One can hardly blame Matis Wolfberg for trying creative ways to sell his legal services, but the Monsey lawyer won't be able to advertise his traffic ticket-beating skills on the New York State Thruway anymore.
Thruway Authority officials yesterday did a U-turn and said they would take down an adopt-a-highway sign near Exit 11 in Nyack that promotes Wolfberg's Web site, NotSpeeding.com.
"The name comes from what most people say when they're stopped for speeding," Wolfberg said yesterday. "It's usually, 'But, Officer, I was not speeding.'"
Wolfberg said he'd seen a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in hits to his Web site in the two months since he paid to put the sign on the southbound side of the toll road, which can get more than 75,000 cars going that direction on any given day.
Because the sign promotes a service designed to beat speeding tickets given out by state police trying to maintain a safe roadway, Thruway officials said they were rescinding the approval they had given.
"It didn't initially alert the staff that reviewed the application," Thruway spokesman Dan Gilbert said of the sign's message. "It isn't consistent with the Thruway's core mission of highway safety. We've instructed that the sign be taken down and will see that the business gets a refund."
Gilbert said he expected the sign to be removed as early as today.
State troopers at the Thruway's police headquarters in Tarrytown yesterday said they had noticed the sign and even checked out the Web site but weren't bothered by it.
"If a trooper is prepared when he goes to a trial," said State Police Sgt. John Maasz, "these strategies don't work, anyway."
Wolfberg wouldn't divulge how much was paid to place the sign, which is the Thruway's version of a program that is successful across the country, trading cleaned highways for a little roadside advertising.
The Thruway, because of limited access, doesn't allow average citizens to pick up trash along its highway, as most other road agencies do.
Agency officials instead chose the strategy of contracting out the cleaning to companies and charge a fee to someone else who wants credit for helping to clean the roadside.
Brian Mahoney, a regular Tappan Zee corridor driver from Bergen County, said he didn't think much of the Thruway's initial approval of Wolfberg's sign.
"You don't adopt a highway for anything other than a good cause," Mahoney said.
The road-cleaning programs across the country allow advertising from for-profit organizations, but Thruway officials after initially saying they didn't have a policy regarding the signs conceded it was up to them to decide if something was appropriate for its 641-mile toll road.
Peter Spadaro of Stony Point goes past the sign about once a week and said he knew right away it was a legal service.
What he didn't know was that the legal service wasn't sponsored by the Thruway just because there was a sign on the roadway.
"If I saw his track record, I might try him out," Spadaro said.
Thruway officials said their objective was to keep their highway clean for as little money as possible and leave the choice of clients primarily to those who do the actual cleaning.
Wolfberg said his services were appropriate and drivers were entitled to representation in traffic court just as any accused person in the judicial system was.
"It's great advertising drivers see it right after they get a ticket," Wolfberg said before the Thruway officials decided against the sign late yesterday. "Most of my clients are hard-working New Yorkers who were driving with the flow of traffic, going for business or pleasure. The bulk of them were not endangering anyone's life."
