Help @illegal53NYC Shame NYPD Into Ridding City Streets of Trucks Designed for Highways

Photo: @jmp_nyc via @illegal53NYC
Photo: @jmp_nyc via @illegal53NYC

It’s the Twitter account you’ve been waiting for.

@illegal53NYC is doing for illegally oversized trucks what @placardabuse does for placard abuse — drawing attention to a pervasive and dangerous traffic problem that City Hall and NYPD have not addressed in any meaningful way.

There is no city permit that allows trucks with enclosed 53-foot trailers. As @illegal53NYC says, they are “illegal on every NYC street” under city traffic rules. Yet they are ubiquitous.

Semi truck drivers have killed no fewer than 14 people walking and biking since 2014. While Mayor de Blasio confiscates electric bikes from working cyclists who pose no discernible public safety threat, fatalities caused by oversized truck operators haven’t drawn City Hall’s attention.

In 2017, NYPD issued 3,113 tickets for truck route violations — an average of just eight to nine tickets a day citywide.

The next time you encounter one of these enormous rigs — most are easily identified by the “53” on the trailer — you can do more than grit your teeth. Direct a photo toward @illegal53NYC and help shame NYPD into enforcing the law against trucks that belong on the interstate, not city streets.

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NYPD Should Open Data on All Traffic Summonses, Not Just on Truck Routes

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Legislation introduced by City Council members this week would require NYPD to publish data on crashes and summonses along NYC truck routes. The bill is intended to improve safety on truck routes, but a better approach would be to have NYPD post all traffic summons data. Intro 919, introduced by council members Margaret Chin, Jimmy Van Bramer, and transportation chair Ydanis […]