In 2005, I received a ticket when I quickly stopped at home to pick up a snack. I was parked too close to a stop sign.
There was no signage to indicate how far away from the stop sign one needed to be to avoid being ticketed.
I quickly found out that many of my neighbours and their guests had received tickets, as well.
After a petition was circulated and sent to city hall, the city put up proper signage. It is understandable that certain glitches have to be corrected. However, this is not an isolated problem.
Many ‘ticket trap stop signs’ remain. As an example, most of the residential streets intersecting with Bruce Avenue have no signage.
Allowing this ambiguity to continue will certainly generate city revenue. But, is it fair when one considers how other cities mark their street parking signs?
During a visit to Calgary, I noticed every stop sign had proper instructions right on the stop sign. The instructions read, “No parking within 5 m”. Why can we not copy the Calgary example by making proper stop signs?
Snow Route sign in Winnipeg with minimum amount of information. FRED MORRIS
The annual Snow Route Parking Ban allows no parking or even stopping on Snow Routes between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. from December 1 to March 1.
The ‘clearly marked’ Snow Route signs contain no information. If a person is unsure about the meaning of a sign, what are they supposed to do?
Should the person phone a friend at 3 a.m., log onto the city’s website while sitting in a cold car, or phone 311 and hope to get a quick response.
Winnipeg should follow the Brandon example and put proper wording on every Snow Route sign.
There are a couple of other problems with Snow Route signs. This ban is supposed to enable emergency vehicles and snow clearing equipment to do their jobs.
However, tickets are given out even if there is no snow on the ground. We are actually helping snow clearing equipment to clear non-existent snow.
Snow Route sign in Brandon, clearly marked. Why can’t Winnipeg do the same? /FRED MORRIS
The ban should clearly state no tickets will be issued if there is no snow on the ground or in the forecast.
It should be noted that a snow emergency ban can be implemented to deal with any snow problems between March 1 and the following November 30.
Due to a malfunction of the decision making process, tickets are not given out between 6 and 7 a.m. because the Provincial Highway Act does not allow it. The City admitted that it did not follow process when the ban was extended from 6 to 7 a.m.
The ban should be from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. Many hard working taxpayers start their work day between 6 and 7, by dropping their children off at daycare or stopping for a cup of coffee.
These changes would lessen the perception that parking tickets are simply a tax grab.
