This morning just between the hours of 5am and 6am, I had to endure the loud noise caused by at least 20 huge trucks barreling through 170th Street between Jamaica Avenue and Hillside Avenue. Every morning I am woken up by this noise caused by trucks illegally barreling through 170th Street. This goes on every single day from 5am to midnight on this very narrow residential street.
WHY has there been no enforcement on this issue, which is ILLEGAL and dangerous? There has been none and everyone at every level is aware of this, but yet has not acted on this issue.
This is not only on 170th Street, but other residential streets that residents have been enduring for years. And why hasn't the local newspapers done a story on this issue and question everyone involved from DOT and local elected leaders to our local NYPD and everyone else in between. The website Queens Progress did, but why hasn't any of our local media outlets done a story on this dangerous situation.
This is not rocket science folks, enforce the damn laws. What does it take to see laws enforced in this community?
Joe Moretti
cleanup jamaica queens now
12 comments:
I know that the NYPD has a truck enforcement unit. I see them once in a blue moon around the city. However I don't see them out enough and these trucks are out of control in the city doing whatever they want. The city needs to take truck enforcement more seriously. They are a hazard.
They also cause so much damage driving off the truck route from cracking sidewalks by hitting them when turning, sideswiping vehicles and running over street signs and trees because they can't make a turn.
I know that the NYPD has a truck enforcement unit.
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They HAD a truck enforcement unit. Not sure if they are still around or at least working in Queens anymore. People just still don't get how many cops we have lost since the late 90's, and how many units have been phased out or dropped in personnel because the city drastically lowered the number of cops citywide. You do realize that since the city merged school safety and traffic into te NYPD that they are now included into the official NYPD head count? Even with them in the count, we are still about twelve thousand less actual cops then we were when the the NYPD number peaked in the 90's at about 42,000 uniformed members. It's all smoke and mirrors people.
The designated truck route is (I believe) Merrick Boulevard, which is only 4 blocks west of 170th, so are the trucks really saving any time (or gas) by going down 170th? The only thing I could speculate about is that they want to avoid the bus congestion on Merrick. With the NYPD precinct right there on 168th, why can't they do something about it?
It's a two person job: one spotter and the other with spike strips.
You don't need truck enforcement units to enforce this. A regular cop can issue tickets for off truck route.
Wrong anon. There are more cops per capita in NYC than anywhere else in country. More than are needed. Broken windows is a scam that wastes a collasal amount of manpower. Get officers going after criminals like these truck drivers instead of idiots smoking pot or jumping turnstiles or cutting through a park after dark to avoid a dangerous road or rolling through red lights on a bike or jaywalking because one in a hundred is liable to do something violent at some point if you want to improve safety and quality of life.
The NYPD's current authorized uniformed strength is 34,450. There are also approximately 4,500 Auxiliary Police Officers, 5,000 School Safety Agents, 2,300 Traffic Enforcement Agents, and 370 Traffic Enforcement Supervisors currently employed by the department.
Get the NYPD out of tel Aviv and other foreign countries if you need more manpower.
"You don't need truck enforcement units to enforce this. A regular cop can issue tickets for off truck route."
Yes they can but won't. There is no training on trucks provided and commercial vehicles have some different rules and requirements than a regular car. When an officer stops a truck a lot of these drivers know the game, and can talk their way out of a truck route ticket by saying they were going here or there for some bs (gas, to get a tire fixed etc). You need a driver to produce a bill of lading showing his stops showing he should or shouldn't be in an area.
Most drivers know cops don't really know the laws for trucks well so they will hand over a binder with tons of paperwork in it (apportioned cab cards, medical certificates, fuel tax licenses, trailer licenses, insurance cards etc. etc.) along with a whole bunch of bills of ladings (or in some cases will say oh my company doesn't have bills of ladings, and will only "find" it when threatened with a ticket for it)to confuse the officer so he just gives a warning and walks away, head spinning.
To stop a large truck and go through the paperwork and figure out on a truck route map if there is a valid reason to be there or not and write a ticket can take 20 minutes. Most precincts are working in a backlog of calls so using time in this manner is generally frowned upon when 911 calls are waiting.
Furthermore if a ticket is written and it goes to traffic court the traffic court judges dismiss half of them because of a technicality or they will believe the bs a driver says about a last minute delivery there. Then the cop has to explain to a supervisor why the ticket was lost and assure him he didn't lose on purpose. (Cops want to write easy tickets, truck route are not one of them)
Some companies will pay the ticket as a cost of doing business since they know they may get one or two a year (because of lax enforcement)and it is cheaper to get a ticket and make quicker deliveries then have their trucks sit in traffic on a truck route.
In a precinct there are a handful of summons officers who will write these types of summonses, usually in a response to a complaint. However they usually have their hands full with other "more important" tickets at high accident areas.
NYPD does not prioritize truck enforcement. However traffic does maintain a small truck enforcement unit. They do truck inspections with DOT and I have seen them win overweight summonses in traffic court with fines of $7,500. Truck enforcement is a money maker for the city but for some reason they aren't concerned about it. Maybe some complaints will change that.
"The NYPD's current authorized uniformed strength is 34,450"
Sounds like a lot right? But divide that by 3 tours of patrol, then by the 77 precincts, the housing areas, and transit districts, then take out the detectives and supervisors who work at all of these places, then take out the cops who are sick, on vacation, or at training, then take out the cops who have to do prisoner transports or sit on a hospitalized prisoner and for whatever other reason, and all of a sudden there's not that many left.
Still more per capita than anywhere else in the country by a factor or two anon. And with a tiny geographical area to monitor. Quit harassing black people for biking on the sidewalk because every now and then one has a knife with a worn out spring that can be flicked open one time in ten and you'll have all the manpower to go after real criminals that you need.
A regular officer could do this easily especially in the case here on 170th Street, we are pretty much talking about a couple blocks between Liberty St and Hillside Avenue, where there are no businesses what-so-ever and no reason for a truck to be on this street. The truck route (Merrick Blvd is just two blocks away (right near the 103rd precinct). There is nothing to be confused about, just ticket the driver, who will not only get a fine, but points against him.
If you began enforcement, it would stop, because the message would get across to all truck drivers.
The problem, it is not being enforced for what-ever lame reason.
We are not talking about taking down a terrorist group and this is not rocket science.
I feel your frustration. This is a city wide issue. Any law that is not enforced is not a law. I live in Brooklyn and live on a street with a clearly marked sign that trucks are not allowed. There are no businesses on this street yet we have tractor trailers speeding down every day. We've spoken to the local precinct, the DOT and the community board and . . . nothing. This is a quite (without the trucks) street with children playing outside. I guess someone has to get killed before anything gets done.
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