Recent Events in the News

Suffolk County Protects Drivers from Loose Ice and Snow

Posted on Jul 09, 2011

Spurred by an Illinois man's tragic facial trauma due to airborne ice while on the road last year, the Suffolk County Legislature has passed a law mandating commercial motor owners to clean their vehicles of snow and ice before heading out to drive.

Sponsored by Legislative Majority Leader Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor), the bill was passed on June 21st in an effort to mitigate the danger caused by snow and ice on commercial vehicles. Each vehicle may carry 10 to 20 pounds per foot of dangerous snow and ice during times of heavy snowfall. According to a 2008 study by the American Transportation Research Institute, "The deadliest accidents caused by airborne ice involved larger vehicles, notably trucks."

Drivers, whose vehicles accumulate snow while on the road are exempt from the law. Parked cars are also exempt. School buses and other public transportation are exempt because of the logistics involved in evacuating a fleet of vehicles on a schedule.

Any commercial vehicle owner in noncompliance with the law must pay a $150 fine. Personal or property damage as a result of noncompliance will incur a $500 to $1500 fine. Individual drivers are protected from business owners passing down the costs of the fine.

This is the first such law in New York State. Similar laws have been established in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Washington DC.

Question: Is this law really necessary? What does it protect and who does it protect? Is is simply a way to generate fees for the County or is it designed to prevent serious injury from careless drivers? The article doesn't really delve deeply into those questions.

If you would like more information about how negligence and accident cases work in the state of New York, I encourage you to explore my educational website http://www.oginski-law.com. If you have legal questions, I urge you to pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at lawmed10@yahoo.com to answer your questions. That's what I do every day. I welcome your call.

Gerry practices law exclusively in the State of New York. Within New York he practices primarily in the following counties: New York, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk. Technically, Brooklyn is known as "Kings County," and Manhattan and New York City are known as "New York County." Staten Island is known as "Richmond County." These counties make up the New York metropolitan area.