Posted by: Noël Jones
According to Kurt Bresswein's article in the Express-Times today, state senator Lisa Boscola has reintroduced a law that would make it illegal for drivers to not "make all reasonable efforts" to remove snow from their cars before driving, punishable by a ticket ranging from $25 to $75.
I was helping a friend of mine move back to New York recently, and drove my car full of stuff behind his U-Haul truck, which still had snow on the roof. A large part of the drive was like driving in a blizzard, even though it was a bright sunny day, because the snow kept flying off the back as I followed on the highway. At one point, a big slab about a foot long flew off the top, over my car into the ditch--luckily. So it's easy to understand why it is important to remove snow from one's vehicle (especially the roof) before driving. But the language "all reasonable efforts" seems awfully open to interpretation for a law, and I wonder in a truck rental situation where the truck is taller than most people have tools to reach, whether the driver would be ticketed, or the rental company?
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8 comments:
I am not a fan of "nanny" legislation, but I think this is perfectly reasonable. It's also a sad indictment on society when you have to legislate so people maintain safety.
How many of us have seen cars/SUVs driving down the road - with literally only a peephole cleared out for the drive to see through? No peripheral vision, no side vision, no rear vision...and that doesn't even include the potentially lethal results of letting ice/snow accumulate on tops of cars.
UT
UT--I hear you--I'm no fan over creating unnecessary regulations and all the administrative costs paid by taxpayers that go with those regulations, except when it's a safety issue (like drinking water contamination from natural gas drilling) and it is sad that we have to regulate people into putting the safety of others above their own laziness and/or greed.
)ver-regulation of things that are not safety related, i.e., the bazillion permits that any small business needs and hoops they have to jump through just to start-up is a ridiculous scam on both small businesses and taxpayers. But I think you're right, if people have demonstrated that they will not clean the snow off their cars properly so as not to be a hazard to others, then maybe ticketing is the way to go...
It's the operator, not the owner or lessor, who is responsible for the vehicle being in a safe condition, as well as all documents being present and up to date. If it's not safe, don't use it!
Interestingly, a large percentage of roofs on box trucks are made of very thin, translucent plastic, and could never support a person. How do you sweep one of those free of snow?
good question. maybe they have some sort of bent broom on a long arm...or maybe they've never bothered to do it because it hasn't been a law--you know what they say..."necessity is the mother of invention..."
either way, they couldn't expect their customers to own such things at home--they should have to clear the roofs off before renting them. how would a customer even be able to see over the top of the vehicle to know if it's been cleared off?
I got a complaint.why am I not allowed to say I love noel......Tunsie
I got a big scare last year when I was traveling on Route 22 and ice came off of the SUV in front me and hit my windshield making an unbelievably loud noise. It really scared me, but luckily, there was no damage to me or the car. I did take note of the car's make and license number and reported the incident to the State Police. They said they would send a letter to the owner of the vehicle.
The next day I saw a friend who had the same thing happen except the car was coming toward her. The ice broke the side mirror off her car.
The problem with vans and SUV's besides being high, they usually are equipped with roof racks that really hang on to snow until it does turn to ice, becoming even more dangerous.
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