In traffic court, even the judges don’t have the right-of-way.
Almost a month after the city promised to dismiss nearly all of the multiple tickets it issued in the delayed-citation fiasco along the B44 Select Bus route, drivers are still being called into traffic court, receiving mixed messages from the judges, and getting adjournments rather than acquittals, and the city has yet to send them any formal notice confirming that their predicaments will be resolved.
The Department of Finance says that despite the city’s promises of reprieve, its traffic court judges are bound to rule on the regulations as they stand, and the affected drivers are all still technically guilty of repeatedly driving in the B44 Select bus lane, regardless of the fact that the city didn’t start mailing out the tickets automatically issued by the cameras along the route until more than two months after enforcement began.
But the department said that while it can’t tell the judges how to rule, whatever judges do with the tickets is ultimately meaningless because the Departments of Transportation and Finance will eventually withdraw the tickets later through an administrative action that will supersede the judicial process.
In the meantime, however, drivers slammed with multiple, months-late tickets are caught in the middle — such as one driver who showed up at traffic court only to have the judge put the burden on him to make the city get its act together.
“The judge basically wanted me to go back to the Department of Transportation and get everything worked out,” said Peter Allen, from Midwood, who has already paid about $1,000 worth of the tickets. “He was relying on me.”
Another driver said she has been nervously watching her multiple tickets rack up late fees through the Department of Finance web page, and when she called the department, the worker couldn’t tell her if her tickets were dismissed or if the late fees would apply, but instead only confirmed her late-August court date.
“She doesn’t have an answer about the tickets, whether they’re suspended or not,” said Yelena Vasilenko of Sheepshead Bay, whose family officially owes around $2,700 in fines and late fees. “She confirmed my date — she doesn’t have any other information.”
With no formal notice of the promised ticket amnesty from the Department of Transportation, and the wheels of justice blindly grinding forward nonetheless, affected drivers are living in fear that the judicial process will overtake them before the fiasco is resolved.
“I’m worried that there is going to be a judgment — they are going to tow my cars,” said David Oliel of Coney Island, who said he would owe nearly $7,000 if he had to pay all his tickets. “I don’t know when the tickets are going to be dismissed.”
Another driver said by the time she received a ticket dated from March, the 90-day deadline to pay had almost passed — and she said no one will tell her what is going to happen if she doesn’t pay it.
“I was looking out the window every day,” said Edith Hawkins of Brownsville, also worrying that a tow truck will show up before the city comes through.
With no communication yet from the Department of Transportation or the Department of Finance, about 150 people have reached out to the office of Councilman Chaim Deutsch (D–Sheepshead Bay), who first alerted the Department of Transportation about the delayed-ticket issue last month. Deutsch said that justice delayed is justice denied for these drivers.
“I’ve been fighting for them because, first of all, they came in three or four months after the original violation,” said Deutsch. “The people should have gotten the violation in a reasonable amount of time.”
The Department of Transportation said it will not be sending out any official communication about the promised amnesty until it completes its review of the ticket backlog at the end of the month. At some point after that, it plans to send out a letter to motorists explaining the situation — but could not say when.
The department promises that — eventually — affected drivers will receive official notice that they will only have to pay one of however many B44 bus-lane ticket they received during the amnesty period, and those who have already paid more than one will receive a refund.
The department also said it would extend the ticket amnesty period to include March 18–Aug. 31, rather than the originally planned period of March 17–July 25.
For now, the affected drivers will keep waiting for the official green light on the ticket dismissal.
“We’ll wait,” said Oliel. “What can we do?”
The Department of Finance says affected drivers who have upcoming court dates can request an adjournment by e-mailing correspondence@finance.nyc.gov with the subject line: B44 bus lane violation adjournment request.
