Published in the Toronto Sun, 7 August 2024
As someone who had gotten my share of parking tickets, along with the occasional speeding ticket too, I can honestly say that I deserved each and every one of them. It wasn’t the “big, bad” cop or parking enforcement officer who was at fault. The best ways to avoid getting any ticket are to follow the law, plain and simple. Read the signs posted at the side of the road, or within the parking lot, which spells out where, when, for how long you can park and how much it costs. This, along with the corresponding municipal by-law, are what gives the parking officer the authority to issue the ticket if you are in violation.
If you think you will need to park for only one hour, perhaps pay an extra half hour, if not a full hour. Think of it as an insurance policy. Paying that extra hour will be cheaper than paying the parking ticket. I’m certainly not a fan of paying any more than I need to, whether it’s as a fee or as a fine, and I certainly don’t like anything that is essentially a cash grab, rather than a solution to a problem.
That said, we are a society of rules and without some way of enforcing those rules, we only have anarchy. So, once again, if you read the signs and pay appropriately for your parking spot, it won’t matter if the parking fines are raised to $5000.
Sources: City of Toronto’s parking fines going up on Thursday | Toronto Sun.
