Is it Illegal to Pile Leaves on the Street in New York State?

Are Hudson Valley homeowners breaking the law by piling leaves on the street and not their lawn?

Many municipalities across the region are hard at work driving from neighborhood to neighborhood collecting leaves. As the foliage continues to fall, New Yorkers are hard at work raking and blowing them up to the curb so they can be sucked up before the snow begins to fall.

I've been a homeowner for over 25 years, and every year I blow my leaves up to the street and watch them blow right back when the wind kicks in. I've just come to accept that the frustrating battle is just part of the fall experience in the Hudson Valley.

But in all of my years of collecting leaves for pickup, I never knew that I could actually be breaking the law.

Why Blow Leaves Onto the Street in New York?

If you drive through my neighborhood the day before leaf pickup, you'll find yourself surrounded by huge piles of foliage. It's like piloting a tie-fighter through the trench of the Death Star. High and wide piles of leaves fill much of the street, making it difficult for two cars to pass each other, let alone people safely walking through the neighborhood.

The alternative is to leave the piles at the end of your front lawn, but if collection day is still weeks away, the heavy leaves will most certainly kill the law, leaving you with bald spots once spring comes. For that reason, everyone in my neighborhood puts their leaves on the street. But it turns out that we're all criminals.

Is it Illegal to Pile Leaves on the Street in New York State?

According to Vehicle & Traffic Law Section 1219, placing anything on the road that could be a hazard is against the law.

Any person who drops, or permits to be dropped or thrown, upon any highway... any material which interferes with the safe use of the highway shall immediately remove the same or cause it to be removed.

Section 1220 also clearly states that placing "garbage, rubbish or litter" on roadways is punishable by up to a $350 fine or community service.

While it's unlikely that you'll get a visit from the police for your illegal leaf pile, you could find yourself in some serious legal trouble if those leaves lead to someone being injured. Because it's technically against the law, you could be liable if a pedestrian or biker, for example, gets hit by a car in front of your home. They could easily argue that your illegal pile created a hazard that got them injured or killed.

Knowing this, I'm going to have to reconsider my fall landscaping practices and decide if it's really worth the risk. While I live on a very quiet street, others who have homes on busy streets should probably get to work moving their leaf piles back onto their yards right now.