Filed Date: 8/16/1988
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Jerome J. Jacobson, Esq. Village Attorney, Westfield
You have asked whether the enforcement of a village's parking regulations is governed by the Criminal Procedure Law.
Your letter notes that the Village of Westfield wishes to enact regulations which prohibit parking along a private roadway on the grounds of the Westfield Memorial Hospital. You have asked (1) whether the village can issue a parking ticket of its own design for violations of the new regulation; (2) whether the village can set the fine for violations of the parking regulation; and (3) whether the village can allow a motorist to mail in the fine at the time he or she pleads guilty.
Regulation of motor vehicles has been preempted by the State (Vehicle and Traffic Law, §§
With regard to the design of the ticket, we believe the village has authority to create its own design. Under the Vehicle and Traffic Law, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles has authority to prescribe the form of a uniform traffic summons and complaint (Vehicle and Traffic Law, §
Section
"It is a traffic infraction for any person to violate any of the provisions of this chapter or of any local law, ordinance, order, rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this chapter, unless such violation is by this chapter or other law of this state declared to be a misdemeanor or a felony" (id., § 1800 [a]).
Local parking regulations, inasmuch as they are enacted pursuant to the delegation of authority from the State under sections
"Every person convicted of a traffic infraction for a violation of any local law, ordinance, order, rule, regulation or administrative code provision adopted pursuant to this chapter by any local authority or continued in effect by this chapter . . . shall be punished in the same manner as has heretofore been prescribed by law unless or until otherwise prescribed by local law, ordinance or state statute" (id., § 1800[c]).
This section gives the village authority to establish penalties for violation of its parking regulations. Any penalties established by local law must, of course, have a reasonable relationship to the severity of the violation and should not be abhorrent to a sense of justice or shocking to the conscience (People ex rel. Siegal v Dros,
Furthermore, as we have found in the past, the procedure for adjudication of traffic infractions is established by the Criminal Procedure Law (§§ 1.20 [5] [b], 100.25, 170.10) and the Vehicle and Traffic Law (§§ 1800-1809; 1986 Op Atty Gen [Inf] 62; 1985 Op Atty Gen [Inf] 153). The provisions of section
We conclude that a village may create a summons of its own design for violations of parking regulations. A village may establish fines for violations of parking regulations but may not permit payment of a fine, in accordance with an established fine schedule, by mail along with a plea of guilty to the offense.