New York City's Transportation Department has been quietly installing small pedestrian ramps in the middle of streets with no crosswalks. Motorists who fail to see the unmarked ramps are being hit with $165 tickets and sometimes have their cars towed away. Towing fees add another $185 to the parking cost.

"The ramp is not marked with white or yellow," ticket recipient Daniel Wieloszynski told WCBS-TV. "There's no way to know there's a ramp there when you pull in. I have no idea why there would be a pedestrian ramp in the middle of a block where there is no intersection and no light."

One of the mid-block pedestrian ramps WCBS found leads to a dilapidated sidewalk so strewn with garbage that no wheelchair could possibly use it. Nonetheless, anyone parking in the spot is immediately ticketed. Some advocates of disability rights say the mid-block ramps are useless to them because they have no crosswalk.