Cars are great inventions….SO much faster than pony express, and horse and buggy, and perhaps a little easier on the street cleaners. Until, however, they make them so they can be folded and popped into our pockets, they will need to go somewhere—hence parking lots and spaces. There’s the rub.
As I sat having dinner in a Georgetown eatery last week with friends, each nervously glancing at their watches to make sure they fed the ever-hungry meters before expiration, I quietly thanked my common sense for pushing me to take a cab. I was almost giddy with the idea that I could be auto-carefree. Let’s face it—especially on a nice evening, parking can be a challenge.
T-minus two minutes to violation, my friend collected quarters and dashed from the table to purchase another couple of hours of parking nirvana. Not so much. She returned several minutes later clutching the dreaded white rectangle. We were appropriately sympathetic. We were soon appropriately more so when we found out she missed the meter’s expiration by a mere three minutes. Three minutes. 120 seconds. Technically, this is late; upsetting, but late. We lamented the parking situation.
Fast forward two hours and three courses. Meter dash two—reprise. After an appropriate amount of time, my friend returned clutching…you guessed it…another citation. Citation two—the sequel. Kind of like a bad dream on four wheels. I see you shaking your heads out there, quietly and perhaps a little self-righteously glad it wasn’t you. But wait…there’s more!!! One minute. 60 seconds. Yup. This ticket was issued a mere minute after the meter expired. “Read my lips…” you say. “EXPIRED.” That is the law. Well, yes, yes it is. Technically it is—and my friend was in violation. That being said, the officer was sitting in a car, right there, just waiting for those little lights to start blinking. Once again, in all fairness, the argument can be made that it is a violation and that is their job. Fair assessment. It is...and it is. But really…at 60 seconds, the traffic officer had to have even seen her approach her car…quarters in hand.
I realize there are parking issues all over the city. Some areas, though, have more space for cars, a preponderance of valets to restaurants, and perhaps parking enforcement that has, maybe, just a little compassion. Imagine what would happen, for example, if every business tacked on a $50 surcharge. That’s what it cost my friend…for being one to three minutes late. If her stride were longer, perhaps she would have made it. Yes…I know…I know…there has to be a limit. Once the meter expires, it expires. Is the city so strapped for funds that they have to swoop down on every vehicle the very moment of expiration to gain $25? This is not a traffic safety hazard. I have to wonder what the profit margin is between paying someone to stalk parked cars and the revenue brought in per hour per ticket per vehicle? Someone should do a study. I, for one, am curious.
On one hand, I get it. On the other, three minutes of parking isn’t a felony. There are, in fact, plenty of those going on around that might benefit from more people stalking with as great a concentration in the interest of prevention. In the meantime, I’m taking a cab.
11 Comments For This Article
As the recipient of these two tickets, I have to say, if the blankety-blank central pay meter would have accepted my credit card in the first place, and worked properly to give me the golden ticket to preserve my fair share of monetary input to the city coffers, it woudn't be so insulting that I actually DID pay the $2.00 THREE times so I could spend my birthday with my friends. But low and behold, I came out $56.00 less rich for an amazing time with friends. I guess, in the end, my friends were worth it! THEY are the amazing ones searching their purses and the floor for quarters when the credit card refused to work! Thank you Donna, Wendy and Deb! I love you guys!
LOL, Cousin Linda. We have an over-diligent meter maid in Lewisburg. She once stood outside the car of my administrative assistant as Steph was searching her purse for change and started to ticket her because she was taking too long!
In spite of what happened with the tickets, I'm still sorry I had to miss the par-tay!
What an apropos story given the recent article in the paper about how easy (yet annoying) to fight tickets. I am amazed they didn't give you a ticket for overstaying the two hours. That's the one I got. At 9:30, 10 mins before that parking restriction ended for the nite. After I had spent lots of money dining in our lovely DC.
Expired means expired. How slippery of a slope do you want? One minute? Three minutes? Ten minutes? You paid for two hours--not two hours and three minutes. As for the taxi, it probably cost you more round trip than it would have cost to park in a commercial lot--especially at night where most have an evening flat rate.
The situation in the UK is totally out of control - the parking wardens are incentivised so it's very hard to dispute the tickets.
I love your post! I am dying to write a post about the DC police and the ongoing pedestrian/driver battle. It has absolutely nothing to do with design, but by God, sometimes we have to vent!!!
Once you get the ticket - DO NOT take it off your windshield. They will not give you two tickets.
If you attempt to use your CC in a multi-space meter and it does not work, call 311 and report that the meter is broken. They will give you an incident number and you can use this to contest your ticket and will get the meter fixed too.
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Hard to have a lot of sympathy here. Why not just go and put more money in the meters before they actually expire? Yes, everyone forgets sometimes -- your friend did it twice in a row (and let's not even get into the fact that coin-based meters in DC indicate a time limt, and additional meter-feeding doesn't extend that time limit).
Incidentally, "3 minutes" is not "120 seconds" -- although miscalculation like that may indicate why your friend kept overstaying the meter.
Talking a cab (or the Metro, or the bus, or walking) really does make more sense sometimes.
I can't express how much I hate DC Paking Enforcement Nazis. Bunch of F'ing @$$holes. I can appreciate that there is a need for sensible parking enforcement, but this is an example of how DC fails in that charge. They don't have the public interest at heart, only revenue collection. Period. End of Story. I got a similar ticket in Chinatown 1 Minute after the meter expired. Boo DC!