Exclusive | Bronx drivers bypass rules of the road to avoid $250 fines, save parking spots

Big Apple drivers are trying to steer clear of pricy parking tickets — and curb people from taking their spots.Some Bronx motorists are getting creative to avoid $250 tickets now that about 1,000 MTA buses are equipped with cameras to capture the license plates of cars blocking bus lanes.A video shared online showed a row of vehicles illegally parked in a bus lane on Webster Avenue were sitting with their trunks popped open, their license plates facing the sky, in a bid to evade the cameras.“POV: You’re avoiding a bus lane ticket in NYC,” one TikToker shared last Sunday.Some were impressed by the move.“This is actually genius,” one woman marveled in the comments on the clip, which got 150,000 views.“If only my plate was mounted on the trunk and not the bumper,” one man lamented.Others slammed the brakes on the trunk idea.

“You will not win the fight against a bus ticket,” one woman advised.“I close trunks doing this,” one TikTok user warned.Other plates have been seen with towels covering them to keep them from getting photographed.Fines for obscuring license plates to prevent them from being captured by cameras can be even higher than the bus lane ticket itself — in place since June, they range from $100 to $500.Repeat offenders with three or more convictions within five years face a 90-day suspension of their registration, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.Avoiding bus lanes isn’t the only savvy move by city drivers.On Monday, the same TikToker shared a video of a seemingly fake fire hydrant that had toppled over on a NYC sidewalk.

“People put fake hydrants in front of their houses so you won’t park there,” she wrote, adding, “Me wondering why there are 5 hydrants on one block.”...