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haritha-j 4 hours ago

I don't understand, doesn't NY have a points system for driving licenses? In most places you could speed at most half a dozen times before you lose your license.

diath 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

From the article:

> State law classifies camera-based tickets as mere violations, and they don’t add any points to a driver’s record, even though exceeding the speed limit by 11 miles per hour is worth four points on a license — but only if the offender is caught by a cop instead of a camera. Just three of those tickets suspends a driver’s license, but Giovansanti can keep on driving.

gerdesj 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Can't he be considered as the arresting cop, after all he has witnessed all the speeding offenses? Sounds like dereliction of duty at best 8)

haritha-j 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ah. Well that sounds like the perfect system for a cop to exploit.

stackghost 3 hours ago | parent [-]

There's a reason why ACAB was coined.

arscan 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It does, but according to the article it doesn’t apply to tickets issued by camera.

ceejayoz 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Well, that, and cops.

voxadam 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Cops don't give tickets to other cops.

ceejayoz 3 hours ago | parent [-]

In NYC, cops' friends are also exempt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/nyregion/mathew-bianchi-n...

wahern 3 hours ago | parent [-]

In California cops, family members of cops, and related personnel (e.g. police union officials) can get a special insignia on their license. So when they're pulled over and are asked to present their license....

FireBeyond an hour ago | parent [-]

The FOP (Fraternal Order of Police). Also a thing in NY and NJ.

Fun facts... the insignia you put on your license or on your car also has a thing like a registration tab... The FOP says its "to show your ongoing support", everyone else with a room temperature IQ knows its "to show you're 'paid up' on your protection money for the year".

Oh, and some enterprising souls have created "counterfeit" FOP insignia and stickers and other regalia (or for those tabs), and sold them on eBay... only to have the weight of the police union's attorneys come down on them with cease and desists, etc.

Biggest gang, etc.

alwa 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

They do! But their speed cameras can’t establish the identity of the human who was driving, at least to a legally sufficient standard.

While I imagine it’s reasonable to assume “one vehicle per licensed driver” across much of America, that assumption seems much less reliable in NYC, where space is at an extreme premium and large families often share space. Can’t punish Mom for Dad’s speeding habit just because the car’s in her name. Plus, that doesn’t get Dad off the road!

And it doesn’t really seem cost-effective (or politically viable) to build out an elaborate appeal system to litigate which human was driving every single time. (Or to layer some kind of AI facial recognition onto the cameras. No. Bad hackers. :) )

avidiax an hour ago | parent | next [-]

In parts of Europe, it's a crime in and of itself to fail to identify the driver of a vehicle. Under that system, if the vehicle is registered to you, you can be charged criminally for its conduct, and even if you prove you weren't behind the wheel, you can be charged criminally for failing to identify the actual driver.

Driving isn't a game. It's the most deadly daily activity, and while I'm not sure I want Euro-style speed enforcement, it shouldn't be something that you can just shrug off, especially 30%+ over the limit in a low speed area.

TulliusCicero an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

You can always just target the vehicle, since the vehicle was obviously involved.

Except in cases where the vehicle was stolen, then it was driven by one of the owners or by someone the owners permitted to drive the car. Either way, the owners are responsible on some level. Maybe not to the level of jail, but certainly to the level of paying off fines (initially), and eventually having the car seized (if the number of tickets is extremely high, as in this case).