New Yorkers can thank superstorm Sandy for the sharp decline in traffic tickets issued by the city's police force. The numbers of parking and traffic tickets issued after Sandy have dropped dramatically as the city's police force have more important matters to tend to. While some areas saw a large drop, other areas such as the 100th and the 101st Precincts covering the Rockaways, the 60th Precinct in Coney Island and the 122nd Precinct in Staten Island, tickets virtually came to a halt.
On October 29th, the day that low-lying areas were being flooded, only 6,162 parking tickets and 3,070 moving violations were issued. When you compare those figures to 21,844 parking tickets and 15,158 moving violations during the same week in 2011, that's a 71.4 percent and a 79.4 percent drop in the 2011/2012 comparisons, which means significantly less revenue for the city.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said that traffic safety and traffic movement took precedence. Browne also said that police and traffic-enforcement agents are now concentrating on parking violations at fire hydrants and bust stops, but not on other infractions.
The storm brought about a whole other set of problems for New Yorkers, certain tow truck operators were towing storm-damaged vehicles without their owner's permission, while others took vehicles and stored them at private locations and charged the vehicle's owners exorbitant fees costing as much as $2,300 to get the vehicles back, said Browne. Some tow truck operators were arrested and charged with larceny, but the numbers of arrests are not available.
If you have received a traffic ticket or another moving violation in New York City, you are urged to contact a traffic ticket attorney from Gannes & Musico, LLP for an aggressive defense and to fight for reduced penalties.