AB 55

Under current law, the operator of a vehicle must yield the right-of-way to

another vehicle under certain circumstances, including: 1) when turning left across

traffic; 2) at an intersection posted with a yield sign; 3) when entering a through

highway or a highway from an alley or driveway or from a parked or standing

position; or 4) when entering a highway from another highway that ends at a "T"

intersection. A person who fails to yield the right-of-way as required is subject to

a forfeiture of not less than $20 nor more than $50 for a first offense and not less than

$50 nor more than $100 for any subsequent offense within a year, except that the

forfeiture is doubled if the person fails to yield at a yield sign in a highway

maintenance or construction area or in a utility work area. In addition, if a person's

failure to yield the right-of-way results in bodily harm or death to another, the court

must suspend the person's motor vehicle operating privilege and the person must

forfeit $200 if bodily harm results, $500 if great bodily harm results, and $1,000 if

death results. For any failure-to-yield violation, the court must also order the

person who commits the violation to attend a traffic safety school approved by the

Department of Transportation (DOT) and conducted by a police department, sheriff's

office, or regularly established safety organization. The traffic safety school must

acquaint the person with vehicle right-of-way rules and provide instruction on

motorcycle, pedestrian, and bicycle awareness.

Current law also allows a court to suspend a person's operating privilege if the

person is convicted of violating any state or local traffic law.

Under this bill, if a person is convicted of a failure-to-yield violation that

results in bodily harm, great bodily harm, or death, DOT must suspend the person's

operating privilege, but a court cannot suspend the person's operating privilege.

This DOT suspension must be for a period of two months if the offense resulted in

bodily harm to another, three months if the offense resulted in great bodily harm to

another, and nine months if the offense resulted in the death of another. The bill

requires DOT, instead of a court, to order a person to attend traffic safety school for

a failure-to-yield violation. The traffic safety school must be conducted by a

regularly established safety organization, a licensed driver school, or a provider of

driver education courses and must be approved by DOT. The traffic safety school's

course of instruction must acquaint the person with vehicle right-of-way rules and

provide instruction on motorcycle, pedestrian, and bicycle awareness. If the traffic

safety school is conducted by a driver school or provider of driver education courses,

the driver school or provider must issue a certificate upon successful completion of

the traffic safety school. If a person's operating privilege has been suspended as a

result of a failure-to-yield violation that results in injury or death, DOT may not

reinstate the person's operating privilege unless the person has successfully

completed the traffic safety school.