Protecting Roadside First Responders Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1386 To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for efforts relating to Move Over laws, to amend title 49, United States Code, to require crash avoidance technology on motor vehicles, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 27, 2021 Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for efforts relating to Move Over laws, to amend title 49, United States Code, to require crash avoidance technology on motor vehicles, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Roadside 4 First Responders Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1386 IS SEC. 2. MOVE OVER LAWS. 1 (a) HIGHWAY SAFETY PROGRAMS.—Section 402 of 2 title 23, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 3 end the following: 4 ‘‘(o) MOVE OVER LAWS.— 5 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF MOVE OVER LAW.—In this 6 subsection, the term ‘Move Over law’ means a State 7 law intended to ensure first responder and motorist 8 safety by requiring motorists to change lanes or slow 9 down when approaching an authorized emergency 10 vehicle that is parked or otherwise stopped on a 11 roadway. 12 ‘‘(2) COMPLIANCE WITH MOVE OVER LAWS.— 13 For each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, subject 14 to the requirements of the highway safety plan of a 15 State under subsection (k), as approved by the Sec- 16 retary, a State may use a portion of the amounts re- 17 ceived under this section to implement statewide ef- 18 forts to improve compliance with Move Over laws in 19 the State. 20 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—Statewide efforts under 21 paragraph (2) may include— 22 ‘‘(A) purchasing and deploying digital alert 23 technology that is capable of sending alerts to 24 civilian drivers to protect first responders on 25 the scene and en route; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1386 IS ‘‘(B) educating the public about Move Over 1 laws in the State through public information 2 campaigns.’’. 3 (b) STUDY ON MOVE OVER LAW PUBLIC AWARE- 4 NESS CAMPAIGNS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transpor- 6 tation shall seek to enter into an agreement with the 7 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and 8 Medicine under which the National Academies of 9 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine shall carry out 10 a study on the efficacy of Move Over laws (as de- 11 fined in section 402(o) of title 23, United States 12 Code) and related public awareness campaigns. 13 (2) REPORT.—On the completion of the report 14 under paragraph (1), the National Academies of 15 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine shall submit to 16 the Secretary of Transportation and to Congress 17 and make publicly available a report on— 18 (A) the findings of the study; and 19 (B) any recommendations to improve pub- 20 lic awareness campaigns related to the laws de- 21 scribed in that paragraph. 22 (c) NATIONAL PRIORITY SAFETY PROGRAMS.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 405 of title 23, 24 United States Code, is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1386 IS (A) in subsection (a)— 1 (i) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘5’’ 2 and inserting ‘‘4’’; 3 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (8) 4 through (10) as paragraphs (9) through 5 (11), respectively; and 6 (iii) by inserting after paragraph (7) 7 the following: 8 ‘‘(8) PREVENTING ROADSIDE DEATHS.—In each 9 fiscal year, 1 percent of the funds provided under 10 this section shall be allocated among States that 11 meet requirements with respect to preventing road- 12 side deaths (as described in subsection (i)).’’; and 13 (B) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(i) PREVENTING ROADSIDE DEATHS.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 16 grants to States to prevent death and injury from 17 crashes involving vehicles striking vehicles and indi- 18 viduals stopped at the roadside. 19 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 20 the cost of carrying out an activity funded through 21 a grant under this subsection may not exceed 80 22 percent. 23 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY.—A State shall receive a 24 grant under this subsection in a fiscal year if the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1386 IS State submits to the Secretary a plan that describes 1 how the State will use funds provided under the 2 grant, in accordance with paragraph (4). 3 ‘‘(4) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts received by a 4 State under this subsection shall be used by the 5 State— 6 ‘‘(A) to purchase and deploy digital alert 7 technology (as described in section 4(b) of the 8 Protecting Roadside First Responders Act); 9 ‘‘(B) to educate the public about the safety 10 of vehicles and individuals stopped at the road- 11 side in the State through public information 12 campaigns for the purpose of reducing roadside 13 deaths and injury; 14 ‘‘(C) for law enforcement costs related to 15 enforcing State laws to protect the safety of ve- 16 hicles and individuals stopped at the roadside; 17 and 18 ‘‘(D) for programs to identify, collect, and 19 report data to State and local government agen- 20 cies relating to crashes involving vehicles and 21 individuals stopped at the roadside. 22 ‘‘(5) GRANT AMOUNT.—The allocation of grant 23 funds to a State under this subsection for a fiscal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1386 IS year shall be in proportion to the apportionment of 1 that State under section 402 for fiscal year 2009.’’. 2 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS RELATING TO FUND- 3 ING.—It is the sense of Congress that the national 4 priority program for preventing roadside deaths 5 under subsections (a)(8) and (i) of section 405 of 6 title 23, United States Code, should receive new and 7 additional funding in comparison to the funding level 8 for all national priority programs under section 405 9 of title 23, United States Code, for the first fiscal 10 year beginning after the date of enactment of this 11 Act. 12 SEC. 3. CRASH AVOIDANCE TECHNOLOGY. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 301 of 14 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 15 end the following: 16 ‘‘§ 30129. Crash avoidance technology 17 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 18 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall issue 19 a final rule to establish minimum performance standards 20 with respect to crash avoidance technology and to require 21 that passenger motor vehicles (as defined in section 22 32101) and commercial motor vehicles (as defined in sec- 23 tion 31101) manufactured for sale in the United States 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1386 IS on or after the compliance date under subsection (b) are 1 equipped with— 2 ‘‘(1) a forward collision warning and automatic 3 emergency braking system that— 4 ‘‘(A) alerts the driver if the distance to a 5 vehicle ahead or an object or person, including 6 a pedestrian, a bicyclist, and any other road 7 user, in the path of travel ahead is closing too 8 quickly and a collision is imminent; and 9 ‘‘(B) automatically applies the brakes if 10 the driver fails to do so; 11 ‘‘(2) a lane departure warning and lane keeping 12 assist system that— 13 ‘‘(A) warns the driver to maintain the lane 14 of travel; and 15 ‘‘(B) corrects the course of travel if the 16 driver fails to do so; and 17 ‘‘(3) a blind zone detection system that— 18 ‘‘(A) warns the driver if another vehicle, 19 an object, or a person, including a pedestrian, 20 a bicyclist, and any other road user, is in the 21 blind zone of the vehicle; and 22 ‘‘(B) provides an additional alert if the 23 driver attempts to change the course of travel 24 while another vehicle, an object, or a person, in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1386 IS cluding a pedestrian, a bicyclist, and any other 1 road user, is in the blind zone of the vehicle. 2 ‘‘(b) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Compliance with the final 3 rule under subsection (a) shall be required beginning for 4 the model year that begins not later than 2 years after 5 the date on which the final rule is published in the Federal 6 Register.’’. 7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for sub- 8 chapter II of chapter 301 of title 49, United States Code, 9 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 10 30128 the following: 11 ‘‘30129. Crash avoidance technology.’’. SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL VEHICLE FLEETS. 12 (a) CRASH AVOIDANCE TECHNOLOGY.—Not later 13 than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, in 14 accordance with section 30129 of title 49, United States 15 Code, the head of each Federal agency shall ensure that 16 each new passenger motor vehicle (as defined in section 17 32101 of that title) and commercial motor vehicle (as de- 18 fined in section 31101 of that title) purchased or leased 19 as part of a Federal fleet of the agency is equipped with— 20 (1) a forward collision warning and automatic 21 emergency braking system that— 22 (A) alerts the driver if the distance to a ve- 23 hicle ahead or an object or person, including a 24 pedestrian, a bicyclist, or any other road user, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1386 IS in the path of travel ahead is closing too quickly 1 and a collision is imminent; and 2 (B) automatically applies the brakes if the 3 driver fails to do so; 4 (2) a lane departure warning and lane keeping 5 assist system that— 6 (A) warns the driver to maintain the lane 7 of travel; and 8 (B) corrects the course of travel if the 9 driver fails to do so; and 10 (3) a blind zone detection system that— 11 (A) warns the driver if another vehicle, an 12 object, or a person, including a pedestrian, a bi- 13 cyclist, and any other road user, is in the blind 14 zone of the vehicle; and 15 (B) provides an additional alert if the driv- 16 er attempts to change the course of travel while 17 another vehicle, an object, or a person, includ- 18 ing a pedestrian, a bicyclist, and any other road 19 user, is in the blind zone of the vehicle. 20 (b) DIGITAL ALERT TECHNOLOGY.—Not later than 21 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the head 22 of each Federal agency shall ensure that each vehicle in 23 a Federal fleet of the agency— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1386 IS (1) if the vehicle is used for emergency response 1 activities, is equipped with digital alert technology 2 that is capable of sending alerts to civilian drivers 3 to protect first responders on the scene and en 4 route; and 5 (2) is equipped with digital alert technology 6 (which may be provided by an aftermarket device) 7 that is capable of receiving alerts regarding nearby 8 first responders. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1386.IS S1386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS