Photo Courtesy of NYPD
Most of the offenders are drivers of for-hire vehicles.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The City Police Department recently led a multi-agency effort to remove vehicles parked or idling dangerously on highways as they wait for passengers arriving at nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport.
South Queens precincts, including the 106th and the 113th, State Troopers, and City Taxi and Limousine Commission Enforcement officials descended on thoroughfares that feed into the airport, such as the Nassau Expressway, to address the pervasive issue where vehicles abruptly pulling into and out of oncoming traffic, endangering drivers.
In May 2016, then-Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder sent a letter to the TLC urging the agency to ramp up efforts to combat the longstanding practice of roadside parking and idling by for-hire vehicles along a stretch of the eastbound Nassau Expressway between Howard Beach and JFK.
“Drivers should not have to contend with parked cars pulling into 50-mile-an-hour oncoming traffic,” Goldfeder wrote, noting that the problem has been the subject of multiple enforcement efforts by the 106th Precinct and Highway Patrol in recent years, but that it continues unabated.
A spokesman told The Forum at the time that “the TLC is working closely with the 106th Precinct on a joint initiative to alleviate the problem.”
