Why We Need Parking Tickets
In our ideal world today, parking violations are an issue of critical importance. These violations are often the end product of a limited number of on-street parking resources that must be fairly distributed among many visitors every day.
While rules are instituted to manage these violations, they are still not followed well. Hence, the introduction of fines. While numerous drivers ignore these tickets as censures for poor parking, parking tickets are a genuine offense.
As a rule, drivers are issued one since they have left their vehicle unattended in a space that places others at serious risk. In this post, we will be talking about parking tickets, what they are and how you may be guilty of receiving one and most importantly, why we need these tickets.
So what are parking tickets?
Regardless of whether you neglected to place your quarters in the meter or abandoned your vehicle for more than you expected, seeing a rippling piece of paper pushed under your windshield wiper can cause even the most amiable driver to murmur under their breath.
Parking tickets can be described as a crucial management tool that we use to manage the city’s infrastructure to serve the needs of residents, businesses, institutions and visitors who need space for some reason.
Parking tickets are issued by police officers, traffic wardens employed by the police, parking attendants employed by the council, or any other authorized government officials.
How might I receive a parking ticket?
Although these parking fines are not treated as criminal offences, they are often known as a “penalty charge notice” or a “parking penalty charge.” A parking ticket can be issued in the following ways.
- A parking ticket could be handed over to you by a civil enforcement officer or traffic warden or fixed to your car
- A parking ticket can be issued at the same time your car is getting clamped or removed by the traffic warden.
- A parking ticket can also be issued to you by post. This may occur in situations whereby the offense was caught on CCTV camera, or perhaps you prevented the enforcement officer from giving you notice in the first instance or you drove away when the enforcement officer was issuing you the notice.
Besides, enforcement officers have the right to clamp your car when you violate any parking rule.
Why do we need parking tickets?
As traffic wardens, it is their duty to keep junctions free of parked cars so that motorists can have a clear and concise view of traffic and pedestrians, while pedestrians, on the other hand, can see when it is safe to cross.
You might have temporarily or permanently parked your car somewhere thinking you have kept to the parking rules, and also have no ill will towards your fellow motorist or pedestrian.
But then, by accident, you’ve violated a rule. Not only do you have to deal with your parking tickets (fines), the infringement might get stuck on your record.
Below are the instances where a parking ticket may be issued to you.
- Failure to pay for a parking space
This is inarguably one of the most common reasons why you get a parking ticket. Personally, it may happen in two situations:
- Parking a car for a short while. Maybe to get something from the store or a roadside shop.
- Parking a car in a place that has no sign of humanity around.
But the truth is that it doesn’t matter where you park your car, the authorities will find you and issue you a parking ticket.
- Failure to use or set a parking time
Buying a parking space is one thing; displaying your ticket is another. It is essential to keep your card on the dashboard of your car. This card shows your arrival time, which is always advisable to set your arrival time to the next half hour. For example, if you arrive at 12:20, you should set your arrival time on the card to 12:30.
You can use a digital tool that has a motion sensor to automatically record your park time in case you forget to set it manually after you park.
- When your parking time runs out
If you exceed the parking time you bought, you will get a parking ticket in this scenario. The best way to stay out of this is to set the alarm on your phone to remind you if you forget.
- When your car is packed behind the parking signpost
If your car is parked outside the parking zone, you will definitely get a ticket. There are usually two signposts on the streets where parking is allowed, and these signposts indicate the starting and ending point of the parking zone.
But what if the parking zone is full of cars? Or there is enough space behind the signposts, or perhaps you are not blocking anything if you park your car behind the signposts. In situations like this, do not, for any reason, attempt to park your car because if you do, you’ll be fined for violation of parking rules. So, be careful.
- You can get a parking ticket if your car is parked in the wrong direction
Parking your car in your allotted space is one thing, parking in the right direction is another. When parking your car, you must park in the direction of traffic.
- Date Parking
The road authority assigns a day to clean the road. So, they forbid parking on the road on these certain days. But if you park your car on the road on these said days, you will certainly get a parking ticket. You can set a reminder on your calendar once you know when the cleaning routine is.
- Parking outside the parking space
There are defined parking spaces circled (with a white rectangle in some cities) to accommodate just a single car. If your car is parked outside these defined spaces, you will get a parking ticket.
What happens when you don’t pay your parking ticket on time?
- Increasing fines
Speaking of parking tickets, they are basic fines you are required to pay for breaking or violating a parking rule. Although it shouldn’t surprise you as paying fees is one of the most common forms of punishment in legal and highway codes.
Parking tickets can be frustrating, especially the way the fees add up over time. Although parking tickets don’t cost wild amounts of money, it may be a larger fine than you can pay comfortably. But unfortunately, trying to justify your inability to pay the fines right away can be inconvenient because the more you wait, the worse it gets. You may have to pay extra money for late payments and also interest on the initial fine.
- Interstate Summons
You might think you can get away with a fine when you move away from the state where you got a ticket. It might actually get worse because the police officers in the state you left will definitely share your information with other officers in your new residence. And once you are caught, it will be an ugly situation.
- It impacts your credit score negatively
Leaving a parking ticket unpaid also affects your credit score negatively. At times, your state may decide to hand things over to debt collection agencies who will chase you for payment.
Another situation is if you don’t pay for your parking ticket from a private company. The bank and credit card companies are going to be involved and when that happens, have it at the back of your mind that your credit score is about to have a serious dent.
A clean credit score is crucial to acquiring properties, renting, obtaining a loan, and so many things. You will not want to leave your parking ticket unpaid.
- Your license may be suspended
It is worth noting that a single parking ticket will usually not lead to a suspended license. Rather, a parking ticket with other minor traffic violations could lead to license suspension.
- Your car might be towed
Let’s say you’ve avoided parking tickets for a good time, and you’re cool about not paying your fine; your car can get towed. Just imagine you losing your car and eventually having to pay more than you owe. And in some cases, you may lose your vehicle entirely if the fines are way too much. Your car may be put on auction. And yes, some state government supports that.
As we earlier mentioned, parking citations are a serious offense, and drivers should avoid getting booked. More so, if you obviously deserve the ticket, such as stopping in a no-packing or road-cleaning zone, you should pay for the ticket and get over it. On the off chance that you didn’t, you ought to rapidly file an appeal, so the issue gets sorted quickly.
But putting all these into consideration, avoiding parking tickets is really not worth it, and I’m sure you will agree with us.
