These boots are made for not-drivin'.
Apparently dissatisfied with "boots" that lock the wheels of illegal parking violators, NYPD rolled out a new "windshield boot" last week.
Cops used the yellow device for the first time Thursday when they slapped it on the windshield of a truck parked on a residential street near the Van Wyck Expressway at 9:15 p.m., NYPD said. Drivers cannot park commercial vehicles on residential streets between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.
The "Barnacle Device" latches "onto the glass with 1,000 pounds of force, making forcible removal next to impossible," according to Barnacle Parking, the company that designs it.
Drivers call a phone number or go to a website listed on the device to pay their fine or fines and receive a release code to restore visibility to their windshield, according the company's website. They then must return the "lightweight" Barnacle to a "nearby drop box," the site says.
So far the city has leased four of the devices as part of an initial pilot. NYPD plans to use the Barnacle to "target illegally parked trucks and vehicles with excess fines," a police spokesperson said.
Tonight was the NYPD's 1st deployment of a windshield boot aka the "Barnacle Device." It's used to immobilize vehicles violating parking regulations.
— Chief of Transportation (@NYPDTransport) April 5, 2024
This allows us to hold those accountable, reduce parking congestion & address cars that are a nuisance & hazard to the community. pic.twitter.com/XMkBltOvm9
NYPD, of course, is itself one of the city's most prolific parking violators, as Streetsblog has documented. Department employees routinely block sidewalks, crosswalks and no standing zones, particularly around precinct houses. They get away with it in part thanks to parking placards that essentially signal to enforcement agents to give them a pass.
In other news:
- Monday's eclipse is yet another good reason to avoid NYC auto gridlock. (NY Post)
- Ross Barkan on the "especially inept" mayor's doomed AI fixation: "By most conceivable metrics, Adams’ government is failing."
- Janno Lieber: "We always planned" to give New Jersey money to mitigate adverse congestion pricing impacts. (CBS New York via YouTube)
- NYPD leadership can't quit Daily News columnist Harry Siegel. (Daily News, NYPDChiefPatrol via Twitter)
- The Post thinks congestion pricing is already happening — and that drivers going to the toll zone will park miles away then walk to the train to save $15, contrary to the MTA's forecast.
- ICYMI: John Oliver on the food delivery business. (HBO via YouTube)
- MTA bureaucrat-generated plan to charge NYC Marathon runners bridge tolls ammunition for congestion pricing haters and newspaper columnists. (NY Daily News)
- "Risky" TikTok "hack" suggests driving the wrong way through a parking garage to skirt congestion pricing tolls. (NY Post)
- Fare evasion allegedly hits $700 million annually. (Gothamist)
