Picking up where we left off in the last part of this series, we were discussing how NY counties and NYS ended up in their questionable relationship with Verra Mobility. We also began to touch on how these “Notices of Liability” end up being processed within NY TVB “courts”. The reason for the quotation marks is because they actually aren’t quite courts. Being a part of the executive branch of county governments, they aren’t held to the same judicial standards that an actual court would be. And to say that residents tend to get railroaded through their due process at the TVB would be generous.

The plain fact is that the conviction rates at the TVB are some of the highest in the country for any manner of violation, with rates exceeding 90% for many types of cases, regardless of the quality of evidence presented. While infractions like texting while driving are something that should absolutely be enforced, as the repercussions of allowing it to happen are fairly grim, the actual standard of evidence for convicting someone of it at the TVB is usually nothing more than the officer writing a citation, and the TVB refusing to hear any evidence to the contrary.

As such, there are countless stories of people being cited for texting while driving for simply having their phone in their hand, or holding something other than their phone entirely. The citing officer, being in an entirely different vehicle, likely moving at a different speed, in a different direction, does not need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that what they have accused the motorist of is actually what occurred.

So if you combine the nature of this process with a system like the Verra Mobility CrossingGuard, it becomes very obvious how things can become completely unfair for the average NY motorist. Case in point, we recently had a client who encountered a situation that is extremely common on Long Island, and got wrapped up with the TVB as a result. A bus driver that had stopped their school bus, but not yet begun to discharge the students from the vehicle, decided to wave this motorist by, instead of making them wait an inordinately long time for the students to gather their things and exit the vehicle.

Almost every Long Island motorist would say that they have encountered this exact situation before, yet the binary nature of how the CrossingGuard system works creates a monstrous headache that the TVB likely sees as a benefit to them. Effectively, the system is in operation as soon as the “Stop” sign on the bus comes out, and accounts for absolutely nothing else. While there are cameras on the outside of the bus, there are none inside the bus to provide any sort of context for WHY a motorist may have driven past the bus while the system is in operation.

With no context sensitivity whatsoever, any vehicle that passes the bus for any reason, no matter how long it has been stopped, and regardless of whether there are any students near or in the bus, will receive a citation. Unfortunately, the TVB is also known for lacking any care for context, and in most cases does not even offer a motorist an opportunity to explain extenuating circumstances that may have led to a violation. And even if they do, they are under no obligation to take such things into account when making a decision.

So, with regards to our client, we actually managed to get in contact with the driver of the bus in question. And thankfully that driver was more than willing to cooperate with our case. We actually would like to thank that driver for taking the time to stand up for an innocent motorist, but in all honesty, their willingness to get involved is probably indicative of just how victimized most New Yorkers now feel by these systems. Our client received a letter directly from the driver, which was then notarized and presented to the TVB as part of the proceedings.

They wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. The TVB advised that they did not want to consider that piece of evidence, and simply wanted our client to pay. And this is an example of yet another “sketchy” tactic that NY and the TVB system has employed in recent years with regards to these systems. As we discussed in the previous article, most reasonable residents of NYS have come to the conclusion that these systems are meant to be a revenue driver for the counties, and not truly a safety measure. And because these are attachments of civil liability and not criminal charges, there can be no enforcement of penalties on a motorist’s driving privileges.

So the end result is an argument from the TVB that one should simply pay up and go away. The process for actually defeating a ticket is made so unfair, and nuance so readily dismissed within the process, that the argument is effectively “Just pay up and go away. It will be cheaper and easier, and you will not get any points on your license. Just give up and pay us.” If this sounds like a bit of light extortion, we are not inclined to change your opinion on that.

Thankfully, some people are more interested in procuring proper justice than giving in to tactics like this, and our client was one of them. We also have a strongly vested interest in promoting proper due process here in New York, as we believe that the true calling of any legal practitioner is to do everything in their power to ensure that the law is practiced properly at every level. So instead of backing down at this juncture, we instead arranged for the bus driver himself to appear via zoom at a hearing. And to make a long story short, we won this case.

It really bears some reflection though. Is it truly in the best interests of the people of NY to be put through a sequence of events like this, just to achieve a base standard of justice that they are legally entitled to? Is the cost to our people not greater than the monetary benefit to the county governments? This isn’t even taking into account the fact that a great deal of that money is going to Verra Mobility themselves, a company that isn’t even a New York company. We believe that you deserve better than this, and that is why we will gladly continue to fight against it alongside all of you. It is in all of our interests to stand up and say “no, we will not be taken advantage of”.