Earlier this week, numerous taxi drivers complained to the City of Newburgh Council that city police are ticketing them for illegally double parking (story here). The cabbies demanded that laws be changed to allow them to park and block lanes of traffic. The Newburgh News adamantly opposes this request.
First, if the taxi drivers are so angry about being ticketed, there is one simple solution: Stop breaking the law. If they oppose the law, taking up the issue with a legislative body such as the City Council is the proper course of action. In the meantime, the police are not wrong in enforcing the laws. Instead, the police should expand this enforcement to include all personal vehicles since this is becoming an worsening problem in the City of Newburgh.
The City Council has a difficult task ahead of themselves in conjuring up a decision. Either way they decide, some people will be satisfied and others will be outraged. In the field of politics, it is impossible to make everyone happy. In controversial issues like this, the Council must consider both sides of the debate, the safety of all of its citizens, and any possible liabilities to the city government.
For the taxi drivers and their passengers, it is a matter of convenience. If there are no parking spots available in front of their pickup location, the taxi drivers do not believe they should be made to park down the road. The cabbies believe other drivers should be inconvenienced and forced to wait behind them or dangerously maneuver around.
There is a serious safety aspect to this. Taxi passengers would be put in danger as they are entering or exiting the cabs parked in the middle of the road. Traffic would already be swerving around the taxi and would then risk hitting the pedestrians in the roadway. When this happens, who becomes liable? Nothing safe can come of this.
Double parking is often done in New York City, but their roads are multiple lanes wide. In the City of Newburgh, most streets (except Broadway) are typically one lane in each direction, plus shoulders for parking on each side.
Taxis are not emergency vehicles. They are not school buses. They simply do not have a justified reason to impede on the rights of other motorists attempting to travel through their own lanes of traffic.
Emergency vehicles and school buses contain legally mandated lighting equipment for the purpose of stopping traffic. When their vehicles are actively blocking traffic, they are required to activate their lighting equipment. This is done for safety so other motorists or pedestrians do not get hit by traffic. Taxi cabs do not have emergency lighting equipment because they are not designated as vehicles that can obstruct the flow of traffic.
Highway engineers have often explained that they have two purposes when designing roadways: To keep traffic flowing and doing so safely. Lanes of traffic are intended for traffic to flow through, not for taxi cabs to stop and wait while their passengers finish taking a shower or making a shopping list.
Both sides of the dilemma must be considered by the City Council. Every action has a reaction. The issue does not just impact the taxi drivers and their passengers. Allowing taxi drivers to park in lanes of traffic is likely to infuriate many motorists trying to navigate through the city.
It is not fair to the large amount of motorists trying to drive through to make them wait while a taxi driver earns a few extra bucks. Everyone’s time is worth something – not just the taxi drivers.
