I have received more parking tickets in the past year than in the previous 20 years of driving. I have not changed my habits or parking in different places. I believe it is extra enforcement because of the tight city and town budgets. So, how do they get revenue? Start writing tickets.
I have received eight tickets from six different towns. One time I just stopped by for two minutes to drop something off and got nailed. Another time, I paid for two hours (at 25 cents every 15 minutes) and received a ticket at 12 minutes past the two hour limit.
Technically I am guilty. I get it. I don’t have a leg to stand on in court. Yes, I was over the limit. I almost always pay for parking. I run late every now and then. But there is no leeway anymore. It is just part of the harsh attitudes people (via government) have towards one another these days.
The other thing that is oppressive about parking tickets is they give you 30 days to pay or it doubles. If you are late beyond 60 days, it doubles again. Plus the tickets themselves have gone up. I regularly pay $25 a ticket — wait a few months and it can be $100. Just for an extra 10 minutes! It is horrible.
Again, I know I am guilty of ‘stealing time from the parking spots.’ So I have to pay. But what happened to a little leniency? I am not intentionally trying to get one over — most of my tickets have come from doing a bit more work or shopping in the stores. I have actually stopped going to certain towns to shop because of the parking. I have started shopping in towns with free parking or those without these over-zealous parking commissioners.
Maybe in the long run the revenue from lost sales taxes (because less people will want to deal with the parking) will overcome the extra parking violations. Or maybe not. But it seems like this policy is just one more way of the government taking money from people and creating nothing of value to help the economy.
Unintended consequences?
