Streetsblog covers today’s developments in the DMV bike ticket cheating affair.
The New York State DMV admits that it is incorrectly overcharging cyclists for traffic violations and wrongly adding points to their drivers licenses, but the agency hasn’t agreed to stop doing it.
In his most recent Streetsblog column, attorney Steve Vaccaro pointed out that the DMV’s online payment system does not distinguish between bikes and motor vehicles. As a result, cyclists who plead guilty and pay traffic tickets online are stuck with an $88 surcharge that doesn’t apply to bike violations, and are getting points on their licenses that don’t legally apply.
Vaccaro got a letter from the DMV today acknowledging that, under state law, “there are no points assigned for violations committed by bicyclists,” and that the law “exempts bicycle violations from the mandatory surcharge.”
We have been in contact with the DMV several times today regarding the improper penalties applied to cyclists’ summons. The latest correspondence is linked below. We are trying to reach agreement with the DMV on a plan to remedy the past overcharges and prevent the problem from recurring. Stay tuned!
