N.Y. Smoke Test Fines on Hold
Enforcement of New York’s truck emissions testing was set to begin Feb. 1, but because so few repair facilities have applied to become testing centers, state officials decided to push back the deadline to June.
Under the state program, truck drivers are assessed the fines, not the carriers. But drivers have the opportunity to reduce the penalty — to $150 for first violations and $500 for subsequent violations — if they get the problem fixed and the truck passes a re-test within 30 days at an official inspection station.
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The New York Department of Transportation and state police have been conducting random roadside exhaust checks since June 1999. Feb. 1 marked the date when heavy fines were set to start for trucks that failed the pollution tests — $700 for the first violation and $1,300 for subsequent failures.
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The snag is that there are just 40 such inspection facilities, 38 of which are within the New York City metropolitan area.
