A sign of things to come

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/09/fdny-set-to-implement-crash-tax/

The debts are going to cause problems in more ways than one.

I don't have a problem with this. From what I've experienced most vehicle accidents in NYC happen with drivers from outside the city. Why should a city where most people don't own a car subsidize everyone's accidents. If nothing else maybe it will make people think twice before they call 911 and ask them to send out a small army for a minor fender bender. A lot of people think that if they tell 911 there's an injury the police will come sooner. Now in addition to a patrol car you have atleast one ambulance and one or two trucks. These things don't come free.

I'm surprised they didn't charge before...I think it's pretty common across the country for fire and emergency services to charge for responding to accidents or fires.

I wasn't for sure what most states did in these situations. But what if someone hits you and its not your fault? Would the person who got hit have to pay?

Ft. Lauderdale has been billing for ambulance rides for quite a while. Don't know about accident responce. Judging from how often they come screaming past my house, probably not a bad idea. CWH, the Ultra Dork also known as Charles W. Hanlon.

The FDNY says: “We want to relieve pressure on the taxpayer and place it on those at fault and their insurance. Right now if you’re at fault at an accident or a vehicle fire, you get a free ride. And that should not be borne by the taxpayers.”

But under the plan, you’ll get charged even if the accident isn’t your fault.

I take little issue with an additional financial penalty for those at fault - screw-up = pay-up. But, charging the victims is nothing more than a ploy to make-up for budget shortfalls and will further clog an overwhelmed judicial process.

At least I can still get some nice greasy, salty fries in NYC...........

Oh, wait

I pay several thousand dollars in taxes every year to the local city and county. I have been paying it for 25 years. I have never called the fire department. If they tried to send me a bill I would probably deposit it on the mayors desk and tell him to take it out of the $50K I have already paid. If NYC is pissing away so much money on other services that they can't afford the fire department they might want to reevaluate their priorities.

I'm with Toyman01 on this one.

They can't manage their budgets, so they penalize the victims, including the ones not at fault.

Pitiful.

By that logic, it should be acceptable for me to show up to a car wreck and refuse to pull someone out until he gives me a couple of hundred dollars, simply because I don't know how I'm gonna pay my Visa bill.

Public servant hired guns working for the accounting department.

My city had proposed a plan but was it has been shelved for the time being.

What was proposed was if there was a accident in which a out of community (i.e. NOT a resident of the city) person was at fault, they got a invoice for services rendered.

It was proposed that way so the residents of the city didn't get charged for services they felt they had already paid for with their taxes and non-residents didn't get services that they hadn't paid anything for.

The rationale was that most insurances would pay for the invoice.

People drive in NYC? Who the hell would do that?

It seems to be a firly common practice outside of the city. I had an accident near my house in Poughkeepsie. The fire truck was volunteer and didn't send a bill but the ambulance company charged $1200 for a 20 min ride. The reason the city is in the mess it's in is that everyone expects the best of everything for nothing. They've been trying forever to get us to make the buses and trains free.