parking citations to get more expensive

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Wanna park illegally? You gotta pay more

Read the Somerville Journal article for the full scoop, but the salient details, as of Monday:

• The penalty for parking in the path of a street sweeper increased from $25 to $30


• On Aug. 12, the fines for street-sweeping violations will increase from $30 to $50


• Parking meter violation fines also increased from $15 to $20


• Parking in a bus stop will earn a $25 fine instead of $20.


• Handicapped parking violations will double from $100 to $200


• The distance residents must park their cars from street corners has increased from a minimum of 10 feet to minimum of 12 feet from a street corner, and the fine for violating the minimum distance from a street corner also increased from $20 to $30


• On Aug. 12, the fines for violating snow emergency parking rules will double from $50 to $100


• Fines for permit parking violations will also increase from $30 to $40


• Fines for parking within 10 feet of a fire hydrant, parking in a crosswalk or obstructing fire lanes will also go up from $30 to $50

*boggle* Those are pretty huge increases, all taken together. I'd really like to know what the "must park at least 12 feet from a street corner" thing is all about. Why is 10 feet not good enough anymore?

If I ever move from my current place, I'm not going to any house that doesn't have a driveway I can use. Jesus.

Comments

[rdcf.livejournal.com]

If they really wanted to raise serious cash, they'd park a policeman right in the middle of the Powder House Square rotary, the Pedestrian Rotary of Death (tm) and ticket all the cars who run the red lights and play chicken with the pedestrians.

I walk across that rotary a minimum of 10 times a week. I always push the button, wait for the red light (and for the red light to register with the drivers) and cross in the crosswalk. I average about 4 near misses a week.

One day last week, a guy even went up on the side walk to go around the person stopped at the red light and he nearly run me down in the crosswalk. So admittedly I'm a little bitter.

Red lights

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

From my experience both as a pedestrian and a driver, it seems to be much harder than it should be to notice a full red light when you are used to a blinking red light in the same place. It's a terrible mental blind spot. (That doesn't excuse driving on the sidewalk! But I think it explains a lot of the more normal red-light-running)

I've noticed a few intersections have bright white flashies embedded in the red lights, which seem to call more attention to the red light. I wonder if that would help with this phenomenon.