Bigger fines proposed for parking ban scofflaws

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This article was published 06/10/2021 (1629 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CITY of Winnipeg officials are seeking higher fines in an effort to convince residents to stop violating a key parking ban that aims to clear the way for snowplows.

A new report proposes to increase the fine to $200, from $150, for those who leave vehicles on residential streets while a residential parking ban is in effect.

The city has seen more and more violations in recent winters — adding soaring costs to tow cars out of the way — increasing the need to deter scofflaws, said Michael Cantor, Winnipeg manager of streets maintenance.

“I don’t know how to explain it… It seems like the ticket is not high enough,” said Cantor. “Vehicles staying on those streets (are) just preventing us from providing the service we are intended to do.”

The city issued 923 tickets for such parking violations in 2018, 2,156 in 2019, and 1,220 in 2020.

The city often provides “courtesy tows” to drivers who break the rules, pulling their vehicles just off the street to make room for plows. Cantor said that occurred nearly 12,200 times in January alone.

The cost for such towing soared to $483,449 in 2021 (so far) from $117,880 in 2018.

“Over the last few years, you can see the cost went up… significantly, and it’s attributed to decreased compliance over the years,” said Cantor.

Parking officials are also expected to use automated licence plate recognition to more quickly levy the fines this winter. That process, which results in tickets being mailed out, is much quicker than issuing manual fines and should allow enforcement to cover a much greater area, said Cantor.

One Winnipeg driver said he supports increasing the ticket price, should council approve it, since residents have a responsibility to follow snow-clearing rules.

“If they park on the street, they need to know what their (snow) zone is… Raising the rate is maybe a way to teach people a lesson,” said Derek Rolstone.

Rolstone said he opposes mailing out tickets, however, as he believes getting instant notice of a fine is more effective in changing behaviour.

It’s not clear whether council would approve the fine hike.

Coun. Matt Allard, public works committee chairman, said he supports using technology to speed up the ticketing process but not increasing the penalty itself.

Allard said he’ll propose councillors delete the fine hike from the proposal, possibly referring it for later consideration. He argued most Winnipeggers who violate the parking ban either forgot about it or were never aware it was in effect.

“I think most Winnipeggers would not park their car on a street if they knew there (was) going to be a $150-ticket consequence to it,” he said.

While the councillor said the city does a good job educating residents about snow clearing, he’d also like civic staff to consider adding new signs to warn drivers about parking bans.

Meanwhile, the public service is also proposing to add some streets that are adjacent to schools to its residential parking ban area, to allow enhanced snow clearing.

“We want to include them as part of the residential parking ban… to completely clear them curb to curb, especially the parking lanes. I think that is going to be providing much better service on the streets,” said Cantor.

The public works committee will consider the report Oct. 12.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga