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Recent Traffic Law Changes for NYC Drivers in Serious Accidents Can Impact Future Civil Litigation

Mayor de Blasio recently instituted changes to the traffic law as part of his “Vision Zero” plan to reduce the number of serious motor vehicle accidents in New York City.

These include the reduction of the speed limit from 30 to 25 mph on all NYC streets that do not have a posted limit and the new “Right of Way” law, which in accidents involving a fatality or serious injury, elevates failure to yield from a traffic infraction to a criminal misdemeanor charge which could carry up to one month of jail time.

NYC Traffic Courts changed their policy for traffic citations issued in accidents involving a fatality or serious injury as well. They no longer permit a guilty plea at a window. Rather, the driver will have to see a Judge, and the Judge will not accept a plea bargain. The traffic citation hearing will be the only case on the Judge’s docket for an hour, the entire police file will come into evidence, and the Judge will request testimony from the parties.

The driver will be found guilty or not guilty. However, it is important to ensure that the driver does not make any statement at this hearing that would be admissible in the civil litigation. 

NY Vehicle and Traffic Law § 155 states, in pertinent part, "A traffic infraction is not a crime and the punishment imposed therefore shall not be deemed for any purpose a penal or criminal punishment and shall not affect or impair the credibility as a witness or otherwise of any person convicted thereof." NY Court have construed this law to prevent the disclosure into evidence of a guilty (or not guilty) conviction at a future civil litigation.

However, as a general rule, in a negligence action involving a vehicle accident in New York, evidence that a party pled guilty to a traffic infraction is admissible on the issue of negligence. The rationale behind this rule is that the guilty plea amounts to an admission by the party that he committed the acts charge, and, as such, should be treated like any other admission.

Similarly, any admission made by a driver taken in the course of his testimony under oath in defense of the traffic infraction will also be admissible in the civil litigation.

Accordingly, we recommend either persuading the insured to hire their own counsel for the traffic ticket, or you may wish to consider having defense counsel present for traffic citation hearings involving serious motor vehicle accident claims.

Further, the NYS Dept. of Motor Vehicles is now quicker to schedule safety hearings, commonly referred to as Fatal Accident Hearings, in all motor vehicle accidents involving fatalities. The scope and purpose of the Hearing is to determine if a driver operated a motor vehicle “in a manner showing a reckless disregard for life or property of others” in violation of NY Vehicle &Traffic Law §510(3)(e) and whether to impose license suspension or revocation. Parties may appear with counsel, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) determines the order of proof, and the rules of evidence are not applicable. All hearings are recorded, and the transcript from the Hearing can be obtained by any party. The Estate will be notified of the Hearing and can attend with counsel. Counsel for the Estate will not be permitted to ask questions but gets an opportunity to hear testimony of the insured driver and any witnesses subpoenaed by the ALJ, as well as the investigating police officer. The ALJ will question the insured driver at length regarding his driving record, training, hours of service, maintenance of the vehicle, drug and alcohol testing, and of course, how the accident occurred. Also, counsel for the driver usually will be given the opportunity to question the police officer.

Just as with a traffic citation hearing, any statement made by the driver while testifying under oath at the Fatal Accident Hearing, could be admissible in a future civil litigation. Moreover, it has been held that the findings of an Administrative Law Judge in a Fatal Accident Hearing could have a collateral estoppel effect on a future civil litigation. See Alamo v. McDaniel, 44 A.D.3d 149, 153 (1st Dep't 2007).

Therefore, in addition to the traffic citation hearings, you may wish to have defense counsel present for NYS DMV Fatal Accident Hearings.

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