ASSEMBLY, No. 1183
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION
By Assemblymen DALTON and LeFEVRE
An Act prohibiting unauthorized ground transportation services or businesses at certain facilities of the South Jersey Transportation Authority, providing penalties therefor, and amending P.L.1991, c.252.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 21 of P.L.1991, c.252 (C.27:25A-21) is amended to read as follows:
21. a. Except as otherwise provided in subsection a. of section 19 of this act, no vehicle shall be permitted to make use of any expressway project except upon the payment of the tolls as may from time to time be prescribed by the authority. It shall be unlawful for any person to refuse to pay, or to evade or to attempt to evade the payment of the tolls.
b. No vehicle shall be operated on any project carelessly or recklessly, or in disregard of the rights or safety of others, or without due caution or prudence, or in a manner so as to endanger unreasonably or to be likely to endanger unreasonably persons or property, while the operator thereof is under the influence of intoxicating liquors or any narcotic or habit-forming drug, nor shall any vehicle be so constructed, equipped, lacking in equipment, loaded or operated in such a condition of disrepair as to endanger unreasonably or to be likely to endanger unreasonably persons or property.
c. A person operating a vehicle on any project shall operate at a careful and prudent speed, having due regard to the rights and safety of others and to the traffic, surface and width of the highway, and any other conditions then existing; and no person shall operate a vehicle on any project at a speed as to endanger life, limb or property; except that it shall be prima facie lawful for a driver of a vehicle to operate it at a speed not exceeding a speed limit which is designated by the authority as a reasonable and safe speed limit, when appropriate signs giving notice of that speed limit are erected at the roadside or otherwise posted for the information of operators of vehicles.
d. No person shall operate a vehicle on any project at a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation thereof.
e. No person shall operate a vehicle on any project in violation of any speed limit designated by regulation adopted by the authority.
f. All persons operating vehicles upon any project must at all times comply with any lawful order, signal or direction by voice or hand of any police officer engaged in the direction of traffic upon such project. When traffic on a project is controlled by traffic lights, signs or by mechanical or electrical signals, those lights, signs and signals shall be obeyed unless a police officer directs otherwise.
g. All persons operating vehicles upon any project, or seeking to do so, must at all times comply with regulations, not inconsistent with the other sections of this act, adopted by the authority concerning types, weights and sizes of vehicles permitted to use the project, and with regulations adopted by the authority for or prohibiting the parking of vehicles, concerning the making of turns and the use of particular traffic lanes, together with any and all other regulations adopted by the authority to control traffic and prohibit acts hazardous in their nature or tending to impede or block the normal and reasonable flow of traffic upon the project; except that prior to the adoption of any regulation for the control of traffic on any project, including the designation of any speed limits, the authority shall investigate and consider the need for and desirability of the regulation for the safety of persons and property, including the authority's property, and the contribution which that regulation would make toward the efficient and safe handling of traffic and use of the project, and shall determine that the regulation is necessary or desirable to accomplish the purposes or one or some of them, and that upon or prior to the effective date of the regulation and during its continuance, notice thereof shall be given to the drivers of vehicles by appropriate signs erected at the roadside or otherwise posted. The authority may adopt regulations referred to in this section in accordance with the provisions hereof and in accordance with the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act." Regulations adopted by the authority pursuant to the provisions of this section shall insofar as practicable, having due regard to the features of the project and the characteristics of traffic thereon and except as to maximum or minimum speed limits, be consistent with the provisions of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes applicable to similar subjects. The authority shall have power to amend, supplement or repeal any regulation adopted by it under the provisions of this section. No regulation and no amendment or supplement thereto or repealer thereof adopted by the authority shall take effect until it is filed with the Office of Administrative Law, by the filing of a copy thereof certified by the secretary of the authority.
h. The operator of any vehicle upon a project involved in an incident resulting in injury or death to any person or damage to any property shall immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the incident, render assistance as may be needed, and give his name, address, and operator's license and motor vehicle registration number to the person injured and to any officer or witness of the injury and shall make a report of the incident in accordance with law.
i. No person shall transport in or upon any expressway project, any dynamite, nitroglycerin, black powder, fireworks, blasting caps or other explosives, gasoline, alcohol, ether, liquid shellac, kerosene, turpentine, formaldehyde or other inflammable or combustible liquids, ammonium nitrate, sodium chlorate, wet hemp, powdered metallic magnesium, nitro-cellulose film, peroxides or other readily inflammable solids or oxidizing materials, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, or other corrosive liquids, prussic acid, phosgene, arsenic, carbolic acid, potassium cyanide, tear gas, lewisite or any other poisonous substances, liquids or gases, or any compressed gas, or any radioactive article, substance or material, at a time or place or in a manner or condition as to endanger unreasonably or as to be likely to endanger unreasonably persons or property.
j. If the violation of any provision of this section or the violation of any regulation adopted by the authority under the provisions of this section would have been a violation of law or ordinance if committed on any public road, street or highway in the municipality in which the violation occurred, it shall be tried and punished in the same manner as if it had been committed in that municipality.
k. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection j. of this section, if the violation of the provisions of subsection i. of this section shall result in injury or death to a person or persons or damage to property in excess of the value of $5,000, that violation shall constitute a crime of the third degree.
l. Except as provided in subsection j. [or], k., or q. of this section, any violation of any of the provisions of this section, including but not limited to those regarding the payment of tolls, and any violation of any regulation adopted by the authority under the provisions of this section shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding 30 days or by both. A violation shall be tried in a summary way and shall be within the jurisdiction of and may be brought in the Special Civil Part of the Law Division of the Superior Court or any municipal court in the county where the offense was committed. Proceedings under this section may be instituted on any day of the week, and the institution of the proceedings on a Sunday or a holiday shall be no bar to the successful prosecution thereof. Any process served on a Sunday, or a holiday shall be as valid as if served on any other day of the week. When imposing any penalty under the provisions of this subsection the court having jurisdiction shall be guided by the appropriate provisions of any statute fixing uniform penalties for violation of provisions of the motor vehicle and traffic laws contained in Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.
m. In any prosecution for violating a regulation of the authority adopted pursuant to the provisions of this section, copies of that regulation when authenticated under the seal of the authority by its secretary or assistant secretary shall be evidence in like manner and equal effect as the original.
n. No resolution or ordinance adopted by the governing body of any county or municipality for the control and regulation of traffic shall be applicable to vehicles while upon any expressway project operated by the authority.
o. In addition to any punishment or penalty provided by other subsections of this section, every registration certificate and every license certificate to drive motor vehicles may be suspended or revoked and any person may be prohibited from obtaining a driver's license or a registration certificate and the reciprocity privileges of a nonresident may be suspended or revoked by the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles for a violation of any of the provisions of this section, after due notice in writing of the proposed suspension, revocation or prohibition and the ground thereof, all otherwise in accordance with the powers, practice and procedure established by the provisions of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes applicable to the suspension, revocation or prohibition.
p. Except as otherwise provided by this section or by any regulation of the authority adopted in accordance with the provisions of this section, the requirements of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes applicable to persons using, driving or operating vehicles on the public highways of this State and to vehicles so used, driven or operated shall be applicable to persons using, driving or operating vehicles on any expressway project and to vehicles so used, driven or operated.
q. No person, unless duly authorized by the authority, shall offer, solicit, or provide ground transportation services or businesses in or upon any area, platform, stairway, station, waiting room, or any other appurtenance of any transportation project offering air passenger service owned or operated by the authority. A person violating the provisions of this subsection shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $500 or more than $1,000 or by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 30 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. A second or subsequent offense shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $750 or more than $1,500 or by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 90 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. A violation shall be tried in a summary way in the same manner as provided in subsection l. of this section for other violations of this section.
(c.f: P.L.1991, c.252, s.21.)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit the unauthorized offering, soliciting, or providing of ground transportation services or businesses at the airport facilities operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority and would establish penalties for such violations.
The purpose of this bill is to discourage "hustling" at the Atlantic City International Airport. So-called "hustlers" of ground transportation services often aggressively solicit arriving passengers with offers of rides to various destinations, often at a negotiated price. Hustlers have been known to charge fares far greater than those of legitimate operators, intimidating passengers to pay or risk not having their luggage returned. Hustlers are often not properly insured and operate outside any regulatory environment. In addition, the hustlers conduct an "underground economy" cash business, with obvious tax implications. By diverting passengers from taxis, licensed vans and limousines, hustlers weaken the financial underpinnings of the legitimate ground transportation industries, limiting their opportunities to expand and provide more jobs.
This bill would parallel a similar proposal, Assembly Bill No. 1826 of 1994, which increases penalties for "hustling" at Port Authority of New York and New Jersey facilities.
Prohibits unauthorized ground transportation services at South Jersey Transportation Authority facilities and establishes penalties for violations.