New Legislation Focuses On Bridge Strikes
Posted on Wednesday, 14 of October , 2009 at 7:10 pm
ALBANY—Legislation designed to improve safety on State roads by stricter enforcement of driving laws aimed at dramatically reducing the number of bridge strikes in Westchester County and across the State has been proposed.
Commercial truck drivers increasingly rely on Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that direct them to take New York State roads that either are off limits to trucks by law or have low clearances. This leads to an increased number of accidents called bridge strikes, in which trucks slam into overpasses and cause accidents and traffic delays.
The legislation proposed by Gov. David Paterson in coordination with Westchester County Executive Andrew J. Spano would:
- Increase the penalties for truck drivers who illegally use parkways;
- Allow for the confiscation of trucks stopped and ticketed at the discretion of officers on the scene;
- Require all large commercial trucks to use enhanced GPS devices that route them away from restricted roads; and
- Allow the State and affected localities to recoup many of the costs associated with the bridge strike from the trucking company or their insurance carrier.
“Bridge strikes are a critical public safety issue, as they endanger lives, eat up taxpayer dollars and add unnecessary stress to our daily commutes,” Paterson said. “Today, we put an end to bridge strikes by preventing truck drivers from illegally straying onto parkways and other restricted roads. This legislation will ensure that our roads and bridges are safer for New Yorkers so that we can divert money currently spent on clean up costs to schools, hospitals and social services for our neediest citizens.”
The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has documented more than 1,400 bridge strikes in the last 15 years, with four out of the five worst locations along the Hutchinson River Parkway in Westchester County.
A truck slamming into the low ceiling of a bridge overpass at high speeds can wreak havoc on both the struck overpass and the highways themselves. Cargo and debris spill onto the road, short stops cause multi-car pileups and traffic is held up for hours, delaying the arrival of emergency and cleanup crews. So far this year, there have been 46 bridge strikes in Westchester County, including nine on the King Street Bridge alone. Many of these bridges are historic, having been built in the early part of the last century.
NYSDOT is working in conjunction with the New York State Police, Westchester County, the New York City Police Department and the New York City Department of Transportation as part of the Bridge Strike Mitigation Task Force to implement solutions to this ongoing problem.
The task force has recommended that the Westchester County Police and State Police initiate an unprecedented enforcement blitz, which began late last month. In one week, law enforcement issued some 400 tickets to commercial truck drivers who were illegally operating their vehicles on certain roads and parkways. Most of the tickets were issued to out-of-state drivers using non-commercial GPS devices.
According to NYSDOT, 81 percent of overpass strikes by commercial vehicles are caused by GPS guidance. New York State has contacted 20 different GPS and mapping providers on upgrading software to account for low clearance bridges and overpasses. The goal is to provide both real-time and static data to truck drivers, such as incident reports to re-route truck drivers (and regular drivers) right after accidents happen, as well as and the heights of upcoming overpasses as drivers approach them.
Additionally, the task force has recommended beginning a number of pilot programs to test both low- and high-tech ways to warn drivers of upcoming bridges or road closures, such as moving warning signs further up the road and using infrared beams to detect a truck approaching a road it should not be entering.
NYSDOT and the State Police have been in discussions with National Insurance Crime Bureau of the possibility of insurance discounts for truckers using upgraded GPS devices with truck routing information. 10-14-09
STOP! READ! Avoid A Forbidden Notice. First time visitors are welcome at no charge. Thereafter, readers who wish to read additional articles or plan on returning at a later time will need to be an advertiser or have a paid subscription to the NCG Daily Digest in order to gain access. This policy will be strictly enforced and access will be denied to those who abuse it. To sign up, see the subscription ad and PayPal button to the right of this page or at www.northcountrygazette.org If you have questions, contact us at news@northcountrygazette.org
Special subscription rate through Nov. 11, 2009. See http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/10/11/changes_coming/
Category: Government, Insurance, New York State, Police
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Meneame -
- Digg
COPYRIGHT 2009 - NORTH COUNTRY GAZETTE All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of the publisher.
