Lost in the debate over Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposal to add a surcharge to motor vehicle tickets adjudicated in local courts is the beneficial effect it may have on the driving public.
While "bad" drivers certainly are out there and deserve to be ticketed, the game of ticketing speeders and other drivers for minor moving violations has become a legalized shakedown operation in some municipalities. The process has taken on the air of a retail operation in which even the judge, in a setting more akin to checking out at a store than resolving a judicial matter, asks each defendant, "And how would you like to take care of that [fine] today?"
The existing system has been about "revenue enhancement" for local towns far more than about public safety. Local municipalities that have gleefully jumped on the "parking on the pavement" bandwagon ought to carefully consider whether they are, indeed, serving the citizens of their communities or themselves.
Whatever else the governor's proposal is, it may provide welcome relief to beleaguered drivers who are being nickel-and-dimed.
JAMES E. CLOSE
Mechanicville