A new state law that went into effect on Tuesday makes an attack on a traffic agent a second-degree assault. The Class D felony carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
Before the change in the law, assaulting one of the city's 2,800 traffic agents was a misdemeanor carrying up to one year in jail. It was a felony only if the agent was seriously injured.
There have been about 50 attacks on traffic agents so far this year compared with 60 in all of 2007.
