Should you get a ticket for a snowy car?

So you've finally had to get your winter driving on. We, too, were lulled by December and January. Surely there's no need to remind drivers to clear their cars of snow and ice before they maneuver along slippery roads. From what we've seen this short winter — snow-covered cars driving down the highway spewing icy blobs along the way — a refresher is needed.

For years now, the state Legislature's pretty much ignored, or assigned to death-by-committee, a variety of bills that would mandate fines for those who drove vehicles with roofs piled high with snow and ice.

One bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, D-Yonkers, would make it a violation to drive a vehicle on a public thoroughfare with an "accumulation of snow, sleet or hail on the roof or cargo of the vehicle in excess of three inches." Revenue from the fines would help fund a safety campaign to remind drivers of the dangers of ice falling from uncleaned vehicles. Fines would also cover the cost of setting up special roadside stations so truckers can keep snow and ice off their rigs.

Mayer has worked to get legislation through every year since she took office in 2012; then-Assemblyman and now-Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano carried the bill before that. Mayer said there are other paths to addressing a snow-removal mandate; for example, the governor could include money for snow-clearing stations at truck and rest stops.

So far this session, Mayer's bill is stuck in the Assembly's transportation committee and there's no "same as" in the Senate. “We would be very wise, sooner rather than later, to enact some laws to deal with it before we really regret (it),” Mayer told the Editorial Board.

We had a close call last year on the Tappan Zee Bridge. A 23-year-old Valhalla man received dozens of stitches to close a gaping wound on his forehead after a chunk of ice came crashing through the windshield of his Subaru.

Even though New York has no law mandating snow and ice removal from vehicles, damage after-the-fact can earn a violation. "You are responsible for things in or on your vehicle," New York State Police Sgt. William Collins said last February after state police (unsuccessfully) sought the trucker whose rig shed the iceblock that caused havoc on the bridge.

New Hampshire and Pennsylvania laws include fines of up to $1,000 for accumulation that causes injury or property damage.

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So far, just New Jersey and Connecticut impose fines for drivers whose vehicles are covered with snow — proactive instead of reactive penalties.

The Massachusetts and Pennsylvania legislatures are weighing bills that would cite a driver with a snow- and ice-covered vehicle; the Pennsylvania legislation came after Christine Lambert was killed on Christmas Day, 2005, when a chunk of ice from a tractor-trailer crashed through her SUV's windshield.

We may not (yet) have a law that mandates clearing your vehicle's roof. But that's hardly a reason not to take a few extra minutes and make sure you're not commandeering an ice- and snow-piled vehicle on slippery roads.