New York Senate Republicans Approve Road Safety Bills

The New York State Senate is moving along a package of bills to the Assembly that looks to make roads safer.

The Senate Republican majority says bills include calling for a review of distracted and impaired driving among teens, increased penalties for people who pass a stopped school bus multiple times and a measure sponsored by Senator James Seward of Oneonta that creates new criminal penalties for people who stage accidents, intentionally causing a collision to commit insurance fraud.

Another component would create new penalties for motorists whose careless driving injures or kills a construction worker on a road or highway project.  Such incidents could be considered vehicular manslaughter or vehicular assault.

The bills now move on to the New York State Assembly for consideration.