Tuesday, October 6, 1998
Number of parking citations decreases
PARKING: Improved road signs help lower violation statistics
over past year
By Andy Shah
Daily Bruin Contributor
The number of parking citations issued during the 1997-98 school
year decreased when compared to the previous year, parking
enforcement officials said.
About 91,000 citations were issued last year, as opposed to
95,000 handed out during the 1996-97 school year, said Stephen
Rand, manager of enforcement for traffic and adjudication.
But citations issued by the university police have increased
from 17 in 1996 to 671 in 1997, according to the University Police
Department (UCPD) web page.
Rand attributes the lower numbers to more and better parking
signs warning drivers of citation hazards, and a more effective
enforcement team.
"We re-worked the wording (of the signs), and we added more
signs to help people avoid citations," Rand said.
For example, the words, "to avoid citation" were added to some
signs to inform drivers of specific violations.
More signs were also posted to increase visibility, Rand
said.
"This especially helps visitors to UCLA, who are unfamiliar with
our campus," he said.
In addition, parking and commuter services employees went
through a "quality assurance" period in hopes of improving
service.
"It was really a re-engineering of the system," Rand said. "We
improved the clarity of our information, observed workers and gave
surveys to customers."
For example, evaluators ensured that parking workers clearly
attached permits to cars so that they were visible to parking
enforcement officials.
Rand said that he is not sure whether the number of tickets
issued this year will stay consistent.
"I can only hope that anybody trying to comply with the rules is
given the proper information, and anybody trying to get around the
rules is caught," he said.
Rand said the highest number of parking violations occurred in
the mid-1980s, with about 120,000 citations issued.
According to the UCPD crime statistics website, however, Parking
Services wrote over 200,000 tickets in 1997.
The UCPD website states that in 1996, 110,000 citations were
issued by parking services. That number shots up to 214,000 for
1997.
Although Rand has only estimated on the number of tickets
issued, he said that statistics provided on the UCPD web page are
incorrect.
Nancy Greenstein, director of community service for UCPD, said
that these numbers are most likely incorrect and there might have
been a mistake in their input.
"There might have been an error in entering the information,"
she said.
The webmaster for UCPD could not be reached for comment because
he was out of the office.
The parking fines are set by state law, Rand said. He added that
they must be consistent with other parking enforcement agencies in
the county.
These fines are deemed according to the violation. For example,
someone with an expired meter will be fined $30, compared to a $100
for a fake permit.
Those wishing to contest their fines can do so within 21 days of
the violation, Rand said.
If they are not satisfied with that ruling, they must pay the
fine but can contest the violation to Rand. If they win, their
money is refunded.
Some students said that parking enforcement officials should be
more lenient in issuing citations.
Jim DeGuzman, a fourth-year psychology student, said that he was
cited two times for being "a minute late to the meter."
"They should have given me more leeway because I only have one
class on Friday and use the meters, and sometimes class runs over,"
he said.
He contested the $30 fines twice and lost both times, he
said.
"They were all blase about it and basically said that I had to
pay all of it," he said.
But others said that the fines are fair.
"I got one ticket for forgetting to display my permit, but I
thought it was fair," said Ed Hui, a second-year medical student.
"I just went in and paid."
An area on campus with many violations is Dickson Court, with
its high percentage of parking spaces for disabled persons.
There is a $500 fine for wrongly parking in one of these spaces,
the highest of any fines.
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© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board