NYPD traffic agents wrote nearly double the average number of alternate-side parking tickets yesterday – as many frantic motorists failed to dig out their snowbound cars from snowy tombs.
A stunning 9,910 tickets were written citywide on the first day the rules took effect after a two-week weather hiatus. On a typical day, 5,460 alternate-side violations are issued, according to the Department of Finance.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said there were simply “more violations observed.”
Agents doled out the pricey summonses so the Department of Sanitation could clear out snow from the curb line – but, as The Post reported, many streets across the city went completely unplowed anyway.
A Sanitation spokesman said the agency was trying to clear out as many streets as possible in the allotted 90-minute intervals.
On an average day, when 5,460 tickets are issued, the city pulls in about $241,000 in revenue from guilty pleas, Department of Finance stats show.
Extrapolating from those figures, the city stands to make about $437,000 off of yesterday’s sweep based on that formula.
The NYPD said Alternate-side parking summonses slightly decreased in 2010 – to 1,157,520 from as compared to 2009. Drivers were slapped with 1,186,483 in 2009 and the following year – a two-percent drop.
{NY Post/Matzav.com}
Got to pay for the chefs