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New York’s New Anti-Speeding Campaign

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 Anti-Speeding Advertisement
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.

 

(Source: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/21217/who-has-the-best-anti-speeding-ads-new-york-or-dc/)

Speeding Ticket Money-Maker: Route 219 Speed Trap in Limestone

Drivers passing through the hamlet of Limestone in the town of Carrollton along U.S. Route 219 should be wary of the road’s sudden drop from 55 to 40 miles per hour. Though this 15 mile decrease in speed for such a short distance may not raise eyebrows, the area is a favorite spot of New York State Police, the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department, and Allegany State Park Police officers patrolling for speeding drivers. In fact, the mile-long stretch of road and surrounding community earned $301,000 in speeding tickets last year, more than any other community in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties.

Limestone, NY
The hamlet of Limestone, New York, where a speed trap on Route 219 has lead to an abundance of speeding tickets.

Police ascribe the copious speeding tickets handed out in the area to Limestone’s at-grade intersection with the four-lane highway, which, as the site of numerous serious accidents, caused residents to petition the state to lower the speed limit to its current status. Today, police justify their ticketing practices by the fact that many drivers found speeding in the area are still caught at dangerous speeds of 20 miles or more over the limit, despite a caution light in place.

However, some contend that making money, rather than ensuring safety, is law enforcement’s main concern, a position bolstered by the fact that many of the drivers fined in the area are from out of town, out of state, or Canada and tend not to contest their tickets. The area’s heavy patrol has undeniably proven lucrative, with the state enjoying $220,015, the municipality $75,735, and the county $5,300 from fines issued last year in Carrollton.

Many urge that the stretch of roadway should not be a revenue-raising speed trap; instead, emphasis should be on preventing speeding, rather than simply catching wrong-doers. To that effect, some residents are now petitioning for the installation of larger bright-yellow signs along the mile-stretch of highway, to replace the small white and black signs currently in place, to more effectively warn drivers of the need to slow down when passing through the hamlet.

When hiring an attorney to represent you in traffic court, it is important to look for one with the right experience. The lawyers at the Rosenblum Law Firm have represented clients at the Carrollton Town Court, Ashford Town Court, Randolph Town Court, Friendship Town Court, and Angelica Town Court, and have the expertise to skillfully guide you through the process, saving you time, money, and hassle. Call us for a free consultation at 888-434-0406.

(Source: http://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/article_14beb8d0-6545-11e3-ad17-0019bb2963f4.html)

NY to Use New Technology to Prevent Wrong-Way Accidents

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.

(Sources: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Wrong-Way-Crash-New-York-Thruway-Death-Fatal-Radar-Text-Alert-234407621.html)

Year-to-Date Speeding Tickets in New York City Up 25%

Though traffic fatalities have decreased by 30 percent in New York City in the past 10 years, speeding remains the number one cause of collisions throughout the city. In 2012, speeding caused the greatest number of traffic deaths in New York City, taking the lives of more New Yorkers than drunk driving and distracted driving combined.

As a result, New York City police officers have increased the amount of tickets they issue throughout the year for speeding by as much as 25 percent so far in 2013. Recently, the NYPD wrote a total of 736 tickets during a citywide speeding enforcement crackdown during the second weekend of October alone.

Periodic ticketing blitzes and the overall increase in speeding tickets in 2013 may also be due in part to criticism of NYPD ticketing practices over the past few years. Law enforcement has been typically been lax with respect to speeding violations in the city, with for example, 88% of drivers in Brooklyn getting away with speeding according to one report.

In part because of a lack of enough officers on the road, ticketing is far more common for violations other than speeding in the city. For instance, the NYPD issued more tickets for riding a bike on a sidewalk than for speeding on surface streets in New York City last year, issuing around 25,000 citations for sidewalk riding as opposed to only 19,119 speeding tickets. With criticism of the NYPD’s recent failure to ticket any speeding drivers in two precincts in the city throughout the month of September, the 25 percent increase is sure to rise as ticketing blitzes for speeding become more common and enforcement more strict.

(Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/speed-demons-running-wild-brooklyn-article-1.1501982#ixzz2jdNWwlx7
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/10/16/police-issued-more-than-700-tickets-in-weekend-speeding-crackdown/
http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/07/09/nypd-issues-more-tickets-for-sidewalk-riding-than-speeding-on-local-streets)

Speeding Ignored in Brooklyn Neighborhoods

English: Looking north across 7th Ave and Linc...
7th Ave and Lincoln Pl in Park Slope, Brooklyn, one of the neighborhoods where zero speeding tickets were handed out this September. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As New York Daily News reports, this past September, not a single speeding ticket was handed out in certain neighborhoods, including Red Hook, Cobble Hill, Carrol Gardens, Gowanus and Park Slope, located within the 76th and 78th precincts of New York City.

Unfortunately, the complete absence of speeding citations does not correlate to unusually safe driving in those neighborhoods. Rather, three fatal pedestrian accidents occurred this year in those areas and residents continue to claim that spotting speeding drivers throughout the 76th and 78th precincts is a common occurrence.

Nor can the dearth of speeding tickets be attributed to police officers’ unawareness of speeding in those areas. In contrast to the 76th and 78th precincts, police officers patrolling the neighboring 77th Precinct pulled over 77 drivers for speeding in the same timeframe. A bit further off, 45 drivers were ticketed for speeding in September in the 94th Precinct. Moreover, efforts by the Department of Transportation, such as removing a lane of car traffic from speedways in an attempt to calm traffic, make it clear that speeding in the city remains a concern.

However, with drivers who, over time, become accustomed to any changes made to the roadway itself to derail speeding, citations by police officers remain the strongest deterrents to speeding in the city. Perhaps that is why year-to-date speeding tickets are up 25%, despite the lack of any speeding citations issued in September.

Officer Arrests Woman Who Lied About Her “Dying” Father to Avoid Speeding Ticket

Some people will do anything to get out of their traffic tickets. You might have heard about women flirting with male police officers to avoid speeding tickets, but a 28-year old recently stooped to an all-time low.

A New Hampshire woman—who cried her way out of a speeding ticket by claiming to be rushing to her father’s deathbed—was arrested two days later when confronted with his obituary, which was dated 5 years ago!

NH State Police car
A New Hampshire State Police cruiser.

The woman was arrested right at her doorstep by the very same trooper who she originally fooled. The trooper told reporters, “I’m pretty used to people trying to bend the truth to get out of speeding citations, but this woman preyed on my emotions as a human being.”

He continued, “She told me her father had stage four cancer, that he was breathing only six breaths a minute, and that she was trying to make it to the hospital before he passed … There was a good act that went along with it.”

After discovering the truth in an online obituary dated 5 years before the incident, he promptly confronted her at her home and charged her with speeding 82 mph in a 65 mph zone as well as driving with a suspended registration, a misdemeanor in NH.

The officer, who (for good reason) was extremely perturbed, also said, “For someone to lie about their deceased father just to get out of a speeding ticket was pretty upsetting to me as a person.”

After confronting her at her door, the woman immediately became defensive and claimed it was her uncle’s obituary and not her father’s. However, after being arrested and brought down to the police station, she finally admitted to the truth and came clean.

It is absolutely astounding what a person will say to an officer in order to try and avoid a speeding ticket.

Instead of lying to an officer (which is arguably much worse), quietly accept the ticket the officer hands you and hire an experienced traffic ticket lawyer to fight it for you. It will save you a lot of time, money, and aggravation in the long run.

Governor Cuomo: More Than 91% of New York Drivers Now Utilize Seat Belts

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%.

Seatbelt
(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.

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Two Major Ticket Blitzes in August 2013; Speed Cameras Come to New York

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.

NY State Police Badge
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.

Can Drones Bust You For Speeding?

Speeding Ticket Drones
Are Speeding Ticket Drones Coming to New York?

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.

(Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/07/31/can-drone-bust-for-speeding)

Are Canadians the Target of NY Speeding Tickets?

Canada Drivers and NY Speeding Tickets
Canada Drivers and NY Speeding Tickets

It appears as though there has been an increase in the number of out-of-state drivers getting pulled over in New York, especially those from Canada.

Recently, one Ontario driver was stopped by the New York State police for speeding on Highway 28 in Long Lake, NY. The speed limit was 55 mph and he was issued a speeding ticket for going 75 mph.

According to the driver, if he were to have driven the speed limit in a state as notorious as New York for its motorists, he would have “invited the wrath of every other driver.” Although he readily admits his guilt, he feels as though he was directly targeted for being from out of state. After all, he says, there were many other cars on the road that were speeding, but only he and a Massachusetts driver got pulled over.

He grew even more suspicious when the officer told him that he either had to plead guilty or travel 496 kilometers (both ways) from Ottawa to Long Lake to contest his ticket in-person at traffic court—which is held at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday nights.

After asking how much the fine was, the officer simply told him, “Sir, we only do the ticketed. We have nothing to do with the fines charged.” The ticket did not reflect any amount of money and only gave him the option to plead “guilty” or “not guilty.”

Since he did not want to spend a day traveling to traffic court and driving back home late at night (or getting a costly hotel room), he pled “guilty” and hoped it would all be over. He then received a letter in the mail indicating that he had to pay $300 (a $215 fine and $85 surcharge). Moreover, the letter read, “NO PERSONAL CHECKS, ONLY MONEY ORDERS AND CERTIFIED CHECKS ACCEPTED made out to the Town of Long Lake Court. CANADIANS MUST PAY IN US FUNDS! PLEASE RETURN THIS NOTICE WITH YOUR PAYMENT.”

What was most startling for this driver was that the letter ended by saying, “If your money is not received by the due date of this letter, the Department of Motor Vehicles in Albany will be ordered to suspend your driver’s license.” The man’s “due date” was merely two days away and the mail in Canada can be awfully slow.

To this man, it seemed as if the odds were stacked against Canadian drivers who get speeding tickets in New York.

However, if he were to have hired a NY speeding ticket attorney, he could have contested his ticket, not incurred a steep fine, avoided an insurance hike, and not have had any threat of suspension whatsoever. Aside from all of this, he would have been able to stay at home in Ontario while his NY attorney fought for him.

Ultimately, if it seems as though NY police are targeting drivers from Canada, that itself should be enough of a reason to hire an experienced attorney to help defend yourself.