Parking tickets are commonplace on the UW-Madison campus as students park in restricted lots, overstay their time limits or fail to plug their parking meters. But many students never pay their tickets.
UW-Madison Senior Dale Adney does pay his tickets, frustrating as it may be.
I think that when you buy into a system you buy into all of it,\ Adney said. ""I think you are a hypocrite if you don't pay your tickets because if you choose to drive, you choose to take on all of the consequences.""
He said meters are not his biggest problem and instead pointed to strictly enforced time limits as the cause of his parking fines.
Unhappy drivers who feel wronged by parking enforcement can take their complaints to court, often to no avail.
""Everybody has the right to appeal their parking citations,"" said Lance Lunsway, Director of UW-Madison Transportation Services. ""The excuse we hear the most is ‘I just ran in for a couple of minutes.'""
Adney said he feared the consequences of not paying fines and allowing his car to sit with tickets on the windshield.
""I don't want my car towed,"" Adney said. ""I'm afraid of what they'd do.""
According to Lunsway, authorities can suspend license plates if violators fail to pay tickets. He also noted late fees that can quickly top $100 as a reason to pay tickets immediately.
""In general they run between $20 and $40,"" he said of normal tickets.
However, a UW-Madison Junior who asked not to be named said she will not pay her parking tickets.
""It is wrong for them to give us tickets for parking on school property for as much as we pay to go to school here,"" she said.
Despite the claims of several other students who said they will not pay their parking tickets, recent UW-Madison graduate Dhaval Mistry said parking should be enforced to regulate streets.
""There is nothing unreasonable with someone enforcing parking,"" Mistry said of efforts to collect payment on tickets.
But enforcement remains a difficult task as students realize the lack of immediate consequences for not paying fines. Although tickets can pile up, there is no group of henchmen assigned to tracking down delinquent students.
Lunsway said university efforts to enforce fines have been successful, adding that the University is actually writing fewer tickets this year.
""The approach of more education and more warnings are paying off,"" Lunsway said.
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