3 minutes to park at SafetyStick in Pottsville before risk of ticket
POTTSVILLE — Motorists risk getting a $35 ticket in just 3 minutes, not 15, if they park illegally near one of nine SafetyStick devices in the downtown.
The Pottsville Parking Authority believed that there would be a 15-minute grace period with the devices, as conveyed to them previously by the vendor, but learned differently Monday during a virtual training session, said Ian Lipton, authority executive director.
The nine solar-powered devices went live Friday after a monthslong delay over access to a code needed to view the license plates of offending vehicles.
Ken Wollins, director of sales and marketing for Municipal Parking Services Inc., of Austin, Texas, said Tuesday that the normal grace period is just 90 seconds “because of the imminent safety hazard that is created” when vehicles block a sidewalk or intersection.
He said that MPS agreed to extend the time to 3 minutes, something it has done in other locations, to accommodate Pottsville officials’ concerns.
Generally, those who park in prohibited areas do so for more than 5 minutes, Wollins said.
Wollins also took responsibility for the miscommunication, which he said may have occurred because SafetySticks can be configured to monitor short-term parking for 15 to 30 minutes.
An MPS employee was downtown Tuesday reconfiguring the devices to work with the new time limit and performing other maintenance.
Measuring 41½ inches tall, SafetySticks have radar for vehicle detection and high-definition cameras to capture images of vehicles entering and exiting a parking area. Installed in December, the devices notify the authority if anyone parks in a prohibited area.
If a violator does not pay a ticket in 30 days, it goes to the magisterial district court level and, with $48.50 in costs and a state Judicial Computerization Project free of $33.25, rises to $116.75.
The devices need about an hour of sunlight a day to charge.
Violations
Wollins said there were several motorists who parked over the weekend in one of the nine prohibited area designated with yellow curb lines and signs.
Lipton said by phone Tuesday that while the devices went live Friday, the authority didn’t yet have log-in information and training, so those drivers will not be cited.
On Tuesday, a female driver who parked in a prohibited area in the 200 block of Mahantongo Street was fined $35, even though a parking enforcement officer — not the SafetyStick — initiated the ticket upon seeing the vehicle.
When the motorist called the authority to protest the ticket, Lipton viewed photos provided through the SafetyStick and upheld the violation.
MPS — which charged the city nothing for the devices or their installation — gets 40% of the $35 from each ticket, while the authority receives 60%.
