A bill introduced this week by New York City Councilman Jimmy Vacca (D-Bronx) proposes the initiation of a pilot program to install black boxes, the same data-recording devices currently used to monitor planes and trains, in taxi cabs in New York City. If the pilot program is implemented, data collected from the black boxes will track the speed, stops and starts, and location of cabs on city roads.
New York City taxis may soon have black boxes installed in an effort to improve driver and pedestrian safety. (Photo Source: Wikipedia)
While in its test phase, any data collected from the program would not be used to penalize cab drivers. However, the city may eventually decide to use black boxes to fine drivers or even to develop technology that would reduce fares or stop the meter from running if cabbies exceed the speed limit.
The motivation behind the bill is to deter taxi cab drivers from engaging in reckless driving as they ferry passengers around the city and hold them to the same standards as other drivers, thus keeping both taxi cab passengers and pedestrians on the street safe. The installation of black boxes in city taxis is similarly one of the proposals included in Mayor Bill De Blasio’s “Vision Zero” plan to eradicate NYC traffic deaths by 2024.
Despite denial of any mandate that police hand out a certain number of traffic tickets each month, Illinois lawmakers recently proposed a bill that will outlaw ticket quotas by any city or municipal law enforcement agency. In addition, the bill bans agencies from evaluating officer performance based on the number of warnings and tickets each individual hands out in a given time period.
Though the Illinois Sheriff’s Association and the Illinois Chiefs of Police deny that the practice of ticket quotas is in place, they nevertheless protest the proposed bill, concerned that it will discourage officer work ethic. However, senators have advanced the bill without permitting any testimony by police.
A police officer writing a traffic ticket.
In New York, as in Illinois, it is similarly a widely-held belief that police are required to meet ticket quotas each month, despite New York law prohibiting ticket quotas and the NYPD’s repeated denial of the practice. Evidence, meanwhile, appears to substantiate the belief.
Statistics of traffic tickets handed out in greater quantity during the last days of the month tend to indicate that ticket quotas do, in fact, exist. Data from the New York Office of Court Administration also shows that many minor criminal summonses are dismissed in court on the basis that judges find the tickets were issued without a good faith basis.
Several newspapers have reported the claims of NYPD officers disciplined for whistleblowing, or for revealing that ticket quotas were in place in the precincts in which they worked. In 2010, the New York Daily News actually discovered memos posted in the 77th Precinct which called for officers to issue tickets of a particular kind in a particular quantity.
Whether or not police admit that a certain number of tickets per offense must be handed out each month, the evidence suggesting that ticket quotas exist means that drivers in New York and other states should be particularly cautious on the road as the end of the month draws near.
Right of Way, a New York City pedestrian advocacy group, has been placing these signs in 11 neighborhoods throughout the city. (Photo Source)
Recently, New York City drivers may have noticed a flurry of “20 is Plenty” signs springing up in many of their neighborhoods. These signs, designed to mimic standard speed limit signs, were the results of a campaign staged by Right of Way, a group whose self-stated mission is to, “assert the public right of way and turn the streets into vibrant public space for all.”
The group placed these signs in 11 New York City neighborhoods in sections of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Each of these 11 neighborhoods had applied through the city’s Slow Zones Program to have their speed limits lowered from the city’s standard 30 miles per hour down to 20 mph but had not gotten any response.
According to Right of Way, “These communities knew their streets were dangerous and asked the city to fix them, but were told no or not yet by the previous administration.”
The group hopes this initiative, coming on the heels of Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s “Vision Zero” plan, will draw attention back to these neighborhoods’ Slow Zone requests.
Under Vision Zero, Mayor DeBlasio hopes to completely eliminate traffic fatalities within the 5 boroughs. So far, the plan has meant stricter enforcement of traffic violations like speeding while also causing the NYPD to issue more jaywalking tickets. The addition of speed cameras to several New York City streets and the NYPD’s recent investment into more radar guns shows how dedicated DeBlasio and his administration are to Vision Zero and continuing to improving road safety.
With 286 people killed in traffic accidents in New York City last year, combating speeding, the main cause of collisions, has become a priority for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. In fact, de Blasio has instituted a broad plan to eradicate all traffic fatalities in New York City by 2024.
In line with “Vision Zero,” the New York City Police Department is now increasing the number of radar guns it owns by 200. The increase will more than quadruple the only 56 radar guns the NYPD previously had in its arsenal.
In addition to the increase in speed detection equipment, training for police officers will also be augmented. Cops throughout the city’s 77 precincts are already being trained to use the new radar guns, and traffic enforcement is to be made part of every officer’s daily work assignment.
For drivers, the introduction of more radar guns and the placement of new speed cameras at intersections throughout the city, as well as increased ticketing for speeding by the NYPD mean that the odds of getting a speeding ticket in New York City are also sure to increase.
A police officer using a radar speed detection gun. The NYPD has just ordered 200 of these to help catch speeders in New York State.
A camera designed to catch speeding drivers. In New York similar cameras have caught over 1,000 drivers speeding in a 2-week span. (Photo Source: Wikipedia)
Part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Vision Zero” traffic initiative to eradicate pedestrian fatalities in New York City, six speed cameras have been placed in intersections across the city. In the only two weeks since their installation, the cameras have caught nearly 1,000 motorists exceeding the speed limit. The success of the speed camera program thus far has caused Albany to approve the installation of 20 more speed cameras. However, Mayor de Blasio has urged that even more cameras be installed at intersections throughout the city in the future, in an effort to more strictly enforce posted speed limits in New York City.
Though the speed cameras are certainly effective at clocking speeding drivers and provide an additional source of revenue for the city, the new traffic camera program has nevertheless faced criticism by law enforcement. Police unions contend that cameras will never be able to replace the professional training and judgment of police officers who can recognize other, and often more serious, offenses being committed by drivers caught speeding, such as driving under the influence, driving without a license or insurance, or even carrying an illegal weapon. To police, the cameras actually prevent opportunities to make the roads safer by charging especially dangerous drivers and criminals with lesser speeding offenses. However, in light of lax past ticketing practices by police in the city, the cameras are, for now, being viewed as a much-needed deterrent to fatality-causing speeding on New York City streets.
Recently, New York’s Department of Transportation has created a series of advertisements intended to cause drivers to think twice before speeding. The ads, which consist of images of New Yorkers holding up pictures of loved ones lost to speeding collisions, underlined with captions about who the individual was and what milestone they would be celebrating now if they were still alive, are meant to make drivers consider how one brief moment of reckless driving can have very permanent consequences.
New York’s new anti-speeding campaign. (Source: NYDOT)
The District of Columbia has similarly begun an advertising campaign against the dangers of speeding; instead of still photographs, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Police Department have compiled a three minute video about the dangers of speeding, featuring police officers, surgeons, and others who deal with the aftermath of speeding accidents. The video emphasizes how serious the injuries caused by speeding are, with brain injury being one of the more common injuries of a speeding crash, and explains that accidents due to speeding are usually entirely avoidable.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding is one of the most dangerous activities drivers can engage in on the road, causing nearly a third of all traffic fatalities, or killing approximately 10,000 people, each year. The hope is that advertising campaigns such as D.C.’s “Toward Zero Deaths” and New York’s photographs highlighting the tragedies that speeding causes will, in addition to stricter enforcement and increased ticketing for speeding, remind drivers to drive the speed limit and avoid the unnecessary risks that rushing to a destination can cause.
Soon, New York will be the first state in the nation to utilize innovative technology to alert drivers about to drive the wrong way onto the highway to turn around and to warn other drivers and police nearby of the impending danger of a wrong-way driver.
To achieve this feat, New York will place Doppler radar-assisted LED signs at sites where serious wrong-way crashes have occurred. Upon radar detecting a vehicle about to head the wrong direction onto the thruway, the signs will be triggered to flash bright warnings that will alert the driver and tell them to pull over and safely turn around. Yet to be installed, a fiber optics system will also send messages to other drivers in the area to be aware of the risk of collision with a wrong-way driver. In addition, the system will send an alert to the Thruway’s Statewide Operations Center that can be shared with local police.
So far, the Niagara Expressway (I-190) at the southbound exit 9 off-ramp in Buffalo and exit 10 on I-87/I-287 in Nyack, Rockland County have been designated as sites for the placement of the LED signs, with other exits along the thruway system in New York to be similarly identified for LED sign postings in the future.
Last year was the safest year in the 59-year history of the New York Thruway Authority, with an accident rate in New York that amounted to 20% below the national average. New York State’s greater use of technology, such as LED signs and fiber optics in place of ordinary “Wrong Way” metal signs, demonstrates the state’s strong commitment to make New York highways even safer.
In a press release put out this week by the New York Governor’s Office, Governor Cuomo announced that New York’s seat belt usage rate has reached an all-time high of 91.09%.
(Source: Wikipedia)
The announcement comes on the heels of a new survey, the New York State Seat Belt Observation Survey, conducted by the University at Albany’s Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research (ITSMR). Funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC), the survey monitored drivers and front-seat passengers for seat belt usage at 120 locations in 12 New York counties.
The survey concluded that this year’s seat belt compliance rate was up to 91.09%, up from 90.43% in 2012 and 90.54% in 2011.
Governor Cuomo was pleased at the progress, noting New York’s position at the forefront of driver safety efforts:
Nearly 30 years ago, New York led the nation by passing the first seat belt law, and today the vast majority of New York’s drivers and passengers are now taking this simple step of buckling up to protect themselves on the road. It is clear that efforts by the State to promote driver safety can instill good driving habits and ultimately save lives. Just like the seat belt law, our unprecedented crackdown on distracted driving and tough new penalties for drivers who text behind the wheel can change a dangerous driving habit, so that we continue to make New York’s roads the safest in the country. Our record-high seat belt usage rate is a testimony to this fact, and we will further this progress through every means available.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirms the importance of wearing a seatbelt. According to their statistics, seat belts saved an estimated 11,949 lives nationwide in 2011 (the last year for which nationwide statistics are available). Also in 2011, the national seatbelt usage rate was 84%–with New York being only one of seventeen states to achieve a usage rate over 90 percent.
August has officially come to an end, but not without some extra traffic enforcement by the New York State Police. This year, the NYSP held two traffic ticket blitzes—“Speed Week” which ran from August 11 to August 17 and “Operation Summer Brake” which ran from August 26 through Labor Day, September 2.
New York State Police Badge
Speed week has become an annual tradition set to coincide with the Nationwide Series at the Glen and focusing on speeding and other traffic citations. During Speed Week 2012, the New York State Police issued over 1,200 speeding tickets and over 1,300 other citations including DWI, cell phone use, driving without a seatbelt, and more.
As Governor Cuomo notes, “Speeding is the number one cause of deaths on our roads each year and it is a dangerous activity that puts everyone at risk.”
Operation Summer Brake had similar objectives. New York State Thruway Authority Executive Director Thomas J. Madison stated, “As part of ‘Operation Summer Brake,’ the Thruway Authority encourages motorists to be alert on the road, drive responsibly, obey posted speed limits, and avoid all distractions to ensure a safe trip to their destination. We are committed to working with New Yorkers and the State Police to maintain the Thruway’s outstanding safety record.”
The number of speeding and other citations issued during this year’s ticket blitzes are not yet available, but we encourage everyone to drive safely all year long to avoid traffic tickets or worse. “It is clear that the New York State Police are stepping up their game,” says noted traffic ticket attorney Adam H. Rosenblum, “each summer the number of ticket blitzes and the number of traffic tickets issued increases significantly.”
In addition, August 2013 saw the introduction of speed cameras (in select school zones). While other states such as Maryland have had speed cameras for years, this was a first for New York State and the move was applauded by government officials statewide.
However, the addition of speed cameras is not without controversy. In fact, a report by The Baltimore Sun cast serious doubt on whether their speed camera program led to greater public safety or just a lucrative new revenue stream for the cash-strapped city. Thousands of tickets have been thrown due to faulty cameras and Baltimore City judges often dismiss tickets for deficiencies. These findings ultimately led to a suspension of the speed camera program.
Notably, one of the report’s findings was that the City of Baltimore stretched the definition of a “school zone” far beyond the definition in state guidelines which might spell trouble if New York State follows suit.
Whether the goal is public safety, to raise much-needed revenue, or both, increased traffic violations enforcement is a reality all drivers are going to have to learn to live with.
If you received a ticket, contact the Rosenblum Law Firm at 888-434-0406 for a free consultation. We will help explain your ticket, its penalties, and your legal options.
Last year, President Obama signed legislation requiring the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to create regulations for the licensing and testing of commercial drones by 2015.
As of October, the FAA had received more than 80 applications from entities seeking to use drones, including law enforcement agencies.
We know what you are thinking, and do not worry. These “drones” are not the aircrafts the military has been using in Afghanistan for hours on end. These drones are more like toy planes with cameras mounted on them. Not only that, but they can only fly in the air for about an hour at a time.
These unmanned aerial vehicles are already beginning to help officers investigate crime scenes by taking aerial photos of major auto accidents.
For instance, in Colorado, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has been using drones for about four years now. One is a small helicopter, which can stay airborne for nearly 15 minutes while the other is a fixed-wing aircraft that can stay in the air for about an hour.
They usually are only deployed twice a month and used for search-and-rescue missions or to take aerial photos at crime and accident scenes to help officers get a birds-eye view of what happened. “Otherwise they live in a box in the back of a van,” says Ben Miller, the drone program director.
Additionally, the University of North Dakota and the Grand Forks Sheriff’s Department started a research initiative on drone usage back in 2010. In its test phase, the drones were used to look for a drowning victim washed away in floodwaters and to take fatal traffic accident photos.
Although the aircrafts are used to help investigate major accidents, they are not deployed for every fender bender. Alan Frazier, an assistant professor with the university and part-time sheriff’s deputy, explained, “It wouldn’t be a fiscally responsible way of using this resource.” After all, drones like these can cost $25,000-$175,000 while a police helicopter costs $1.8 million to $2 million.
A research poll taken last year by Monmouth University in New Jersey discovered that of the more than 1,700 Americans surveyed, 80 percent support drones being used for search-and-rescue missions. Likewise, two-thirds are in favor of their usage to track escaped criminals and patrol United States borders for illegal immigrants.
However, less than one-quarter thought that drones should be used for issuing speeding tickets.
Nonetheless, most New York drivers will not have to worry about drones being used to issue them NY speeding tickets anytime soon.
Police say they are simply too costly for them to use regularly and are too bulky. After all, they cannot really be used to patrol for any long-term period of time and they present constitutional challenges when it comes to the Confrontation Clause. Can your NY traffic ticket attorney really cross-examine a drone?
Ultimately, even if the State of New York wanted to start using drones to bust you for speeding, they would have a hard time getting the program off the ground.
