Out of state car registrations cost NY $93M

From Crains:

Newcomers are required to register their cars with New York authorities within 30 days of moving to the state, but many don't bother. As a result, they cheat the state and city out of millions of dollars in revenue while making use of precious free parking spaces.

Neither the city nor the state could provide an exact number of improperly registered cars on the road, but a 2011 state Senate report found that nearly 25% of all accidents in the state involving cars with Pennsylvania license plates occurred in Brooklyn—a number that suggests many of those cars' owners were New York residents, not visitors.

The report also found that motorists who live in New York but drive cars registered out of state cost the city $73 million in unpaid parking tickets and deprive the state of $1 million annually in fees for license plates, titles and vehicle registrations.

But those unpaid tickets and uncollected fees still take a back seat to the loss of potential sales tax revenue. A New Yorker who pays the average price for a new car—$33,560, according to Kelley Blue Book—must fork over about $3,000 in sales tax. Approximately 125,000 new cars were added to state Department of Motor Vehicles registration rolls in 2015. If up to 25% of residents' vehicles were purchased out of state, as the Brooklyn accident number suggests, New York could have lost out on more than $93 million in tax revenue.

Police can't seem to find derelict vehicle in plain sight

"I've complained about it before a few months ago and nothing was done, so I'm giving it another shot. On the block outside my apartment building at 65-77 Parsons Boulevard, there is an old Chevy SS covered in a tarp that has been parked at the same spot for nearly half a year.

On February 2 at 10:07 pm, I made a 311 service request to have the vehicle inspected. The SRN is C1-1-1208512861.

At 11:56 pm on that same evening, I received an email stating that "The Police Department responded to the complaint and with the information available observed no evidence of the violation at that time."

Having gone through this runaround before, I inspected the vehicle personally on Monday and looking under the tarp, found an outdated license plate, a missing registration sticker, and an outdated inspection sticker. Please see the attached photos.

I have yet to hear back on whether covering a vehicle with a tarp is legal, as it enables the owner to cover up things like expired registrations and contraband. Furthermore, in a neighborhood where parking is difficult to find, I do not like having to circle around my block searching for a space while this scofflaw driver treats a public street as his own permanent plot.

I am beginning to think that this driver must have a connection that enables him/her to openly flout the law. I've complained to the 107th Precinct in October of last year, and to any passing traffic agent that I've seen since then, but so far, nothing has been done."

-Your loyal reader

Toll cheats may soon be out of luck

From the NY Post:

Drivers around the state who have cumulatively run up more than $156 million in ­unpaid tolls may soon by walking to their destinations.

Gov. Cuomo is planning to make it easier for the state to yank the vehicle registrations of motorists who zip through toll lanes without paying and ignore collection efforts.

It is against state law to drive an unregistered vehicle.

According to state rec­ords, toll cheats owe $156,686,769 in unpaid tolls, interest and penalties dating back to 2008.

The vast majority — 87 percent — shorted the Port Authority, which operates some of the most expensive bridge and tunnel crossings in the region.

Sampson should stay off the roads

From the NY Post:

State Senate Minority Leader John Sampson isn’t exactly the guy you want teaching driver’s ed.

The Brooklyn Democrat piled up 23 parking and traffic violations over 30 months on his state cars — before crashing his government-issued Ford Taurus in the predawn hours last Friday, The Post has learned.

Senate records show that Sampson paid $1,820 in all to New York City and Albany for six red-light violations, a half-dozen no-parking or no-standing infractions, five bus-lane violations, three parking-meter violations and three instances of being caught with his registration sticker missing.

Going after parking scofflaws? Try developers, too.

From the Daily News:

When deadbeats refuse to pay their parking tickets, towing and booting aren't enough, city officials say.

Now they're going after vehicle registrations.

"When you don't pay, we're going to come after you as hard as we possibly can," said Finance Commissioner David Frankel. "We've started looking at every way that we have to collect money from people who are putting the screws to the people who do pay."

The city sent warning letters in March to 13,000 motorists who had racked up five or more unpaid parking tickets over any 12-month period in the last eight years.

The deadbeats - who collectively owed the city $17 million for 130,000 tickets - were told they'd lose their registrations if they refuse to pay up.

That could mean facing misdemeanor charges that carry hefty fines or jail time if they're caught driving without a registration.

Some scofflaws promptly paid up, pouring a quick infusion of $1.6 million into the cash-strapped city's coffers to pay off 15,000 tickets.

Those who didn't respond within 30 days were turned over to the state's Department of Motor Vehicles for registration suspension.

I don't have a problem with this. However, why the crackdown on motorists and not on developers? How many of them have tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines? Stop issuing permits to them and pull the ones that have already been issued. Watch how quickly they would pay off their fines. That would rake in a hell of a lot more revenue than 15,000 parking tickets.

DenDekker's bill calls for bike registration, insurance & license plates

From the NY Post:

A state lawmaker is trying to hit the brakes on rogue cyclists.

Assemblyman Michael DenDekker (D-Queens) has introduced a bill that would mandate registration -- much as for motor vehicles -- for every bicycle in the state, complete with license plates hanging from the rear of the seats.

He also proposed a separate measure that would force every commercial cyclist in the state to carry identification and have insurance.

If the bill passes, the license plates would cost $25 in the first year and $5 each additional year for recreational cyclists.

Commercial cyclists -- such as deliverymen -- would pay $50 for the registration plus the cost of insurance.

He introduced the bills last week in response to the major expansion of bike lanes throughout the city under Mayor Bloomberg and city Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.

Bikers upset about proposed licensing

From the NY Post:

In a bid to rein in rogue cyclists, all adult pedal pushers in the city will be required to get an ID tag affixed to their bikes if a city councilman has his way, The Post has learned.

Eric Ulrich (R-Queens) says he is floating the proposal -- which would require a small fee -- because "there seems to be a double standard when it comes to enforcing the traffic laws. Bicycles are involved in accidents, unfortunately, across this city."

Ulrich says that many of his constituents are seniors and that "people on bicycles scare the hell out of them. Sometimes they can be an intimidating presence on the city streets."

Cycling advocacy groups said they'd lobby against the idea.

"We're adamantly opposed to any legislation that would require licensing or registration of bicycles," said Kim Martineau, a spokeswoman for Transportation Alternatives. ". . .[T]he deterrent effect it would have on cycling would be enormous."

Why would it have a deterrent effect on cycling? Because bikers would have to take responsibility for their actions? Because hit-and-run with an injury is a crime? Or is it the fee they oppose? I thought their mantra all these years was that if you want to use the roads, bridges, park, etc. you should expect to pay a fee. Why should they be exempt?

Faulty sticker glue strikes again!

From NY1:

"I found two parking tickets on my windshield. And both for the same reason, having the registration sticker on the dash they said," said Hedin.

Each ticket was for $65, which Hedin says he shouldn't have to pay.

"It shouldn't be my fault. I shouldn't have to pay for a ticket, let alone two of them," said Hedin.

But the Department of Finance didn't agree. When Hedin appealed, the judge dismissed only one of the tickets.

"The first ticket he dismissed because the sticker fell off and basically I didn't know it had fallen off," said Hedin. "Where the second ticket, he claims that it's a subsequent ticket for the same offense so he couldn't dismiss it, so I'm found guilty for the $65."

Hedin says it's an unfair decision since he didn't see the first ticket until he'd already found the second.

"Obviously if I had received a ticket for it, if I had seen it fall off I would have taped it up there," said Hedin.

Traffic tickets for faulty registration stickers

From Fox 5:

New York City's ticket agents are nailing people with tickets they don't deserve and fines they should not have to pay. It's all about inspection decals that are peeling off windshields because of some bad adhesive. Fox 5 interviewed at least two motorists who couldn't believe that they got tickets when the decals peeled off. After Fox 5's John Deutzman looked into things, the city dismissed their tickets, but that doesn't mean it can't happen to you.