Saturday, August 28, 2010

New truck legislation increases fines


From CBS 2:

The New York City Council is cracking down on truck drivers.

The Council’s Transportation Committee has proposed new legislation that would ban tractor trailors from parking on residential streets.

The bill would increase fines to $250 for the first offense and $500 for each subsequent offense in a six-month period.


A) Trucks are already banned from residential streets.
B) You can write all the regulations you want, it doesn't help if you lack the manpower to enforce the law.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

A) Trucks are already banned from residential streets.
B) You can write all the regulations you want, it doesn't help if you lack the manpower to enforce the law.

A. Trucks are not banned from residential streets if they have business there. Truck parking is limited to 3 hours during the day and overnight parking on the street is prohibited.

B. What city do you live in??? Traffic enforcement agents are everywhere writing tickets all day long. This in one area where the city does not skimp on enforcement. It's a huge moneymaker, and at $250 a pop you can bet the city will be writing tons of these tickets.

The question is, what defines a "residential street"? Is a local truck route considered residential because it is all houses and apartments? We have seen here on QC complaints about (garbage)trucks parked on the LIE service road behind houses. Is this considered residential?
Of course no one wants these trucks parked near their home, I know I don't. The problem is, sometimes these trucks must park SOMEWHERE. If a truck arrives at its destination ahead of schedule, or needs to take a Federally mandated safety break because the driver has reaching the maximum allowable hours of driving, or is just plain exhausted and needs a rest, there are not many if any practical or legal options. There are no truck rest areas within the city that I know of.

Queens Crapper said...

What business would a tractor trailer have on a residential street? None I can think of. Delivery and moving trucks are not tractor trailers. Tractor trailers are not allowed on residential streets.

What city do I live in? The one that bangs trucks along truck routes but not along residential streets, where the enforcement is needed the most.

Anonymous said...

"What business would a tractor trailer have on a residential street? None I can think of."
You are not thinking hard enough.

"Delivery and moving trucks are not tractor trailers. Tractor trailers are not allowed on residential streets."

Some delivery trucks ARE tractor trailers. Major food service companies such as Sysco and US Foods use tractor trailers for deliveries. Construction and oil deliveries can also arrive on tractor trailers. This city also has many areas that are both residential and commercial in nature, and not all businesses are on, or even near a local truck route. So if your neighbors oil delivery, or that new home construction up the street, or that corner supermarket gets a delivery that comes on a tractor trailer (not a 53' trailer), then it is perfectly legal for such a vehicle to come off the truck route for the purpose of delivery.

Technically, 53' trailers are not permitted anywhere in the city off designated through interstates, however this is not normally enforced. If it were, it would severely disable many businesses.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/motorist/trucks.shtml
Check the NYC traffic law regarding trucks, and point out where tractor trailers (excluding 53') are not permitted on residential streets.

I also think you have an odd definition of what a residential street is. http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2009/12/waste-not-want-not.html
"The stretch of road is 100% residential and the truck is parked behind people's backyards." This is not residential, it is a service road of a major through truck route. There are not even houses facing this section of the service road, it is the backyards of houses on the next block. By your definition of residential, tractor trailers should never even exit the highway.

"What city do I live in? The one that bangs trucks along truck routes but not along residential streets, where the enforcement is needed the most."
The city has been issuing hundreds of off truck route tickets each year that have fines ranging from $250 - $2000 and 2 points for each violation. A hefty fine for working class people. It's interesting that this nuisance violation is treated harsher than safety violation such as passing a stop sign or speeding down a residential street.

Queens Crapper said...

Overnight truck parking allowances
are based on zoning. The LIE service road in that area is in a residential zone. It doesn't matter if there are backyards next to it or not or if it is a service road. Trucks need to be parked overnight in a lot or in a non-R zone. Waste haulers being parked overnight in residential areas is a problem. I walked past those trucks one day and they stunk to high heaven. I can imagine having a backyard BBQ would be impossible in that area. Why is it parked there EVERY day and night? Obviously because someone who lives in the vicinity parks it there, not because they are taking a break.

And you seem to not understand the story here. Trucks are being parked or idling on residential streets, not cutting through residential neighborhoods to deliver goods. This is already illegal, which is why the council is increasing the fines, not writing a law to levy a fine. I can name a few locations off the top of my head where this happens regularly. Juniper Blvd North, 69th Street and 74th Street are just a handful of them.

Queens Crapper said...

This explains it better. And actually, the council just suggested the law, the state legislature needs to pass it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Crappy, this article is much more informative than the shitty CBS2 news story which failed to specify that this was regarding overnight parking. It's not that I didn't understand the story, it was not clearly presented by the TV news; the word overnight was never mentioned in the story. The story is much clearer now, and my argument is moot.

Anonymous said...

And yes, those garbage trucks do stink something awful.

Queens Crapper said...

The shitty Ch 2 story messed a lot of things up. If this other article had been available at the time, I would have used it in the post instead.

These are the only 2 mentions of it I have seen thus far.

Anonymous said...

once again it is a matter of enforcement. the n.y.p.d will not summons a commercial truck parked overnight on private property.
they refuse to even come when called to ticket a" tractor section" always parked on my residential street when taking a week long "rest stop".

enforcement agents do not work at night.if you call 311 it might take a week for response. the perp is gone.

the long asian church buses, and asian 20 seat people mover buses are the scourge of street parkers in the Bayside area.

the new pain is the permitted parking across every curb cut. it is almost impossible to make a turn on dead end streets. this causes much damage to
parked vehicles.

Anonymous said...

How about ENFORCING illegal curb cuts so trucks and cars DO NOT PARK on gardens!

YOU COULD CLOSE THE CITY FISCAL BUDGET YEARLY WITH THE FINES THIS CITY COULD COLLECT FROM THIS CANCER!