Traffic Wardens

[ThePlumsofWrath]

Was in Auckland today and the traffic wardens who work for the council were towing cars off of the clearway (a route to be kept clear at certain times of the day) and the abuse these guys were taking was unreal.

The route was being kept clear to facilitate the traffic leaving the city without hindrance of blockage so, therefore, they were doing a public service.

I asked one of them if they were abused regularly and he replied he was spat at regularly and had been attacked on occasion. I guess most cities would be in chaos without them doing their thing......

WTF?

 

[Roger Wilco]

Oh I'm sure that's one of the most unpopular jobs of all, somewhere between a debt collector and the US president.

 

[Pingfah]

I went to Milan in June, and I was struck by the fact that they seemed to have no parking rules at all. There were cars everywhere, and scooters and motorbikes just left wherever the driver/rider saw fit. I didn't see a traffic warden once, although I am sure they must exist in some capacity.

I thought it was actually quite refreshing compared to the situation we have in the UK where every road is plastered with yellow lines and you get a ticket jumping out of your car to post a letter, or because your bumper is hanging 1/2 an inch into a no parking zone. Although i'd imagine your car must get bashed and smashed a lot more over there.

Everyone outside my house got tickets once because they put the sign up in the morning, and ticketed everyone by about 1pm. There had always been a single yellow there, but no sign saying what time you could or could not park. Most people had not even wandered outside their front door and seen the sign by the time they got ticketed.

That said, abusing traffic wardens is not at all cool.

 

[nevermore]

Well, in the US there is a difference between traffic cops who direct traffic and meter maids who ticket you when you're parked. I have no problem with the former. The latter are forged of pure evil and I hate them. I hate them so much. They ticket even when you're legally parked, because it counts toward their quota and most people don't take the effort to go to court over it. Even so, the only time I got into it with one was when she saw me get out of my car, I spoke to her and said, "I just have to run in to get a quarter for the meter", she said "no problem" and pretended to move on, and then when I came out 30 seconds later, she was writing up the ticket. I verbally abused her a little bit. Because she was evil, and no, I don't feel bad about it.

 

[Captain Ice]

I thought it was actually quite refreshing compared to the situation we have in the UK where every road is plastered with yellow lines and you get a ticket jumping out of your car to post a letter, or because your bumper is hanging 1/2 an inch into a no parking zone. Although i'd imagine your car must get bashed and smashed a lot more over there.

This sounds like the situation over at ASU. I wound up with a $100 parking ticket there once because of this. The meter maids there are pure evil. I was gone less than 3 minutes and $100 is the minimum that they charge for a parking ticket.

 

[cultcross]

Everyone outside my house got tickets once because they put the sign up in the morning, and ticketed everyone by about 1pm. There had always been a single yellow there, but no sign saying what time you could or could not park. Most people had not even wandered outside their front door and seen the sign by the time they got ticketed.

If that's the case, that's illegal, because the offence is parking (ie, the actual act of parking) in a restricted area, not being in one - the offence isn't complete unless you actively park in an existing zone.
To put it mildly, I'm very glad all this stuff was removed from our jurisdiction.

 

[Holdfast]

I thought it was actually quite refreshing compared to the situation we have in the UK where every road is plastered with yellow lines and you get a ticket jumping out of your car to post a letter, or because your bumper is hanging 1/2 an inch into a no parking zone.

Co-signed,
A fellow beleaguered motorist.