Parking warnings handed out in Quincy

QUINCY - Quincy police are starting to give warnings to people parking on the wrong side of the street.

Police Chief Richard Ackerman told the city council about the plan during a recent meeting. He said the change comes after several people complained.

"It's been slowly evolving," the chief said in an interview after the meeting. "There have been a lot of complaints over the last six months, give or take."

People complained about nearly colliding with drivers pulling away from the curb and driving on the wrong side of the road, he said. People also told Ackerman that they park on the correct side of the road, but other people on the street don't.

"They're getting away with it. (They're saying,) 'I'm parking legally. Why are people parking on the wrong side of the road, causing these traffic hazards and they're not being cited?'" he said. "(It's) because we really don't have that in our Quincy Municipal Code right now."

The police could write tickets based on the state law, but since it hasn't been aggressively enforced Ackerman decided to start with warnings. They plan to hand them out for at least a month before they start writing tickets.

"The first step is to educate the folks that live in the city," he said. "After we try to get voluntary compliance, we'll go for writing tickets."

The tickets are likely to range between $100 and $200, he said.

If a potential for traffic collisions in the city exists, Ackerman said the police need to do something to prevent it. Parking on the wrong side of the road creates a traffic hazard.

"It's not just about parking," he said. "In order to park on the wrong side of the road, you've got to drive on the wrong side of the road to get there, and you've got to drive on the wrong side of the road to get back into the lane of travel."

If the city didn't start enforcing the law, it could allow people to sue the city for knowing about a problem and not working to fix it, Ackerman said.

He said the department has a lot on its plate, but the issue is important enough that it needs to be enforced.

"Traffic problems are our concern and always will be our concern," he said. "There is a hazard involved with driving on the wrong side of the (road.) There is a liability involved ... It's the same, if we knew, for example on a routine basis there were people driving through red lights in town and we said, 'Who cares? It's a driving violation. Who cares?' and we have an accident at that intersection. If we knew, or were aware of that violation and we did nothing about it, then shame on us and we'd be in trouble."