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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.

Cab Driver Hits Pedestrian in NY Area Where Speed Limit Rarely Enforced

Recently, a man—who was standing with his wife and children on a busy sidewalk in Midtown—was abruptly struck and injured by a moving taxi cab.

bigstock-Taxi-Auto-accident-6676209The incident occurred around 4:00 p.m. this past Tuesday after two cab drivers collided at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 52nd Street. WABC reported that one cab driver was traveling south on 7th while the other was going east on 52nd. One cabbie supposedly ran a red light.

However, DNAinfo spoke directly with eye witnesses who said both cabbies were on 7th and one, who was speeding, “lost control” of the cab and struck the other from behind. Video evidence and photographs from the scene of the accident reveal that the impact sent both cabs onto the sidewalk. At this point, one of the cabs struck a pole and, sadly, the man standing at the corner. Continue reading “Cab Driver Hits Pedestrian in NY Area Where Speed Limit Rarely Enforced”

88% of Brooklyn Drivers Speed and Get Away With It

Speed TrapA research group known as Transportation Alternatives recently published a report revealing that 88% of Brooklyn motorists break the speed laws and get away with it.

The report explains that enforcement by the New York Police Department remains almost non-existent. According to the report, Transportation Alternatives clocked more drivers speeding in 12 hours than were ticketed by the entire NYPD throughout all of 2011. Continue reading “88% of Brooklyn Drivers Speed and Get Away With It”

New 70 Hour Work Week Limit for CDL Drivers

Woman Truck driver and her sonRecently, new regulations overhauled the rules governing truck-driving hours. They shorten the workweek, limit how many nights a truck driver can be on the road, and require truckers to take a certain amount of rest breaks during the day.

The Obama administration believes that these regulations will reduce crashes from sleep-deprived CDL drivers getting behind the wheel. The new regulations would cap a truck driver’s average workweek at 70 hours, a 12 hour decrease from the previous maximum limit of 82.

Many CDL drivers and trucking companies have not been pleased by these new rules. They contend that this is going to cost them serious money.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to enforce the regulations by routinely checking work logs, which CDL drivers are required to keep.

Failure to comply with the new rules could result in fines of up to $11,000 for companies and $2,750 for individual CDL drivers per offense.

One trucker who has been driving a big rig all his life remarked, “It’s hard … they have no clue what they’re doing.” He noted that the new rules will hurt him and do not help him because he will be losing out on 12 hours worth of pay per week.

However, the Transportation Department says 3,887 people were killed in 2012 in crashes involving large trucks and one study revealed that roughly 13% of large-truck crashes involve a sleep-deprived driver.

Although truck-crash fatality numbers have been trending down over the past decade due to new technologies, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) explained that fatigue-related crashes are still far too prevalent. These newest rules aim to reduce crashes while minimizing the impact on the industry.

With mounting criticism about the reduction in income looming in the background, Anne Ferro, chief of the FMCSA said, “My mission is to save lives.”

Despite all of the concern from CDL drivers, the government noted that only 15% of the nation’s 1.55 million long-haul truckers would be affected since most do not have routes that require such long hours and unionized truckers already have a shorter workweek.

 

What They Won’t Tell You About Holiday Traffic Ticketing

It is that time of year again! When summer begins, so do family vacations. Families pack up their cars and suitcases, make sure to have the right clothes, fill up with plenty of gas, and have the GPS handy.

However, what police do not want you to know is that they are targeting you. Whether you know it or

not, the second you take your family car out onto the highway, the police are looking to issue traffic tickets to drivers just like you.

Holiday Traffic Tickets
Police Target Vacation-Goers and Issue Them Holiday Traffic Tickets

What you as a vacation-goer need to know is that traffic-enforcement campaigns are held routinely across the entire country. They are designed to catch you and generate tons of cash for their respective town and state.

Although police officers will rarely (if ever) admit it, catching drivers for speeding and other traffic infractions is a big business. On average, traffic ticket campaigns have raked in approximately $5 billion per year in the United States.

At a time when state and local governments are looking to fill budget gaps without raising taxes, traffic ticket revenue is highly relied upon.

Why is handing out tickets such a lucrative business in a slumping economy? Truthfully—and unfortunately—most drivers do not fight their tickets. They give up, think that fighting is not worth it, and simply justify paying their tickets. Similarly, many ticket blitzes are held on interstate roads, and the likelihood of an out-of-state driver returning to fight a citation is quite slim unless they are smart enough to hire an attorney to fight on their behalf.

Likewise, researchers with the Transportation Research Board reported that several speed limits around the country were posted 5 to 10 mph below that of free-flowing traffic in those areas.

According to David Solomon, a researcher with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the majority of the tens of thousands of citations handed out annually during federally funded ticket blitzes are given to drivers who were actually safely navigating with the flow of traffic, but the posted speed limits were purposefully low.

Remember, the next time you hit the open road for that summer vacation, that Fourth of July BBQ at your cousins, or trip to the water park, the police are actively looking to catch you speeding and violating the rules of the road. Be careful, drive safely, and fight your traffic tickets!

(Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/3/the-dirty-little-secret-about-holiday-traffic-tick)

Speed Cameras Could Be Coming to NY Schools

Recently, New York State lawmakers passed a bill allowing the city to install speed cameras in front of NYC schoolsBoth the Senate and the State Assembly passed the bill and plan to install cameras at 20 city locations near schools that have documented speeding issues.

New "Point to Point" speed cameras o...

Mayor Michael Bloomberg strongly supports the proposal and he noted that a driver’s speed is the greatest contributing factor in traffic-related deaths in all of NYC.

Mr. Bloomberg noted, “If a driver strikes a child at 40 miles per hour, there is a 70 percent chance the child will be killed. At 30 miles per hour, there is an 80 percent chance the child survives.” Continue reading “Speed Cameras Could Be Coming to NY Schools”