For the past decade, the Syracuse University Department of Public Safety (DPS) has had authority under the New York State Criminal Procedure Law to issue New York State “uniform traffic tickets” for violations of the state’s Vehicle and Traffic Law. These tickets have been used as part of an overall strategy to improve pedestrian safety, as well as bicycle and vehicle safety, both on Syracuse University owned/operated roads and on the public roadways adjacent to, cutting through or connecting university properties. Drivers who have received such tickets have been required to address the citations through Syracuse City Court. Convictions for moving violation tickets typically include fines and points on a driver’s license.
In an effort to improve the pedestrian and vehicle safety efforts at the university, and to increase the educational process for drivers, DPS has recently created “warning tickets”, and additionally, Parking and Transit Services and the DPS have jointly updated the University vehicle ticketing system to include four moving violations; Imprudent Speed, Passing a Stop Sign, Failing to Wear a Seat Belt and Cell Phone Use While Driving. The goal of the ticket system update is to increase safety by reducing speeding, unsafe driving and distracted driving on campus roads. The ticket system will also continue to be used for parking violations.
University moving violation tickets issued by DPS under the updated system will be administered by Parking and Transit Services and fines of $100.00 will be imposed for each violation. There are no points added to a driver’s license for these types of tickets. These tickets may only be issued on university owned or operated roads, not on city streets, where the issuance of warnings and New York State uniform traffic tickets will remain in use by DPS.
There is no quota associated with the ticket system, and the new tickets will only be issued on campus, and are intended to be used at the discretion of the DPS officers on patrol.