OWASCO - The Upstate Safety Task Force met Thursday in Owasco to update the status of a series of news releases to educate the public about a pending measure meant to limit truck traffic through the Finger Lakes region.
Skaneateles village Mayor Bob Green collected data about local truck enforcement for six months to demonstrate the amount of violations and possible safety issues that arise from frequent trucks traveling through the community. The Skaneateles Village Police Department issued 494 tickets from June to December 2008.
“The one that caught my eye was the DWI,” Green told the other officials Thursday.
Task force members groaned collectively when he read that the village police issued 10 tickets to truck drivers for driving while intoxicated during the six months.
Tire violations, which can cause accidents commented Tompkins County Legislator Pam Mackesey, topped the list of violations, with speeding and log book violations being fairly common.
Twice, semi-trailer drivers failed to stop for a police car in that time period, Green added.
The coalition plans to continue to collect information, such as the village's trucking enforcement data, and draft releases during an anticipated 45-day public comment period about a state measure that would keep long-distance truckers on major highways.
That public comment period will begin once New York Gov. David Paterson approves the proposal that targets seven roads, including 41A between Homer and Route 20 in Skaneateles.
Chuck Murphy, legislative aide to Sen. John DeFrancisco, said Paterson currently is reviewing the measure. The Governor's Office of Regulatory Review approved the measure and send it on to Paterson. The state Department of Transportation drafted the original regulation and sent it to the review office to examine.
“If they had issues with it, they won't have passed it,” Murphy said about the review office.
In a regional approach similar to Green's, Murphy contacted DOT about inspections in the Finger Lakes region. From January to April, DOT representatives inspected 929 tractor-trailers which resulted in officials taking 165 trucks out of service.
The group, which includes officials from Skaneateles, Owasco, Aurora, Ithaca, Tompkins County and Palmyra, is pushing for having a public hearing that is part of the commenting process in the Finger Lakes region, rather than in Albany.
The state is required to conduct at least one public hearing.
If nothing significant comes up during that time, the proposal will become law at the end. If someone makes a point that would make state officials re-examine the regulations, then the process would start over with the amended proposal.
“The one that caught my eye was the DWI,” Green told the other officials Thursday.
Task force members groaned collectively when he read that the village police issued 10 tickets to truck drivers for driving while intoxicated during the six months.
Tire violations, which can cause accidents commented Tompkins County Legislator Pam Mackesey, topped the list of violations, with speeding and log book violations being fairly common.
Twice, semi-trailer drivers failed to stop for a police car in that time period, Green added.
The coalition plans to continue to collect information, such as the village's trucking enforcement data, and draft releases during an anticipated 45-day public comment period about a state measure that would keep long-distance truckers on major highways.
That public comment period will begin once New York Gov. David Paterson approves the proposal that targets seven roads, including 41A between Homer and Route 20 in Skaneateles.
Chuck Murphy, legislative aide to Sen. John DeFrancisco, said Paterson currently is reviewing the measure. The Governor's Office of Regulatory Review approved the measure and send it on to Paterson. The state Department of Transportation drafted the original regulation and sent it to the review office to examine.
“If they had issues with it, they won't have passed it,” Murphy said about the review office.
In a regional approach similar to Green's, Murphy contacted DOT about inspections in the Finger Lakes region. From January to April, DOT representatives inspected 929 tractor-trailers which resulted in officials taking 165 trucks out of service.
The group, which includes officials from Skaneateles, Owasco, Aurora, Ithaca, Tompkins County and Palmyra, is pushing for having a public hearing that is part of the commenting process in the Finger Lakes region, rather than in Albany.
The state is required to conduct at least one public hearing.
If nothing significant comes up during that time, the proposal will become law at the end. If someone makes a point that would make state officials re-examine the regulations, then the process would start over with the amended proposal.
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ornerytoo wrote on May 18, 2009 6:02 AM:
091951 wrote on May 17, 2009 7:04 PM:
get real wrote on May 17, 2009 4:59 PM:
Farmer's Gal wrote on May 17, 2009 12:35 PM:
It makes sense that lawmakers would want the information on things like traffic violations -- how many there are, what kind of violations, what percent they make of all violations in comparison to the percent of traffic they represent, etc.
If you lived in a farming area, you'd realize 5 AM is not even an early start for loud equipment in agriculture some times of the year. I WISH we had a noise ordinance, but given that the whole of Genoa is an ag district, there's nothing I can do about the unnecessarily loud music at the bar down the street and around the corner from 9PM-2 AM most weekends. The room isn't big enough to warrant ONE amp, much less amps cranked so loud they shake the walls several hundred yards away -- but you can't get a noise ordinance passed in an ag district, where farmers need to just keep working day and night in whatever window the weather gives them.
If we shifted cross-country shipping to rail instead of trucks, and used trucks only for local shipping of goods, then those truckers wouldn't have to get up and get going at 5 AM. They could work a regular 9-5 kind of day. "
091951 wrote on May 16, 2009 7:34 PM:
northender wrote on May 16, 2009 2:25 PM:
al82rd72 wrote on May 16, 2009 12:46 PM:
Get Real wrote on May 16, 2009 10:48 AM:
justventing wrote on May 16, 2009 8:45 AM: