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Lawmakers push for GPS change to stop drivers from hitting Onondaga Lake Parkway bridge


The Onondaga Lake Parkway bridge is the site of bridge strikes by buses, trucks and other commercial vehicles.{p}{/p}{p}(CNY Central photo){/p}
The Onondaga Lake Parkway bridge is the site of bridge strikes by buses, trucks and other commercial vehicles.

(CNY Central photo)

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Onondaga County legislator Judy Tassone represents constituents in the Village of Liverpool, and the towns of Salina, Clay and Geddes.

Parts of the county near the state-owned Onondaga Lake Parkway and the CSX railroad bridge above it.

"When people are traveling on the parkway, they use a regular GPS which does not let them know that there is a height restriction ahead which causes a lot of accidents," said Tassone at Tuesday's legislature session.

This is an issue Mike Carter brought to us last November. He’s a retired big rig driver from Baldwinsville, who proposed a simple solution.

"With the trucker's GPS, this will say 'permanently avoid,' and I can hit this button, and it will totally never bring me on this road again," said Carter, showing CNY Central his commercial GPS.

Now, that idea could turn into action. Republican Judy Tassone pitched a memorializing resolution to her fellow legislators Tuesday, to push the state to get commercial drivers this technology instead of map phone apps or a regular car GPS.

It passed 11-to-5, but not without some pushback from lawmakers who say this doesn't go far enough.

"I'm going to be voting against this because I've got no information," said legislator William Kinne, and then legislator Linda Ervin added "the concept is fine, but I think it's kind of useless to put a piece of paper together and hope that something's going to happen."

MARY KIELAR QUESTION: Did you expect the pushback that you got from some of your colleagues?
JUDY TASSONE ANSWER: Oh my g-d, are you kidding, no! No, it's safety, that's what we're all here for is to take care of our constituents.

If state lawmakers buy into this, it could mean saving you money. Tassone says the state spends at least $15 million dollars repairing damage to bridges after crashes each year.

This locally-proposed and now adopted memorializing resolution speaks to a statewide problem. Data suggests that more than 200 bridge strikes happen in New York state every year.

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