From Bayside Patch:
State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, said he has introduced a bill that would help curb illegal truck traffic in northeast Queens.
The bill would allow law enforcement to seize and initiate forfeiture proceedings on trucks or tractors that weigh more than 10,000 pounds if the driver of the vehicle has been convicted of three violations for deviating from designated truck routes within 18 months.
The senator said trucks are legally bound to comply with designated truck routes, but many drivers break the rules and drive through residential communities to save time. His bill would increase penalties for repeat offenders.
Photo from the Daily News
32 comments:
it must be near election time.you are really pouring it on .
Here comes yet another unrealistic proposal
from the desk of NYS Senator Avella.
Uh, Tony...where are the cops gonna come from
for enforcing your "bright idea"?
Pouring it on?
He's already buttered both sides of the bread,
after spreading honey on my butt cheeks!
Sacred November is indeed fast approaching....
and it's time to blow more smoke up the electorates' asses!
I am in favor since there is no other remedy to prevent this.
The guys in the county organization are being prolific today.
I dig it
You're in favor of it and so am I.
Where's the money to hire more cops
to enforce this "remedy"?
The silence is deafening!
Enforce the laws already on the books for this.
More good work Senator Avella! Ignore the pundits.
I guess no one bothered to notice that the picture shown is of a truck ON the truck route! (Westchester Ave)
This picture highlights a big problem in the Bronx, where many truck routes are under the El's and have low clearance limitations. Sometimes the only way to safely bypass these clearance is to go OFF the truck route. It's a lose-lose trap.
The truck route network is so poorly designed and impractical in many cases that it becomes impossible to follow. For example, in Manhattan, the truck routes are on major streets, and turns are often restricted at these intersections. It's impossible to get around Manhattan following the truck routes.
When you can use the truck routes, it is ridiculously circuitous. If you want to cross between avenues, you have to drive a quarter to a half mile in each direction to turn at the busiest intersections to travel what could have been one block. Multiply this extra driving and idling by thousands of trucks, and the impact on air quality is significant.
The fines for an off truck route violation start at $280, and double from there, up to $2000. Plus two points each, which the state asses an additional fee on ones license after 6 points. So a working class truck driver is already out at least two grand if he gets three tickets. Is crippling their livelihood by impounding the truck really a practical way to punish working people for something that is essentially a nuisance violation? You can kill someone with your truck and get a much lighter penalty.
The other thing to keep in mind is that people think that any truck off a truck route is an illegal truck. Most trucks have (and are permitted) to be off the truck route to get to a destination that is not on a truck route. If you look at the truck route map, you will see that many areas and commercial streets are only accessible by going off the truck route.
The only reason Avella is so tough on this issue is because the consequences potentially affect such a tiny part of his constituency. He wouldn't dare propose impounding the vehicles of excessive speeders or people talking on cell phones, which are more dangerous that a truck driving down a different block than it's supposed to, because that would potentially effect so many drivers/voters.
And I guess you didn't notice that this is a 53' trailer which is not allowed on NYC streets. Probably because they do things like get stuck under els. They are supposed to stay on the highways. This particular truck was from Ohio.
How does a trucker not know the clearance of his vehicle?
Many truck drivers are NOT owner/operators. So why should the truck be impounded if an employee who 2 tickets last week (and did not tell the employer) gets a third ticket? Maybe suspending their CDLs is a better option.
Are 53-foot long trailers allowed to make pick-ups or deliveries in New York City?
Per Section 385 of the Vehicle & Traffic Law, a 53-foot trailer is allowed only limited travel through New York City to reach destinations on Long Island, using the following routes:
I-95 - from Bronx/Westchester County line to I-295;
I-295 - from I-95 to Throgs Neck Bridge to the Long Island Expressway (I-495)
I-495 - from I-295 to Queens/Nassau County line
53-foot long trailers are not allowed to make pick ups or deliveries in any of the boroughs of New York City.
More misinformation. That's NOT a 53' trailer.
Even if it was, length and vertical clearance are two separate issues.
Posted clearance on that truck route is 11' 2", which excludes even many straight trucks.
It looks like a 48'
If you really want to drive up the price of food and goods in NYC, strictly enforce the ban on 53' trailers.
A new sleeper trailer is over 100k and a trailer at least 35k. Does this seem like a reasonable punishment?
48' trailers are also prohibited unless they are carrying household goods.
"Maybe suspending their CDLs is a better option."
You don't need a cdl to drive many large straight trucks. Anything registered under 26k gvw without air brakes you can drive with a regular license and no training or medical certification.
He's trying to gain publicity on a story that went nowhere in 2006.
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2008/33/whitestone_times_newswhitestone08082008.html
We need an alternative to the thousands of 53' trailers that enter our city everyday.
Maybe a cross harbor rail tunnel is a good alternative. That way all trucks delivering freight to the NY area will originate in Maspeth. It's a great idea for the NYC area, as long as you don't live near Maspeth.
Only fools think a Cross Harbor Tunnel will eliminate truck traffic. It won't. The PA's own study says truck traffic across the City would increase with it. It's cost prohibitive, so it's a moot issue, anyway.
"Phony" Avella strikes again!
I can see little Tonito with a flashlight
in the middle of the night...pulling over offenders.
LOL!
Those truckers will grab him
and deposit him somewhere in Far Rockaway
in his "birthday suit".
Now that would be some photo op!
Idea:
Why not make it the law to require a GPS tracker
in every big rig.
A computer program can track the truck's route.
Could any form of that work?
I dunno....just throwing this thought out there.
Where's the money to hire more cops
to enforce this "remedy"?
The silence is deafening!
The cops waiting to snag the motorist for some fake ticket somewhere is what the solution is. My block is a no truck block - guess what for 20 years it's a great short cut 24 x 7 for huge trucks and not a single ticket ever in that time!
That's geography fella,
and your bad luck for living there.
32nd Avenue
(that's what we're talking about isn't it?)
runs right through to a major highway.
Like a thief that hides in the shadows...
a trucker will take a short cut on this street.
Uh,
what did Senator Avella do to alleviate this problem
when he was a councilman?
Maybe a few cameras set up will catch
these law breaking truckers. Then fine them severely!
I think that it's EXTREMELY difficult to deprive a trucker his means of earning a livelihood by seizing his vehicle.
This is little more than the usual election year bluster.
Broad solutions with no details or budgets attached,
is what most electioneering pols specialize in.
"Phony" Avella...
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!
(Are the cameras rolling?)
How many new enemies
has Senator Tony made this week?
it's the art of making a good deal...
and cooperating with your fellow lawmakers...
that gets real results.
Laws passed..." not intros"...are what counts.
Anon No. 29:
Take this back to County - None of the guys who cooperate thought about this. The question is whether or not this is a good idea.
It's not about whether this is a good idea.
it's about being good publicity for Avella.
If it is, BFD. Is it a good idea?
Find one elected official (or potential elected official) who won't do stuff like this for publicity. The guys from county hate Avella, so they go after him for doing something like this. If he found a cure for cancer in his spare time, they'd say he was doing that for publicity as well, and you know it.
Post a Comment