New York Vehicle and Traffic Law (hereinafter VTL) §1103(b) provides that a driver of a hazard vehicle (snowplow, street sweeper, dump truck, garbage truck, etc.), may escape liability for injuries caused under certain circumstances. Drivers of hazard vehicles are protected from liability for the consequences of their negligence if their vehicle was “actually engaged in work on a highway,” and the driver has fulfilled their “duty to proceed at all times during all phases of such work with due regard for the safety of all persons.” VTL §1103(b).
Plaintiffs are required to demonstrate that their injuries are “the consequences of [the driver’s] reckless disregard for the safety of others” (emphasis supplied). VTL §1103(b). When this standard applies, a plaintiff cannot recover without demonstrating that the hazard vehicle operator has “intentionally done an act of unreasonable character in disregard of a known or obvious risk that was so great as to make it highly probable that harm would follow…with conscious indifference to the outcome.” Saarinen v. Kerr, 84 N.Y.2d 494, 501 (1994). This is a heavy burden of proof for plaintiffs to sustain.
