Governor Paterson signed legislation making any assault on traffic enforcement agents a possible felony. The Sun reports that previously, an assault on traffic agent was a misdemeanor (up to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines), but now the felony charge could bring 7-8 years in jail. One traffic agent told NY1, "I came out my vehicle to issue a summons, I started and the motorist came out his car and punched me on my head." Police Commissioner Ray Kelly added, "The message here is clear: If you touch a traffic enforcement agent, you go to jail."




The hire just the sharpest tacks to write parking fines too.
I'd punch them all in the head if I could.
What if the traffic agent touch you first? I've seen it happen. It can't just be one way.
I wonder how tough guy jimmie justice feels about this, he only harasses law enforcement guys with no guns and never the NYPD. I wonder why?
fuckin' brownies...
Sure, they annoy us, but physically assault someone over a piece of paper on a windshield?
I assumed it was already a felony like assaulting other government employees.
These guys don't have an easy job. Dealing with the douches who drive in New York is not a job I envy.
don't do the crime if you can't do the time,
want to save $105? find a garage.
or, get a placard.
How is this a crime? They aren't real people. They're like humanoids. I would rather my children go up to sling rock than be a traffic agent. At least the dope dealer provides a service. These dregs of the earth screw people over for a living - they should all die in a fire. And another thing, how does someone who walks the street for a living stay so fat? Everyone of these creatures I see is enormous.
If you triple park to give someone a $110 ticket for double parking you should be thankful you're not murdered.
Dear NYC Traffic agents: Fuck you and I hope your children die slowly of cancer.
and keep your eye on the sparrow,
don't do the crime, if you can't do the time.
I totally agree with By. They are never around to help with the traffic jams that occur almost everyday, but walk their fat asses off or even better drive and pollute our streets while hassling every driver that doesn't have one of those bullshit placards given out to every low life city and state employee.
OK so we can't touch them, how about if we just shoot them from five feet away. No loss of human life.
Why don't you just park in a legal parking space? If you can't find free parking, pay for a garage. Or, here's an idea: take mass transit.
Gotta protect the revenuers at all costs
"Dear NYC Traffic agents: Fuck you and I hope your children die slowly of cancer."
Now that's a little harsh don't ya think? Not all of them are as bad as most of you describe. Many of them are just doing their jobs and have no ill will toward anybody. Its dealing with rude assholes of this city who give them a hard time when they are clearly in the wrong cause them to turn into aholes themselves.
The only traffic agent I ever wanted to punch was one that gave me a ticket for double parking in Queens. I came up on him while he was writing the ticket and was as nice as I could be (I knew I was guilty and that arguing wasn't going to help, so why unleash the negative energy?). I said hi, told him he must have a tough job, tried to be nice. When he was done I put out my hand to take the ticket and he reached around me to put it on my windshield. Never said a word and just walked away. THAT was the guy I wanted to punch.
Does anyone care? No, I didn't think so.
No Kojak, you're missing my point. These savages' sole purpose is to screw people out of their hard earned money. The traffic regulations in this town are not designed to keep traffic moving. They are designed to generate revenue. Because you missed the meter by a minute you should be fined $110?! This is not justice - it's a tax on drivers.
I understand that most people are pedestrians and have to drive but when they whine about the subway service going up a nickel every five years I don't have alot of sympathy when my EZPass bill is over $400 a month. So on top of the taxes on my gas, 18% taxes on parking garages, tolls that go up a dollar every year, and poorly maintained roads that beat the hell out of my car, I have to shell out for parking tickets so they can run that useless sweeper up the block twice a week?
Nope, I'm picking up the shortfall in the city budget. Here's an idea: knock down the projects in Manhattan and sell the land at market rate. If I'm priced out of the city, why shouldn't the unemployed be forced out to the boonies?
And for the record, I'm not too good for mass transit - driving is part of my job.
[16] amen, brother... (and I am not even a driver)
typical entitlement disease.
If you're priced out of the city, then you don't pay city income taxes. So you should pick up the shortfall in the city budget.
#18 You're right project dwellers are plagued by a sense of entitlement. Dickhead.
#19 Those of us in Brooklyn pay city income tax too.
By: "Oh, whine, whine, whine, whoa is me, the whole world is against me."
You got yourself into the mess you're in: you chose your job, you chose where to live, and you chose to drive a car so why the hell should I have any sympathy for you? None of your choices except you from paying fines when you stay over at a meter.
Suck it up. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
By: "Oh, whine, whine, whine, whoa is me, the whole world is against me."
You got yourself into the mess you're in: you chose your job, you chose where to live, and you chose to drive a car so why the hell should I have any sympathy for you? None of your choices exempt you from paying fines when you stay over at a meter.
Suck it up. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
this must be the place where people with entitlement disease hang out.
These agents are public servants, yet they treat the public like gum on their shoes. They refuse to listen to reason and become argumentative when their authority is questioned. I don't think they deserve to be assaulted, but they too need to back the fuck up when someone engages them in a heated discussion over a $100 ticket.
What reason??? I'm sorry, when I used to drive, I hated getting parking tickets too, but you know who I was angry at when I used to get parking tickets? MYSELF.
I park at 1:15 and put enough money in the meter for 30 minutes. In my head, I think, ok, I better get back here BEFORE 1:45, in case there's a meter maid. If I got back at 1:47, and I have a ticket, well...that's my fault.
There is no "discussion" over the majority of parking tickets. 30 minutes is 30 minutes. 31 minutes means you pay a fine. Self entitled idiots.
And the
Nah, over the years I've gotten hundreds of dollars of tickets based on incorrect interpretations of the rules. And I go through the trouble of beating them. It's impossible to see these parasites wandering around residential blocks looking for any ticket they could possibly write (no matter how flimsy or impractical) and not hate them. It's just another category of "public servant" that doesn't actually serve the public.
Almost every ticket I've received was my fault - either being overtime on the meter or parking in a "no parking" spot. If I'm trying to get away with something and I don't, why would I blame the individual who caught me? Idiots.
The one time I got a ticket I didn't feel I deserved, I fought it, sent letters and pictures, and it was dismissed.
And for those of you who haven't figured it out yet, always plead "not guilty". They'd rather reduce your fine than see you in court, and you'll pay a portion of your original fine.
Heh. Gothamist commenters are showing their true colors again. Ph hates everybody. Bicyclists, parking enforcement, anybody who would interfere with his God-given right to treat the city as his personal racetrack.
And here's Fenian advocating violence with a rifle in his avatar. Gotta love gun nuts.
The agents are always correct and one must genuflect when they issue a summons. They never make mistakes. Never talk back to them. Okay breaknight, I guess I am a "self-entitled idiot" How dare I ever question them on anything????? The nerve of me... I take mass transportation anyways, too many assholes like you on the roads.
Another strategy is to just ignore a ticket until you get the collection notice in the mail. Then you write back and say that you've never seen the ticket before and you were unaware that it existed and could they please send you a copy so you can present a possible defense. They can't prove otherwise so they automatically deduct the ten dollar late penalty and the worst that can happen is that you get to hold onto your money a few weeks longer. But occasionally, if you're lucky, the ticket gets lost by the city somewhere along the way and that's that. If they can't produce a copy of it then you're off the hook.
Re: #29 I don't own a car. I don't drive in New York.
And giving you a ticket for double parking even though you were "just running in for a coffee" isn't a mistake. Giving you a ticket b/c the meter expired just as you were getting there isn't a mistake. That meter's expired buddy, pay the fine. In my experience, walking around the city and seeing many of these altercations, that's what usually passes for a mistake here in New York.
And I'm not saying they don't make mistakes. Once, back in the days when I did own a car, I got a ticket that I didn't deserve. I went to the police station with pictures and other evidence. It was resolved in 2 hours. I didn't have to pay. So if it was a real mistake, be a big boy/big girl and go to the station to sort it out, if it was a "mistake", i.e. "why do you have to give ME a ticket!?, I'm only 2 minutes late" well, I got no sympathy for you. Pay the damn fine and get over yourself.
I hadn't noticed it before, but the sight of Fenian (with his assault rifle avatar) calling 2nd Amendment fanatic JacqueMehoff a "dickhead" is just too funny.
If you've ever talked or dealt with one, you'd punch them in the head too. E.g., like the jackass that gave me a ticket at 5:57pm in an area that allowed parking at 6pm,
JenChungsB - that won't work anymore. They got little handheld scanners that write the tickets and a database that can barf up an infinite number of copies. It would be kind of cool, except it means the ticket writers make less mistakes - you used to be able to get off if they wrote down the wrong color for your car, wrong VIN, etc.
#16 - I absolutely concur. I parked, fed the meter & went into restaurant. While waiting for food to arrive, I returned to my car to retrieve my PDA, I left behind . A monkey in shorts was already writing a ticket for an expired parking, with 47 minutes to go. Pro-active revenue collection, LOL . Reasoning with that 3rd world immigrant was of no use, so I just taped him cursing me. It worked, since I promised to move it further up the channels of NYC bureacray.
On any given day, I see the same (real) cop ticketing a beer truck, linen, bakery & food suppliers while I walk along 8th Ave. Costs of those tickets are simply passed onto consumers. Everyone chips in a nickel or a dime. No wonder watermelons cost 3 times more in NYC than in NJ.