten  and  one-half  mile
     4  section of the Bronx River Parkway, beginning in the city of Yonkers and
     5  the  village  of  Bronxville where such Parkway diverges from the Sprain
     6  Brook Parkway and extends north along the Bronx River  Parkway  Reserva-
     7  tion  to  the  Kenisco  Dam Plaza in the hamlet of Valhalla, town of Mt.
     8  Pleasant.
     9    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Second one:

  AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to acting as  a
          supervising driver while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as  "Abbagail's
     2  Law".
     3    §  2.  The  vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section
     4  1192-b to read as follows:
     5    § 1192-b. Supervising a driver while under the  influence  of  alcohol
     6  and/or drugs. 1. No person shall act as a supervising driver pursuant to
     7  section  five  hundred one or five hundred one-b of this chapter if such
     8  person would be in violation of subdivision one,  two,  three,  four  or
     9  four-a of section eleven hundred ninety-two of this article if he or she
    10  were operating the vehicle.
    11    Supervising a driver while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs
    12  shall be a class A misdemeanor.
    13    2.  Aggravated supervising a driver while under the influence of alco-
    14  hol and/or drugs. No person shall act as a supervising  driver  pursuant
    15  to  section  five  hundred  one or five hundred one-b of this chapter if
    16  such person would be in violation of subdivision two-a of section eleven
    17  hundred ninety-two of this article if he or she were operating the vehi-
    18  cle.
    19    Aggravated supervising a driver while under the influence  of  alcohol
    20  and/or drugs shall be a class E felony.
    21    §  3.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    22  have become a law.

Third:

anuary 30, 2017
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. ORTIZ -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Transportation

        AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in  relation  to  requiring
          all  new motor vehicles sold in this state to be equipped with a blind
          spot monitoring device

          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 379 to read as follows:
     3    § 379. Blind spot monitoring device. 1. For purposes of this  section,
     4  the following terms shall have the following meanings:
     5    a.  "blind  spot  monitoring  device"  shall  mean a system of digital
     6  cameras or other media recording devices fitted within the  body  or  on
     7  the exterior of a motor vehicle which is capable of monitoring all blind
     8  spots  associated  with such motor vehicle and which generates a warning
     9  to the operator of such motor vehicle, by means of a light, a buzzer  or
    10  both, when any object is detected in such blind spot; and
    11    b.  "blind spot" shall mean an area of the road that cannot be seen by
    12  the operator of a motor vehicle while looking forward or through  either
    13  the rear-view or side mirrors.
    14    2.  Commencing  with  model year two thousand nineteen and every model
    15  year thereafter, every automobile sold in this state shall  be  equipped
    16  with  a blind spot monitoring device. The commissioner is hereby author-
    17  ized and directed to promulgate rules and regulations necessary for  the
    18  implementation of this section.
    19    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.


This is meant to be a light-hearted thread.  Don't get too serious.

[Bruce]

A blind spot monitor is a necessity, especially if a car ever encounters people on foot or on bike. Getting "doored" is a pretty common occurrence in cities with parallel parking and bicycle lanes that aren't given protected status, and can lead to serious or fatal injury.

[SSOWorld]

A blind spot monitor is a necessity, especially if a car ever encounters people on foot or on bike. Getting "doored" is a pretty common occurrence in cities with parallel parking and bicycle lanes that aren't given protected status, and can lead to serious or fatal injury.

Not all blind spot monitors work that way.

[hbelkins]

Why would a pickup truck be prohibited from the Bronx River Parkway? Around here, they are normal passenger vehicles and you're as likely to see someone driving a pickup as a sedan.

[RobbieL2415]

Why would a pickup truck be prohibited from the Bronx River Parkway? Around here, they are normal passenger vehicles and you're as likely to see someone driving a pickup as a sedan.

It says any OPEN pickup truck, so I guess if the bed is covered its OK.  Might be that because the BRP is narrow if something flies out of a pickup there's nowhere for the following vehicle to swerve to avoid it.

[slorydn1]

But, But, But. I already have multiple blind spot monitoring devices: Side view mirrors, a rear view mirror, 2 eyeballs and a neck that allows my head to turn to look. I don't need no stinking electronic nannies to do my job for me, lol.

In all seriousness, though, they wouldn't help in Bruce's example anyway. I haven't seen any that work without the vehicle in gear and ready to roll-and for sure none of them work with the vehicle turned off.

What all vehicles do need, are the same back up alarms that trucks have, to warn pedestrians you are getting ready to back up so steer clear. Because, no matter how much you try to see and avoid everyone, there is always that one moron walking with his eyes glued to his phone/book/Kindle walking oblivious to everything around him, as well as the moron who will just slam it in reverse and zoom back without checking anything. At least the alarm would give peds a fighting chance to survive the encounter.

[GaryV]

...
What all vehicles do need, are the same back up alarms
...
there is always that one moron walking with his eyes glued to his phone/book/Kindle walking oblivious to everything around him,
...

Eh, he's probably got his ear buds in too, so he won't hear the backup alarm.

[jeffandnicole]

A blind spot monitor is a necessity, especially if a car ever encounters people on foot or on bike. Getting "doored" is a pretty common occurrence in cities with parallel parking and bicycle lanes that aren't given protected status, and can lead to serious or fatal injury.

A bicyclist will bike thru the blind spot area in a second. The system wouldn't have time to activate and the person opening the door wouldn't have time to react if they had already started to open the door. And, as said, it won't work on cars that have been turned off, which is nearly everyone who is opening their door.