New York City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal has proposed a law to pay citizens for reporting idling drivers.
The proposed law, Int 0717-2015, called ‘Citizen Enforcement of Idling Vehicles’ reads as follows:
This bill would require the Department of Environmental Protection to set up a page on their website where individuals could submit video to the Department of violations of the City’s anti-idling law. For those videos that lead to a civil penalty for the violator, the individual who submitted the video would be entitled to 50% of the civil penalty amount. It would also raise the fine amounts for a first violation of the City’s anti-idling law by approximately 50%. Finally, it would require the Department of Environmental Protection to hold training sessions on the requirements for submission of successful complaint regarding the violation of the City’s anti-idling law.
According to the proposal, citizens will be able to record a video of an idling vehicle and upload it to a government website, entitling them to half of the fine received.
The most profitable ventures for New Yorkers looking to cash in on the proposed law will be from targeting tractor trailers. According to New York State’s Heavy Duty Vehicle Idling Laws ( 6 NYCRR, Subpart 217-3 ), fines for idling heavy-duty vehicles can range from $500 to $18,000 for a first offense, whereas fines for idling cars are $250 for the first offense.
