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legislation.md

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Legislation

This outlines possible legislative changes that would help promote cycling, reduce car ownership, and promote VisionZero

Equality With Driving

These are changes (primarily fine adjustments) that bring balance to how the law applies the same restriction to cyclists and drivers. Cyclists should not be more restricted than drivers as that creates dis-insentive to shift mode share away from personal vehicles.

  • Remove restriction on children under 1yr on bikes (vehicles have no matching restriction) - see VTL 1238 http://ypdcrime.com/vt/article34.htm#t1238.
  • Adjust/remove restriction on "carrier" for children age one through five - see VTL 1238. (Restriction for vehicles is only for under age four or 40lbs with taxi/bus excemptions - VTL 1229-c http://www.safeny.ny.gov/seat-vt.htm). It's reasonable to have a bike related carrier restriction for under the age of two.
  • Cycling on sidewalk - remove criminal summons, make a traffic violation . 4-07(c)(3)(i)
  • Cycling on sidewalk << driving on sidewalk
  • Electric cars are legal, but not pedal-assisted e-bikes

Close Vehicle Loopholes

  • Fines for obstructed/missing/bent license plate should be >> speeding tickets. Suggested: >$300 (see NY VTL 402(b))
  • Illegal License plate cover indicates intention to speed or run red lights. This should be a higher fine than general obstructed license plate. Suggested >$500
  • "failure to display muni-receipt" should escalate so it doesn't provide cheap parking. second or third offense should be >$250
  • The city wide speed limit is 25mph, but drivers can exceed that by 40% before potentially getting a ticket. Reduce the buffer before ticketing for speed limits 35mph and lower to 5mph over.
  • There is no law that restricts driving in a parking lane, meaning it's ok for vehicles to use it as a second lane when and where they feel like it.
  • License plate covers might be illegal, but selling or installing them is not (including 'bumper' devices that obstruct side view of license plate). Some auto shops advertise installing "hideaway license plates" see: https://www.instagram.com/p/BTT4zYGBpk4/?taken-by=pnaautosport
  • NY VTL 375 1.(a) - horn must not be "unnecessarily loud or harsh". This should be a quantifyable decible level as measure a specific distance from the vehicle. (It would be ok if there is a separate volume limit that would apply to horns restricted to use above 50mph)
  • Selling or installing horns above volume limit should also be illegal

Add Missing Laws and Make Sane Adjustments

  • There is no law requiring drivers to park close to the curb. Extending out into traffic (including bike lanes) doesn't have any associated fine. Require parking within 12 inches of curb (or other parking line closest to curb)
  • No set fine for Illegal 53' trailers means no enforcement, set $1500 fine - http://on.ny.gov/2kHPxcJ
  • No set fine for obstructed view of road VTL 375(30) (aka things mounted above the dashboard). Set $200 fine.
  • limit bike sales to 'street legal' bikes (aka must have lights and bell to be sold). This effectively makes dynamo lights standard and greately limits the ability for NYPD to target cyclists w/o either. See 1236
  • 1237 - hand signals required - there should be an exemption for when it's unsafe (at the riders sole discretion)
  • VTL 4–12(p)(3) - cyclists should be more clearly allowed to ride in any lane they deem safe, regardless of road width.

Do The Right Thing (but it will take some serious guts)

  • Set targets to end subsidized car parking - Set specific targets for to phasing out un-metered or free-permited parking provided by any city agency (This covers any city owned lot, or street parking). DOT should reduce the amount of subsidized parking by 15% of total available parking each year. This applies indipendently for each borough.
  • Visibility standards for trucks. Model after London's work to phase out trucks with low visibility. It should spur enough change even if applied to just the CBD. This works by permitting vehicles and steadily increasing permits for unsafe classes of vehicles.
  • Move traffic enforcement out from NYPD, and either under DOT, or a new city agency
  • Remove vehicle parking minimums, set bike parking minimums
  • Set vehicle parking maximums
  • GPS enforced speed limits. Technology is advanced enough to have self-driving cars, we have had cruise control for practically a hundred years (seriously, it's been almost 30 years). It's fine if we require simple GPS limiting of speed. (As a bonus, this eventually means no need for speed cameras). This should be a requirement for new vehicles after X date, and a requirement for vehicles owned by the city, and then higher tolls/tax/registration, etc for vehicles w/o this.
  • many smaller tolls better than single larger ticket tolls.
  • Diesel kills (this is why the emissions cheating for diesel recently was such a bad thing). Tax it generously. We know prices >$4 change behaviour. Add a $1/gal "clean air" tax.
  • Ban sale of gas or diesel vehicles - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/world/europe/uk-diesel-petrol-emissions.html https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-quality-plan-for-nitrogen-dioxide-no2-in-uk-2017
  • Require HOV4+ entering CBD, and HOV on all other major crossing into manhattan during "air quality alert" days. (HOV4+ restrictions were effectively used during transit strike of 2005)