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Rockland County Traffic Defense >  Haverstraw Town Court

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* § 1111-a. Owner liability for failure of operator to comply with
traffic-control indications. (a) 1. Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, each city with a population of one million or more is hereby
authorized and empowered to adopt and amend a local law or ordinance
establishing a demonstration program imposing monetary liability on the
owner of a vehicle for failure of an operator thereof to comply with
traffic-control indications in such city in accordance with the
provisions of this section. Such demonstration program shall empower a
city to install and operate traffic-control signal photo
violation-monitoring devices at no more than one hundred fifty
intersections within such city at any one time.
2. Such demonstration program shall utilize necessary technologies to
ensure, to the extent practicable, that photographs produced by such
traffic-control signal photo violation-monitoring systems shall not
include images that identify the driver, the passengers, or the contents
of the vehicle. Provided, however, that no notice of liability issued
pursuant to this section shall be dismissed solely because a photograph
or photographs allow for the identification of the contents of a
vehicle, provided that such city has made a reasonable effort to comply
with the provisions of this paragraph.
(b) In any city which has adopted a local law or ordinance pursuant to
subdivision (a) of this section, the owner of a vehicle shall be liable
for a penalty imposed pursuant to this section if such vehicle was used
or operated with the permission of the owner, express or implied, in
violation of subdivision (d) of section eleven hundred eleven of this
article, and such violation is evidenced by information obtained from a
traffic-control signal photo violation-monitoring system; provided
however that no owner of a vehicle shall be liable for a penalty imposed
pursuant to this section where the operator of such vehicle has been
convicted of the underlying violation of subdivision (d) of section
eleven hundred eleven of this article.
(c) For purposes of this section, "owner" shall have the meaning
provided in article two-B of this chapter. For purposes of this section,
"traffic-control signal photo violation-monitoring system" shall mean a
vehicle sensor installed to work in conjunction with a traffic-control
signal which automatically produces two or more photographs, two or more
microphotographs, a videotape or other recorded images of each vehicle
at the time it is used or operated in violation of subdivision (d) of
section eleven hundred eleven of this article.
(d) A certificate, sworn to or affirmed by a technician employed by
the city in which the charged violation occurred, or a facsimile
thereof, based upon inspection of photographs, microphotographs,
videotape or other recorded images produced by a traffic-control signal
photo violation-monitoring system, shall be prima facie evidence of the
facts contained therein. Any photographs, microphotographs, videotape or
other recorded images evidencing such a violation shall be available for
inspection in any proceeding to adjudicate the liability for such
violation pursuant to a local law or ordinance adopted pursuant to this
section.
(e) An owner liable for a violation of subdivision (d) of section
eleven hundred eleven of this article pursuant to a local law or
ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall be liable for monetary
penalties in accordance with a schedule of fines and penalties to be set
forth in such local law or ordinance, except that in a city which, by
local law, has authorized the adjudication of such owner liability by a
parking violations bureau, such schedule shall be promulgated by such
bureau. The liability of the owner pursuant to this section shall not
exceed fifty dollars for each violation; provided, however, that such

local law or ordinance may provide for an additional penalty not in
excess of twenty-five dollars for each violation for the failure to
respond to a notice of liability within the prescribed time period.
(f) An imposition of liability under a local law or ordinance adopted
pursuant to this section shall not be deemed a conviction as an operator
and shall not be made part of the operating record of the person upon
whom such liability is imposed nor shall it be used for insurance
purposes in the provision of motor vehicle insurance coverage.
(g) 1. A notice of liability shall be sent by first class mail to each
person alleged to be liable as an owner for a violation of subdivision
(d) of section eleven hundred eleven of this article pursuant to this
section. Personal delivery on the owner shall not be required. A manual
or automatic record of mailing prepared in the ordinary course of
business shall be prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein.
2. A notice of liability shall contain the name and address of the
person alleged to be liable as an owner for a violation of subdivision
(d) of section eleven hundred eleven of this article pursuant to this
section, the registration number of the vehicle involved in such
violation, the location where such violation took place, the date and
time of such violation and the identification number of the camera which
recorded the violation or other document locator number.
3. The notice of liability shall contain information advising the
person charged of the manner and the time in which he may contest the
liability alleged in the notice. Such notice of liability shall also
contain a warning to advise the persons charged that failure to contest
in the manner and time provided shall be deemed an admission of
liability and that a default judgment may be entered thereon.
4. The notice of liability shall be prepared and mailed by the city
having jurisdiction over the intersection where the violation occurred,
or by any other entity authorized by the city to prepare and mail such
notification of violation.
(h) Adjudication of the liability imposed upon owners by this section
shall be by a traffic violations bureau established pursuant to section
three hundred seventy of the general municipal law or, if there be none,
by the court having jurisdiction over traffic infractions, except that
any city which has established an administrative tribunal to hear and
determine complaints of traffic infractions constituting parking,
standing or stopping violations may, by local law, authorize such
adjudication by such tribunal.
(i) If an owner receives a notice of liability pursuant to this
section for any time period during which the vehicle was reported to the
police department as having been stolen, it shall be a valid defense to
an allegation of liability for a violation of subdivision (d) of section
eleven hundred eleven of this article pursuant to this section that the
vehicle had been reported to the police as stolen prior to the time the
violation occurred and had not been recovered by such time. For purposes
of asserting the defense provided by this subdivision it shall be
sufficient that a certified copy of the police report on the stolen
vehicle be sent by first class mail to the traffic violations bureau,
court having jurisdiction or parking violations bureau.
(j) 1. In a city where the adjudication of liability imposed upon
owners pursuant to this section is by a traffic violations bureau or a
court having jurisdiction, an owner who is a lessor of a vehicle to
which a notice of liability was issued pursuant to subdivision (g) of
this section shall not be liable for the violation of subdivision (d) of
section eleven hundred eleven of this article, provided that he or she
sends to the traffic violations bureau or court having jurisdiction a
copy of the rental, lease or other such contract document covering such

vehicle on the date of the violation, with the name and address of the
lessee clearly legible, within thirty-seven days after receiving notice
from the bureau or court of the date and time of such violation,
together with the other information contained in the original notice of
liability. Failure to send such information within such thirty-seven day
time period shall render the owner liable for the penalty prescribed by
this section. Where the lessor complies with the provisions of this
paragraph, the lessee of such vehicle on the date of such violation
shall be deemed to be the owner of such vehicle for purposes of this
section, shall be subject to liability for the violation of subdivision
(d) of section eleven hundred eleven of this article pursuant to this
section and shall be sent a notice of liability pursuant to subdivision
(g) of this section.
2. (i) In a city which, by local law, has authorized the adjudication
of liability imposed upon owners by this section by a parking violations
bureau, an owner who is a lessor of a vehicle to which a notice of
liability was issued pursuant to subdivision (g) of this section shall
not be liable for the violation of subdivision (d) of section eleven
hundred eleven of this article, provided that:
(A) prior to the violation, the lessor has filed with the bureau in
accordance with the provisions of section two hundred thirty-nine of
this chapter; and
(B) within thirty-seven days after receiving notice from the bureau of
the date and time of a liability, together with the other information
contained in the original notice of liability, the lessor submits to the
bureau the correct name and address of the lessee of the vehicle
identified in the notice of liability at the time of such violation,
together with such other additional information contained in the rental,
lease or other contract document, as may be reasonably required by the
bureau pursuant to regulations that may be promulgated for such purpose.
(ii) Failure to comply with clause (B) of subparagraph (i) of this
paragraph shall render the owner liable for the penalty prescribed in
this section.
(iii) Where the lessor complies with the provisions of this paragraph,
the lessee of such vehicle on the date of such violation shall be deemed
to be the owner of such vehicle for purposes of this section, shall be
subject to liability for such violation pursuant to this section and
shall be sent a notice of liability pursuant to subdivision (g) of this
section.
(k) 1. If the owner liable for a violation of subdivision (d) of
section eleven hundred eleven of this article pursuant to this section
was not the operator of the vehicle at the time of the violation, the
owner may maintain an action for indemnification against the operator.
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no owner of a
vehicle shall be subject to a monetary fine imposed pursuant to this
section if the operator of such vehicle was operating such vehicle
without the consent of the owner at the time such operator failed to
obey a traffic-control indication. For purposes of this subdivision
there shall be a presumption that the operator of such vehicle was
operating such vehicle with the consent of the owner at the time such
operator failed to obey a traffic-control indication.
(l) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the liability
of an operator of a vehicle for any violation of subdivision (d) of
section eleven hundred eleven of this article.
(m) In any city which adopts a demonstration program pursuant to
subdivision (a) of this section, such city shall submit an annual report
on the results of the use of a traffic-control signal photo
violation-monitoring system to the governor, the temporary president of

the senate and the speaker of the assembly on or before June first, two
thousand seven and on the same date in each succeeding year in which the
demonstration program is operable. Such report shall include, but not be
limited to:
1. a description of the locations where traffic-control signal photo
violation-monitoring systems were used;
2. within each borough of such city, the aggregate number, type and
severity of accidents reported at intersections where a traffic-control
signal photo violation-monitoring system is used for the year preceding
the installation of such system, to the extent the information is
maintained by the department of motor vehicles of this state;
3. within each borough of such city, the aggregate number, type and
severity of accidents reported at intersections where a traffic-control
signal photo violation-monitoring system is used, to the extent the
information is maintained by the department of motor vehicles of this
state;
4. the number of violations recorded at each intersection where a
traffic-control signal photo violation-monitoring system is used and in
the aggregate on a daily, weekly and monthly basis;
5. the total number of notices of liability issued for violations
recorded by such systems;
6. the number of fines and total amount of fines paid after first
notice of liability issued for violations recorded by such systems;
7. the number of violations adjudicated and results of such
adjudications including breakdowns of dispositions made for violations
recorded by such systems;
8. the total amount of revenue realized by such city from such
adjudications;
9. expenses incurred by such city in connection with the program; and
10. quality of the adjudication process and its results.
(n) It shall be a defense to any prosecution for a violation of
subdivision (d) of section eleven hundred eleven of this article
pursuant to a local law or ordinance adopted pursuant to this section
that such traffic-control indications were malfunctioning at the time of
the alleged violation.
* NB Repealed December 1, 2014