New York – Brooklyn Senator Carl Kruger Introduces Bill Outlawing ‘Crash Tax’

New York – New York City is planning to join a number of municipalities around the nation that are charging motorists involved in accidents for emergency-response services. The FDNY is scheduled to begin sending out bills on July 1.

The practice has drawn widespread outrage, and ten states have already banned it – Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Missouri,Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana. Sen. Kruger said he feels “very strongly that New York has an obligation to become the eleventh.”

The job of the New York City Fire Department should be to serve and protect, not serve and collect, says Senator Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), who is introducing legislation (S. 2277) outlawing the so-called “crash tax” – otherwise known as an “accident response service fee.”

“We’re already paying for emergency response services in the form of taxes. This practice amounts to double taxation,” he said.

Insurance companies have already expressed an unwillingness to foot the bill, Sen. Kruger said, leaving motorists who are at fault responsible for the charges – scheduled to be $490 for a crash or car fire with an injury, $415 for a car fire without injuries and $365 for a car wreck in which no one is hurt.

“What’s going to happen is that people will start refusing emergency help when they really need it. They’ll say ‘no thanks’ when the FDNY shows up and then drop dead of internal injuries a day later,” he said.

“You’ll also end up with drunk drivers, uninsured drivers and others who should be in custody avoiding detection by authorities if they refuse help,” Sen. Kruger added.

Twenty-eight states currently have pending legislation to outlaw the “crash tax.”