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DC Blizzard Parking Tickets Total Over $1 Million: Drivers Angry After District Issues Thousands Of Tickets

By Christian Savoy
Published on: 08:52 PST, Jan 28, 2016

Some Washington, D.C. residents are not too happy after learning that the District has issued more than $1 million in parking tickets due to a blizzard that has battered the region in recent days. As said in a report from NBC Washington, it appears that the city wants drivers to know it’s serious about enforcing the parking bans because in just a few days time, the District has issued $1,078,000 worth of parking tickets, $65,600 in fines, and have towed over 600 cars.

The District issued tickets to cars that were parked or abandoned on any snow emergency route as well as any vehicle that was deemed to be a road hazard. Workers had trouble plowing the snowy streets because many cars were obstructing their path, officials said.

Washington, D.C. ended its snow emergency on Wednesday, after a deadly blizzard pummeled many areas on the East Coast. The blizzard was the worst in years and it killed at least 35 people in 10 states and the U.S. capital. The powerful storm also forced the closure of the federal government on Tuesday and Congress put most activity on hold as the Washington region continued digging out from the snowstorm, Reuters reports. The Federal Aviation Administration also canceled nearly 700 U.S. flights due to the blizzard.

Hundreds of vehicles were towed during the blizzard and many residents were issued $250 tickets, $100 tow charges, and a $25-per-day fee until they picked up their vehicles. Many drivers were upset at the fines because they claimed they were unable to move their cars from emergency routes due to the heavy snow.

“They gave me a $250 ticket just for being snowed in. I couldn’t get no help,” driver Danielle Smith was quoted as saying.

“Don’t park your car illegally, and that includes parking it kind of in the middle of the street next to the snow bank. Cars should be parked no more than 12 inches from a curb, not a snow bank, or drivers risk a ticket,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said during a press conference on Tuesday.

Although the D.C. blizzard parking tickets were bad news to many motorists, many were pleased to hear that the District recently announced that they will forgive thousands of costly parking tickets issued to residents and visitors who parked along snow-emergency routes.

A report from the Washington Post says that administration officials will rescind fees for all tickets issued Friday, the day the storm began, in case drivers were not fully aware they would be subject to the $250 fine.

“I understand that some who received citations that Friday may not have known about the parking restriction, or may have been running errands in preparation for the storm,” Mayor Bowser said in a statement. “This ticket dismissal is one small way that we can continue to help each other recover from the storm.”

However, residents who had their vehicles towed from snow-emergency routes will still be responsible for a $100 towing fee and a $25 impound fee, the report explained.

City rules mandate that the District must give residents and visitors at least an hour’s notice before beginning to issue tickets for parking along snow-emergency routes. Last week, the District gave about 23 hours notice.

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