In New York City, people can make money for reporting commercial vehicles left idling without a driver, according to an NBC4 New York report cited by BusinessFleet.
Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio's (D) "Citizens Air Complaint Program," which was publicized in his final days in office to push his climate agenda, a commercial truck or bus can be fined for idling for more than three minutes. That drops to one minute in a school zone.
Donald Blair of New York City has already made six figures from reporting idling vehicles, says the report. So far, he's been paid $55,000 and has another $70,000 on the way. Under the rules of the 2019 law, vehicle owners can be fined $250 or more, while the citizen reporting the idling gets $87.50 (or one-quarter of each issued fine).
Blair belongs to a group of watchdogs that calls itself the IDLE Warriors, according to the NBC4 story. There are approximately 60 New Yorkers involved in the group.
Last year, almost 11,500 idling tickets were issued, more than double the 5,000 given out in 2019 before the law took effect, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
Check out the entire report here, including how the vigilante law works.
Source: BusinessFleet
