New York, NY – Lawmaker: Slam Brakes on Summons-Crazy Traffic Agents

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    New York, NY – Ticket-happy traffic agents are slapping Big Apple drivers with “unfair” summonses, according to a lawmaker who wants to put the brakes on the orange blizzard.

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    “Over the last six months, complaints about traffic summonses have surpassed anything else in my office,” said City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.
    “The way traffic agents are enforcing the law is absolutely out of control.”

    One complaint came from John Panagiotopoulos, 32, a Queens cafe owner hit with a $135 fine for double parking — while he was waiting for another car to pull away from a meter.

    “I was not blocking traffic,” Panagiotopoulos said. “I was in the car, the car was on. All of a sudden, this agent came in front of my car and extended his arm to give me a ticket. It was very aggressive and really unfair.” Adding insult to injury, he lost the spot.”

    My customers are experiencing the same thing,” said Panagiotopoulos, who paid the ticket. “They pull over for a few seconds to pick up food and they get a $120 ticket. It’s hurting business, it’s hurting the people.”

    Vallone is considering legislation that would give drivers a grace period to briefly pull into no-standing areas. He called the legislation “a last resort.”


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    43 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Will Bloomy agree with him (and us)? Don’t hold your breath

    sruly
    sruly
    14 years ago

    I had the same thing on 18 ave In front of Goldbergs grocery, someone was about to pull out of a spot and I was waiting with my blinkers on go pull in, a traffic agent came running scanning my registration bar code and it was over.
    This aggressiveness comes from BLOOMBERGS regime, will you give him a 3rd term????

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Police giving unfair tickets? No way! I mean who ever heard such a thing before?!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    He’s SO right! These agents are there to enforce the law, however, there’s a “fifth shilchun eurich, too” (the law of common sense) that they don’t see to get or want to get.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Make your registration unscannable, and pull away when he comes over, this way even if he writes a ticket anyway, it will not go through because he will not know the date expirations expire. Nu use going the straight way with those crooked cops. And oops, did I forget? Break every meter possible.

    chacham levy
    chacham levy
    14 years ago

    “Es iz ah far’veitug’te parsha”! Nothhing will change! Watch & see!!!

    Flatbush atty
    Flatbush atty
    14 years ago

    I successfully fought such a ticket in the past on the ground that there is no violation for “double sitting” (provided your not blocking the flow of traffic) and the DMV requires one to pull up next to a parked car before going in reverse to parallel park so there can’t be a violation here. However, with the advent of the personal scanner, the traffic agent is claiming that the driver was “double parked” and expect it to be difficult to prove your case, unless you have a witness or other proof. Hatzlacha.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    We have only one recourse. Bloomberg must hear, loud and clear, that we, the people, resent his blitz of ticketing. He must be told by the population (skip the organizations – they will just lose funding – that we will NOT vote for him. NO THIRD TERM. Motorists are targeted to fill the city’s coffers, and this is grossly unfair. There is no excuse to compromise on safety, but the “orange blizzard” has nothing whatsoever to do with safety. Talk with our vote.

    same happened to me
    same happened to me
    14 years ago

    Same thing happened to me. Was waiting to pull into a spot once and got ‘ticketed’ and another time was dropping off a passenger and before I could pull away the commie soldier. had already scanned my car. These aren’t tickets, they would have to be fair and letgitimate to be called that. This is robbery like in a communist country where the ‘govt’ just comes and takes your money calling it what ever they want. This is no different. These ‘agents’ are just making up reasons to ‘ticket’ the people and it’s theft cause there is no way to prove it and fight it.
    I called Simcha Felders office a few weeks ago to complain. Everyone should call their concilman and do the same.
    This HAS to stop!
    The only problem with not voting for Bloomie is that there is no one else. The others would just make the city even worse like Dinkens did.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Stop the whining. FInally, drivers are beginning to pay their fair share. Deal with it.

    cops doing same
    cops doing same
    14 years ago

    My friend got pulled over for cell phone but he wasn’t on it and I was with him to prove it. As a matter of fact he hadn’t used it since before we go in the car 30 mins earlier. He offered to let the cop look at the call log but the cop just said you can fight it in court if you want. True he can but why should he have such a hassle and time off work when he didn’t do anything. He also has to hope that a copy of his cell bill will suffice as proof and that my testimony means something.
    A different friend got a ticket for ‘blowing a stop sign’ but he made a full stop. That cop said his tire stopped right past the white line. Technically the cops right but that is ridculous. A full safe stop is just that safe and these are just reasons to write tickets for the money and nothing else.

    bloomie the business man
    bloomie the business man
    14 years ago

    That’s why bloomberg didn’t hire more cops (actually he cut the class by over 1000 cadets) and instead hired more traffic agents who make MORE money first year than cops do. Traffic agents are ‘revenue generating’ city employees and most cops are not.
    Its all business and the people of NY’s expense.
    I would also agree as above and call it out right theft, the is NOTHING fair about these summons’s.

    fed up already
    fed up already
    14 years ago

    the problem here is that our holy mayor (who no one wants to criticize) bloomberg couldn’t stop this for the last 8 years that he’s in office. a person who prides himself as an ethical and fair person didn’t have the courage to stop these greedy agents extract thousands of dollars from poor city residents. on the contrary, they have stepped up their efforts in the last six months!! for what? just to make a living out of people’s anguish and frustration?

    why is it that it took them so much time to realize that’s enough already with this onslaught of CITY WORKERS chasing drivers all over, and literally waiting to trap motorists?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I am in real estate management in the Bed Stuy Bushwick area of brooklyn. In the past years I never saw a traffic cop walking the side streets of those neighborhoods as I see them walking the side streets of the jewish neighborhoods. Its a FACT

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    It happened to me & to another 5 of my friends this nonsense has to stop #1 let’s vote out bloomberg #2 make sure to call 311 & make a complain let’s raise our voice maybe that will help PS don’t forget some of this people don’t even make this $115 a day

    AuthenticSatmar
    AuthenticSatmar
    14 years ago

    When you mix legitimate complaints with bad ones you hurt your chances of success. Double parking to pick up food for a few minutes is very different than waiting to pull into a spot.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    just a heads up, never pay a parking ticket in full always dispute either by mail or on there website, they will automatically offer you a settlement. On the website click where it says request hearing by mail.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The police have to stop giving policemen quotas to fill. That’s why there’s a lot of parking tickets.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    there shouldnt have to be legestration on it. the tickets only started getting out of hand in the last few years. they have to chill with giving tickets out.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The whole driving situation in New York is absurd – everybody is in a rush, cutting off other drivers, double parking, beeping, stopping in the middle of the street for some selfish reason, alternate side parking, and parking tickets. I couldn’t handle it anymore so I moved to Lakewood.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Face in the next few years people won’t be able to drive in the city of NY its highway robbery they are there to trap you someone emailed me a cartoon of a traffic agent hiding in a manhole and peeking out to catch someone

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I am looking to order a self inking stamp with a carricature of Bloomberg smilling with the caption Vote $100mberg.

    As an activity the children can stamp the orange summons envelopes on the cars. Maybe it will knock some sense into some NYC voters.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I can safely say that 95 percent of drivers can relate to this getting harrasing “got you” tickets . Why is bloomberg so ahead in the polls?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I can safely say that 95 percent of drivers can relate to this getting harrasing “got you” tickets . Why is bloomberg so ahead in the polls?

    A Driver
    A Driver
    14 years ago

    I know some one that was waiting for the light to change, a trafic cop walks over and scans, he opens his window and asked what are you doing? I’m waiting for the light. The cop says you should of taken the green light before it turned red. Its really out of hand. I understand that you need laws and you need to obey them but these stories are so absurd.

    Emes
    Emes
    14 years ago

    It is so true tha i just let my son take my car to New Jersey and just take car service.
    What about the chevra waiting at 59th Street and 19th Avenue where there is a 4 way STOP- there are two who wait together and one after the other will stop up to 10 cars and ticket them, saying they didn’t stop. Those two were so openly anti semitic- the minute they feel you don’t look Jewish they let you go. One woman was crying that she had an emergency and is was talking to deaf ears. Perhaps the meter maids are hard of hearing!!!
    When on 13 th Avenue, i take quarters and feed the meter for others. The other day, i just followed one meter maid out of fun and was a step ahead of her and saved some people $ by dropping in the quarter if the meters expired. She had nothing she could do or say!
    Others should do the same! Sometimes it’s only one or twoquarter or fifty cents, far less than what the tickets would be. Charity begins at home.

    Yes, for the wise guys out there…maybe i’ll put it in as a tax deduction..after all our city/state taxes were close to a grand this year!!!