New York Criminal Attorney Blog

Imagine you are laying in intensive care in a New York City hospital awaiting a life-saving heart transplant. Without the transplant, you will die. Now imagine a donor heart becomes available; it is flown in by helicopter as the members of your transplant team are notified to head to the hospital. The problem is, the surgeons and other specialists are not permitted to utilize red emergency lights or disobey certain traffic laws to speed their trip to the hospital even though your life hangs in the balance.

One would think that if an officer pulled over a surgeon for speeding on his or her way to a hospital for a medical emergency that the officer would escort the doctor to the hospital. Indeed, officers are taught that preserving life is always their first priority. Unfortunately, I have heard far too many complaints from doctors pulled over for speeding on their way to an emergency who, instead of receiving an escort from the officer, were delayed while the officer wrote a speeding ticket. Something is very wrong with a system that rightfully allows the Emergency Medical Technicians (paramedics) who drive the ambulance the dying patient is in to disregard certain traffic laws and regulations (VTL 1104) but does not extend the same privileges to the doctor who will perform those life saving procedures. Indeed, even sanitation patrol vehicles may disregard certain traffic laws and utilize emergency lighting and sirens. In other words, glorified garbage men have more priority than doctors in route to save a life. (See VTL 101 & 1104).

However, there might be legal way to classify a doctor’s vehicle as an authorized emergency vehicle thus allowing him or her to disregard certain traffic rules and regulation and to also utilize red emergency lighting. In People v. Levy, 188 Misc.2d 103, 727 N.Y.S.2d 248 (2001), the Appellate Term for the Second Department held that a volunteer ambulance service member’s vehicle qualified as “emergency ambulance service vehicle” as defined in VTL 101 because the defendant produced uncontroverted proof that the vehicle was affiliated with a volunteer ambulance service. Specifically, the defendant produced a dashboard placard showing that his vehicle was affiliated with a local private ambulance service.

In previous blogs I discussed the reduced speed limits in work zones as well as the definition of a work area. As discussed, many White Plains speeding tickets are issued in the work zone along I-287. Much of the highway work is done by members of The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) of which I am a member in good standing. Prior to becoming a criminal attorney I worked through Local 731 of LIUNA and to this day I still pay my monthly dues and carry my “card”.

As we approach and pass through construction zones, all of us have seen flagpersons either redirecting the flow of traffic or advising oncoming traffic of hazards and the need to slowdown. Basically, a flagperson is one employed by the state, municipalities, local authorities, public authorities including public utility companies or individuals working for companies under contract with such state agencies who have been assigned to direct and control traffic on public highways in connection with any construction or maintenance work. A flagperson is also one employed to direct traffic at railroad crossings and who has been authorized to direct traffic in connection with escort vehicles operating on a public highway (See VTL § 115-b for the exact definition of “flagperson”).

I have worked as a flagperson and I can state from experience that it is one of the more dangerous jobs. The flagperson is generally in the line of traffic and most drivers don’t’ realize that a flagperson has the same authority as a police officers in terms of directing traffic. (See VTL § 1102). Lately, however, most municipalities now station police officers at construction zones on local streets to help slow down the traffic flow. Nevertheless, a motorist must comply with a lawful direction or order of a flagperson whether a police officer is present or not. (VTL § 1102).