The NY Move Over Law is more than just a symbolic violation to honor Officers Ambrose and Searles for whom the law is named.

It’s a new law that went into effect on Jan 1, 2011 and we are starting to see officers out there for crackdowns specifically on motorists who fail to “move over” and switch lanes while approaching an emergency vehicle engaged on the side of the road.

A recent week long enforcement blitz in Poughkeepsie resulted in the issuance of 865 tickets.  A similar two day blitz in the Buffalo area resulted in 43 move over traffic tickets issued.

You can read more about the Ambrose-Searles NY Move Over Law or just keep in mind these two points:

• On all roadways, you must reduce your speed when approaching an emergency vehicle.

• On larger roadways (Parkways, Controlled Access Highways, roadways with multiple lanes) you must reduce your speed and move from the lane immediately adjacent to the emergency vehicle as soon as it’s safe to do so.

If you’ve been issued one of these tickets, let us know.  They carry two points and we’d love to hear the circumstances under which yours was issued.

Submitted by Scott Feifer, Esq

Hasidic Williamsburg residents are upset that many of their cars were ticketed and/or towed during the Passover holiday.

One Williamsburg community leader argued that this didn’t make sense and that the ticketing was insensitive to those celebrating the holiday because many were unable to move their cars during the holiday.

City officials argue that they did indeed suspend alternate side of the street rules and that these tickets were issued for other violations like parking in a no parking zone.

Assuming the tickets written were otherwise fair tickets, I tend to agree with the city on this one. Accommodations were made to respect the holiday once alternate side of the street parking was suspended for April 19, 20, 25 and 26. All residents had to do to take advantage was park in an otherwise legal spot. The holiday isn’t an excuse to park wherever you want.

Submitted by Scott Feifer, Esq.

Jim Dwyer of the New York Times wrote an interesting piece in light of the current NYPD traffic ticket fixing scandal on the lengths people go to avoid paying traffic ticket fines.

In his words, “of the many fevers that can grip the human animal, the desire to fix parking and traffic tickets has few equals for absurdity”.

I don’t think that the actual “desire to fix” is itself absurd.  When someone is pulled over for something they didn’t do or something everyone else on the road was doing or is given multiple tickets for the same offense or is treated rudely by an officer or is endanger of losing their license or their job or is facing thousands of dollars a year in additional auto insurance or very high fines and assessments or reads stories about how the DMV has raised fines and surcharges or about how officers are issuing more tickets to compensate for a poor economy or fill a quota….

My point?  There are many valid reasons for fighting traffic tickets and trying to “fix” the situation.

Tickets should be fought the right way, however. Plead not guilty, speak to a prosecutor, speak to an attorney, etc.   There are risks trying to fix tickets any other way (as the officers currently under investigation now know) and this NYT article makes a good point–the lengths people go to to get tickets fixed any other way does sometimes seem to be a bit too much.

Submitted by Scott Feifer, Esq.

A good place to start when making the decision whether to fight or pay a speeding ticket is looking at the penalties you may face if convicted of speeding.   The worst thing you can do is simply pay a  ticket without any knowledge of the potential consequences.  We see too many people who call us after they pay and didn’t realize there were so many points involved or such high surcharges or even a license suspension.

1. NY speeding tickets will result in points on your license (from three to eleven depending on the amount over the speed limit), a fine and surcharge to the court, potential additional state surcharges, potential insurance increases and, depending on your record and the extent of the speed itself, possible license suspension.  Get a handle on all this first and foremost because you can’t effectively decide how aggressively to move forward without an understanding of the consequences.

2. Now look at what these consequences above mean to you.  You live in NYC and don’t drive much or live in New Jersey and can avoid driving in NY?  Perhaps losing your privilege to drive in NY doesn’t scare you as much as it would a commercial driver who must drive in NY to remain employed.  A wealthy individual may be less intimidated by high fines, surcharges and insurance than others.  The question here is how badly do you desire to avoid the consequences you are facing.

3. What will it “cost” to contest this, keeping in mind that “cost” refers to both money and time.  Will you need to attend court and is the court near or far?  Time off from work necessary?  Considering an attorney?  How much will the attorney cost and how much time and/or money might the attorney save?

4. What are your chances for success?  If you contest a traffic ticket, there is some goal.  Of course we all want a ticket to be dismissed in it’s entirety, but perhaps you need at very least a reduction in points to save a job or your privilege to drive or to avoid large surcharges or insurance increases.  Or perhaps you need the violation itself to be altered via a plea bargain to avoid certain types of automatic penalties.   Is achieving your goal a long shot or is it very realistic?

5. What is your personal philosophy?  Money and time and potentially the principle involved mean different things to different people. Some people may be inclined to pay this ticket and just fight the “next” one should it happen.  Others can’t bring themselves to roll over and accept any conviction without a fight.  Ultimately you are the one who makes the final decision on how to proceed based on who you are and what works best for you.

Some decisions are easy.  You are a city bus driver who will lose his job if convicted?  You are fighting your ticket.  However, in situations that aren’t necessarily as black and white, there just isn’t a blatant “right” answer with respect to whether a speeding ticket should be challenged.   I generally advise that if you are uncertain how to proceed, you should err on side of fighting it.  If you are uncertain and are seriously considering fighting the speeding violation, this usually means that the penalties are of some concern and that you do believe there is some reasonable chance of success.  Moreover, you are way more likely to regret in the long run doing nothing than you will regret doing your research and putting up a good fight.

If you just aren’t sure what to do, my advice will be to fight it and try to avoid the speeding ticket conviction on your record and the penalties that come with it.

Submitted by Scott Feifer

We get a lot of inquiries from people who have found out one way or another their license or privilege to drive is suspended in New York.  Whether you find out while in the process of renting a car, renewing a driver license in another state, switching auto insurance or are pulled over in New York and informed by the officer, once you know you’ll need to fix the situation.  Note that even people without a NY driver license can be suspended in NY for failing to properly handle a NY traffic ticket or some other related act or omission.

When the cause of the suspension is straight forward, the solution often is as well.  For example, if you are suspended simply for failing to pay a fine due, can you guess what our advice will be?

The inquiries we get, however, are rarely of the straight forward variety.  If people are able to really pinpoint the problem they are often able to fix the situation on their own as well.  More commonly, we receive inquiries from people with multiple suspensions and/or thousands of dollars due or older issues which have been long forgotten or other potentially complicated situation that is anything but straight forward.  These are the types of driver suspension issues that lead people to reach out to an attorney.

So how do we handle these situations?  There is no one way or easily explained fix–each situation is unique.

Generally, our firm’s policy is to suggest the following:

1.  Allow us to do a license investigation.  We usually will charge a relatively small flat fee to pull your driving record in NY, review every suspension or problematic issue on it and then do the research necessary to figure out the potential solutions if they are not readily apparent.  For example, a driving record might just alert us that there is an outstanding issue in so and so town court in so and so county.  We’ll still need to call the court, speak to the clerk, determine what the outstanding issue is and what options this court is offering to enable us to remedy the situation.  In a system where each court does things differently and some are only open a few hours per week, gathering this information can often take some effort and expertise.

2.  After we’ve identified each outstanding issue and our options for fixing each issue, we’ll sit down with you and discuss.  There may be court appearances necessary, there may be money that needs to be paid and/or there may be decisions to be made if certain issues can be handled in more than one manner.  We’ll walk people through it all, lay out the options and potential consequences and help you come up with the plan that best fits your situation.  Some people live near, some far…some are concerned with the money they’ll need to pay, for others time is of the essence.  Different solutions often work for different people.

3.  If your plan requires further legal work, we’ll let you know what it entails and what we charge.  If you do hire us for any legal work related to the investigation, we’ll put the investigation fee you paid towards that work.

If you do reach out to an attorney about a suspended NY driving record and the solution is very straight forward, the attorney should just let you know how to handle it on your own.  However, it isn’t always that simple and having an experienced law firm figure out exactly what the issues are and how they can be cleared might just be the best way to get yourself cleared in NY.

Submitted by Scott Feifer, Esq.

The Traffic Violations Bureau, or TVB, is an administrative agency in New York that is part of the DMV. The TVB handles traffic tickets issued in all 5 boroughs of New York City, Buffalo, Rochester as well as parts of Suffolk County.

How is the TVB different from other NY traffic courts?

The biggest difference is the fact that there is no plea bargaining process. If you wish to contest a traffic violation charge at the TVB you must enter a plea of not guilty and attend a hearing. If you win the hearing, it is as if the ticket was never issued. If you lose, you will get the points and pay the fine that comes with the violation in question.

What can I do if I lose my traffic hearing at the TVB?

If you are found guilty after a trial at the TVB, you have 30 days to file an appeal.

The following are some things to consider when deciding whether to appeal a TVB decision:

1. Has it been less than 30 days since the TVB decision? If more than 30 days have elapsed, you can forget it.

2. Have you paid your fine yet? You must pay your TVB fine before anyone will consider your appeal. If you are successful your money will be returned.

3. It will cost $10 per ticket to file the appeal.

4. You can file the appeal by mailing a form to the Appeals Board or by completing a similar form online. The form to mail can be found at http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/forms/aa33.pdf and an appeal can be filed online at http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/webAppeals/default.html

5. If you have been or will be suspended or revoked as a result of the TVB decision, you can request a stay. This will keep your license valid while the appeal is pending.

6. Once your initial appeal form has been submitted, you wait for a letter from the private transcription company that reviews the recording of the hearing and creates a transcript. This company will request a $50 deposit for the transcript fee and you have 30 days to pay it.

7. When your transcript arrives via mail, you have 30 days to review it and submit your arguments to the Appeals Board. Your written arguments should refer to specific pages and lines on the transcript.

8. The Appeals Board is only looking for legal (not factual) errors by the judge at the hearing. The hearing judge is the one who decides which facts to accept. You say you stopped at the stop sign, officer says otherwise, judge believes the officer. That is a factual determination. On the other hand, if the officer fails to tell the judge the exact location of this stop sign and the judge still finds you guilty, this is a potentially reversible mistake of law. The location of the sign is a basic element of the charge and without this testimony the judge should dismiss regardless of anything else in the case. Failure to dismiss is arguably a legal error on the part of the judge.

9. The appeal is all done via internet/mail. Filing, transcript ordering, argument submission and delivery of a decision are all done without any hearings or court appearances.

10. The TVB handles the entire case to this point. You had your hearing at a TVB office and you appealed to the TVB Appeals Board. If you lost your appeal, you do have the opportunity to start an Article 78 Proceeding. This is an appeal of a decision by an administrative agency (the TVB) to the real NY court system. This is a completely different kind of appeal and is recommended in only a very select and small percentage of traffic violation convictions.

Scott Feifer

NYPD traffic agents wrote nearly double the average number of alternate-side parking tickets on Feb 7 as many cars have yet to move since getting snowed in two weeks ago.

The NY Post reported that 9,910 tickets were written citywide on the first day the alternate side of the street rules were back in  effect.

According to the Department of Finance. an average of 5,460 alternate-side violations are issued in a typical day.

The NYPD set forth that there were simply “more violations observed”than usual yesterday.

Cynics will probably argue this is unfair, a money grab, etc.  While it may indeed be partially about making up for revenue lost to the snow, it’s likely there were simply more cars than usual parked on the wrong side of the street.  People have had both time and notice with respect to the parking rules and at some point should be expected to move their vehicle.

Scott Feifer, Esq.

JULY 2011 UPDATE: POINTS INCREASE: CELL PHONE TICKETS NOW 3 POINTS IN NY.

We were just informed by a Head Judge at one of the TVB offices that cell phone convictions in NY would carry 2 points starting later this month.

First, we wanted to confirm this was accurate and figure out when this all happened and what the rationale was.

Unfortunately for motorists, it is true. DMV gave their official notice of the rule change in the New York State Register on Dec. 15, 2010.

I say unfortunately because this will mean more licenses get suspended and more points-based Driver Assessment dollars collected than before.

However, it will NOT be unfortunate if it somehow encourages a few more drivers to go hands-free. Distracted driving is real and it is bad news.

The new rule will apply to summonses issued on or after February 16th 2011.

Thank you to NY Assemblyman Charles D. Lavine (Assembly District 13) and his Legislative Director Steven Friedman for their assistance in tracking down information concerning this new rule.

Here are some key points mentioned by the DMV in their rationale for imposing the new rule:

⁃ The DMV originally exempted mobile phone violations from the point system because “To the extent that certain instances of mobile telephone usage may result in erratic or unsafe driving, the conviction for a violation of section 1225-c will likely be accompanied by other Vehicle and Traffic Law violations which will, in and of themselves, result in the assessment of points and, therefore, aid in the identification of persistent violators.”

⁃ The DMV noted that the original cell phone law’s legislative objective was “advocating the responsible use of mobile telephones by motorists” to promote safety on New York’s public highways.

⁃ In light of this legislative objective of promoting highway safety, DMV concluded that it is appropriate at this time to impose two points for cell phone violations.

⁃ DMV recognizes that this form of distracted driving is a serious highway safety traffic offense. It is also consistent with DMV’s determination to assign two points for violations of the newer section 1225-d, the prohibition against texting while driving, which was enacted into law in 2009 and which is another form of distracted driving.

⁃ Imposing points also aligns with the legislative objective of sanctioning drivers who commit persistent violations of the law. Since cell phone violations have serious public safety consequences, it is appropriate that such violations be counted in the persistent violator equation.

DMV continues by citing some statistics to support the rule change:

⁃ In 2007, 312,445 tickets were issued for cell phone violations, resulting in 273,743 convictions. In 2008, 316,293 tickets were issued, resulting in 273,976 convictions.

⁃ Numerous studies have confirmed that distracted driving, such as driving while talking on a cell phone, significantly contributes to accidents and fatalities on the State’s highways.

⁃ AAA reports that each day distracted driving is a contributing factor in 4,000 to 8,000 crashes on our nation’s highways.

⁃ The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that nationwide in 2008 5,870 people died (representing 16% of all highway fatalities) and an estimated 515,000 were injured due to distracted driving.

⁃ The number of persons who reportedly are distracted at the time of the fatal crashes has increased Best Section Begin from 8% in 2004 to 11% in 2008. NHTSA estimates that at any given time during daylight hours, approximately 11% of drivers are using some type of cell phone.

⁃ The Institute for Highway Safety reports that drivers who use hand-held cell phones are four times as likely to be involved in car crashes resulting in injury to themselves.

⁃ A Carnegie Mellon Institute study concludes that driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37%.

Clients and potential clients ask us all the time about how to handle a NY traffic ticket, about points on their license, about suspensions, out of state tickets, etc.

If you want advice on how to handle a speeding ticket, NY driver license or any other related issue, feel free to give us a call or submit an inquiry to our firm.

Here, instead of advising what to do, we give your our Top 20 List of What NOT To Do if you are issued a traffic ticket in NY or ultimately convicted of a New York traffic ticket.

1. Do not rely on what the police officer tells you on the road about the New York traffic ticket. If the officer gives you wrong information, intentionally or not, no judge or court or enforcement agency is going to do anything about it. We can think of a hundred more reliable places to get information about a NY ticket than from the one person who is issuing you the ticket and will appear as a witness against you in court.

2. Do not rely on what you “heard” from a “friend” or “read somewhere”. First, there is a lot of wrong information out there. Second, your “friend” is giving advice based on one, maybe two incidents or experiences. We’ve handled thousands NY traffic violation cases and related issues and we can say for sure one or two incidents is far from enough of a sample for one to give advice.

3. Do not believe the “overpayment” myth. The myth says that if you are convicted of a traffic ticket, you should pay a few dollars more to the court because the extra payment will prevent the DMV or TVB or other agency from “closing out” your case and therefore putting points on your NY driver license. The reality is that driver license points and the fine payment have nothing to do with each other. Once guilty, the points associated with the particular traffic violation attach to your record whether you pay the fine early, later, never, in part or in full.

4. Do not rely on a police “no show” or believe such a “no show” will lead to an automatic dismissal of the traffic ticket. First, especially during tough economic times, a premium is put on police officer attendance because convictions equal money. Second, even if the officer does fail to show many judges and courts will give the officer another chance to appear.

5. Do not think that an officer in a moving vehicle cannot measure your speed. First, an officer may be using his speedometer to pace you. Second, an officer may simply be estimating your speed visually and, if the officer is properly trained to do this from a moving vehicle, such an estimation may hold up in court.

6. Do not believe that all the rules of the road must be posted somewhere on the road. Yes, there must be some “notice” letting you know that what you did or are about to is prohibited, but this “notice” may exist in a statute book. In NYC, for example, if no speed limit is posted, the limit is automatically 30mph. There are also truck routes that must be followed by trucks and these routes are listed only in the NYC Traffic Rules. There are also operational rules, such as rules with respect to turning, signaling, etc. that you won’t find posted anywhere on the street.

7. Do not assume that by mailing a traffic ticket or traffic ticket fine payment to a traffic court on time means the matter is automatically settled. Things get lost in the mail or even lost on a court clerk’s desk somewhere. Even if you mail something and request and receive a return receipt, you’ll never have proof of what was actually in the envelope. Follow up on anything mailed to a court, whether it’s placing a call or checking to see if a check has cleared or some other action. Whenever a transaction can be completed online–NYC traffic tickets in particular–try to take advantage. The confirmation you’ll get is worth it.

8. Do not assume that a traffic court or the DMV can’t make a mistake. It happens all the time, whether it’s a sloppy handwritten note in a file or a simple data entry error. Review all documentation carefully and bring any mistakes to the attention of the proper individual or agency.

9. Do not go to court under the impression that your “simple, logical explanation” is going to do the trick. Never forget that there is an officer who issued the ticket who will see it and explain it differently and tell the judge just that. Same rule applies on the road—you are unlikely to talk an officer out of issuing a ticket with “my wife is having a baby” or “ I just had surgery” or “I have to go to the bathroom”. True or false, officers hear these all the time and are rarely swayed.

10. Do not consider a PBA or equivalent card constitutes a “get out of the ticket free” pass. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. We’ve seen actual police officers issued traffic tickets so no one is safe, PBA card or not.

11. Do not think that “it was a trap” is a defense. Enforcement officers don’t go to a location to entrap drivers and they do not force drivers to commit traffic violations. They go to locations where drivers are likely to commit violations and look to pull over those who do. Enforcing trouble spots isn’t entrapment—it’s smart.

12. Do not think that 11 points on your NY driver license means a suspension as per the DMV. In some cases, suspension can come before you reach 11 and in other cases you may pass 11 points and continue to drive with a valid status.

13. Do not believe you can just ask a court or judge to reschedule a case and that it will automatically be granted. Some have very strict adjournment policies and, if you can’t attend court, make sure you know for sure a case can be adjourned before you decide not to attend

14. Do not proceed under the impression that you need a traffic ticket attorney to win or that retaining a traffic ticket lawyer is a guarantee of success. In some cases unrepresented motorists win and in others represented motorists lose. It’s fair to say, however, that representation by an experienced NY traffic ticket attorney will indeed greatly increase your chances of success.

15. Do not place any stock whatsoever in the “one size fits all” books and websites that promise guaranteed tips and tricks and methods for beating traffic tickets. The notion that there is some secret that applies to every judge in every court in every town in every county in every state in the entire country is completely ridiculous. Procedures and laws differ everywhere you go.

16. Do not believe the “Red Car Bias” myth. A commonly held misperception is that red cars tend to receive more speeding tickets than cars of other colors because of their flashiness. There’s also the supposed optical illusion created by their color that makes the cars appear to be going faster than they really are. There is no data to support the assertion that red cars receive more traffic tickets than cars of any other color nor data that suggests insurance rates are automatically higher for red colored cars.

17. Do not go to court under the impression that a single mistake on your ticket means your case will automatically be dismissed. It’s just not true with NY moving violations.

18. Do not think that your speeding ticket NY will be dismissed because the officer failed to show you his radar gun at the time of the incident. The officer doesn’t have to show you or say anything. Your traffic ticket serves as his “words” and you can schedule a hearing in a New York traffic court if you’d like further explanation or would like to challenge the charge on the ticket.

19. Do not ignore a traffic ticket that you received in another state. The interstate Driver License Compact is an agreement between participating states that share information regarding certain types of traffic convictions and there are only a handful of states that are not members of the compact. There is also the National Driver Register, a database of information about drivers who have had their licenses revoked or suspended due to serious traffic violations. States provide the register with information about these serious offenses, and those in the database can be denied licenses in other states.

20. Do not blame the traffic enforcement officer for your situation. In most cases, it is simply a person trying to do their job well and very few officers in our experience issue bad tickets maliciously. If you disagree with a traffic ticket your received, try to understand that mistakes can be made by anyone, traffic ticket officers included.

Effective Jan 1, 2011, motorists will be required to “move over” or “slow down” when their vehicle is approaching an authorized emergency vehicle when its emergency lights are flashing and the emergency vehicle is parked on a highway or roadway in New York State.

This will be a two point violation if a driver in NY is convicted under the new law.

The NY State Senate’s justification for the law included the following points:

• The law is for the protection of emergency personnel from motorists who have crashed their vehicles into police and emergency vehicles that were parked on highways or roadways in the performance of their duties
• The momentum behind the law can be traced back to a March 11, 2003 New York State Senate investigation prompted by the death of New York State Trooper Robert Ambrose. Ambrose was fatally injured during a routine traffic stop on the New York State Thruway in Yonkers, New York.
• Later in 2003, Onondaga County Deputy Sheriff Glenn M. Searles was assisting a motorist whose vehicle had gone off the highway when a second car lost control and struck Deputy Searles, fatally pinning him against his patrol car.
• Motorists must be aware that the presence of a police or other emergency vehicle means not only a potential dangerous situation, but also that professional and volunteer emergency work may be under way.

Drivers should keep the following in mind:

• Use particular caution when approaching an emergency vehicle that displays flashing emergency lighting.
• On all roadways, drivers must reduce their speed when approaching the emergency vehicle.
• On larger roadways (Parkways, Controlled Access Highways, roadways with multiple lanes) drivers must reduce speed and move from the lane immediately adjacent to the emergency vehicle as soon as it’s safe to do so.

We’ll keep an eye on how this is enforced during the upcoming months.