New York, NY – Transportation advocates and public safety groups called into question the NYPD’s traffic enforcement priorities at a Monday City Council hearing after data revealed that cops routinely issue more tickets for tinted windows and broken headlights than they do for speeding—the top cause for fatalities involving motor vehicles.
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The NEW YORK POST (http://bit.ly/1fXAAeo) reports that data from 2012 shows that only about 15% of the city’s precincts averaged more than one speeding ticket daily, while current numbers have the NYPD on track to write more than 100,000 tickets for window tint before year’s end.
Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, said, “We encourage the Department to make more efficient use of its limited resources by focusing on those traffic violations that are more likely to injure and kill New Yorkers.”
Also discussed were the affects of inter-departmental changes made last year with regard to how the NYPD investigates collisions.
Previously, a limited staff of 23 made up the Department’s Accident Investigation Squad, which primarily handled only those cases resulting in fatalities or critical injuries, but a 40% staff increase has resulted in the new Collision Investigation Squad, which has taken on a 25% increase in cases involving victims that have received CPR, suffered respiratory arrest, or required life support.
For a cop to issue a speeding ticket he has to use radar so only officiers so equipped can issue speeding tickets. Little chance of such a ticket on any of the Boro Park streets. They can issue for dangerous driving instead of speeding if they aren’t radar equipped.
From what I’ve observed more cars are on the road with burned out lights than ever before probably because of the new high tech headlights and few get tickets. Tinted windows are a high priority since they endanger cops making a routine traffic stop since they can not clearly observe the driver.
They’ll do whatever is easiest to issue the most tickets and make the most money for the city. That’s why they have a police officer spend the entire day on the corner of E12 St and Quentin Rd pulling over one car after another. This cop brings in a fortune, why waste time and resources trying to stop real crime.
It’s easier to ticket for broken tailights than speeding… One you have to be at the exact moment with a radar ready at the time. The other if you are patrolling a neighborhood you can catch multiple violations while cars are parked overnight or in a parking lot.
One of the concepts that Bloomberg brought into office was the dependency on traffic tickets to balance the city budget. His first mayoral act was to double the fine for virtually every parking offense, and to create quotas for moving violations. No one is challenging that there is a basis for most traffic violations, but there needs to be some saichel in terms of priorities. If it were all about safety, we would be looking at a picture far different from what exists. Bloomberg pushes the “gotcha” agenda for ticketing. That’s why his agents have been writing citations for alternate sides before and after the times posted. That’s why he made the agents “police officers” so that the audacity to disagree when they are wrong is classified as assaulting a police officer. It’s all about “gotcha” and making money, and that is, by definition, corrupt.
I think that in Boro Park drivers feel that they have the right to ignore red lights which should be strictly enforced and you don’t need a speed gun for it.