6/01/2010
The subway
I remarked to my wife last night that the New York subway is an extraordinary source of erroneous legal knowledge. My favorite example is the sign explaining to patrons that failing to give up your seat to the elderly, pregnant or otherwise disabled is a violation of the law (it is not - the only relevant law, to my knowledge, requires the government to provide such seats, not for individuals to get up). Just on a super-quick, lunch time read of the code, it also appears that the signs admonishing citizens that both toy guns painted like real guns and real guns painted like toys are illegal is wrong, as I don't see the latter provision here. And the ads for various personal injury lawyers are a gold mine.
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2 comments:
Repainting the gun in "toy style" would most likely qualify as "defacing" under Section 10-309.
And the city code states: "No person shall refuse or fail to relinquish a seat on a conveyance which has been designated as “PRIORITY SEATING,” “WHEELCHAIR PRIORITY SEATING” or words of similar import, if requested to do so by or on behalf of a person with a disability..." You could go to jail for ten days! See http://www.mta.info/nyct/rules/rules.htm (and in particular the authorization for prosecution).
Better not let your summers see this post.
The one that annoys me most, and that I KNOW is erroneous legally, is the one declaring "sexual harassment is a crime." It's not. In fact, if it doesn't occur in a workplace or school, it's not even a civil cause of action. What IS a crime is sexual assault, which seems to be what the ad actually means (as it refers to "an improper touch"), but I find it extremely infuriating to speak of assault as "harassment."
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