Parking rangers to show 10-minute grace to motorists

The NSW government’s ten-minute grace period on parking fines starts tomorrow, offering motorists peace of mind they will now have time to return to their car before penalties apply.

 The “saving grace” measure is part of a package of reforms designed to introduce a fairer approach to parking fines that will save motorists money.

 Treasurer Dominic Perrrottet said as of 31 January, 2019, motorists who have paid for ticketed parking for at least an hour, won’t have to panic about the impact of being just a few minutes late.

 “This is a common sense approach to parking penalties that doesn’t impact road safety. People shouldn’t have their day ruined or their weekly budget compromised for a slight delay in returning to their car when they’ve shown intent to do the right thing,” Mr Perrottet said.

 “Stress levels on parking inspectors should also lessen, as they have an opportunity to show some leniency when issuing fines.”

 The grace period applies to ticketed or couponed parking, which forms the majority of overstay parking offences. It doesn’t apply to private car parks, to meters which do not issue parking tickets and in areas such as bus lanes, clearways, transit lanes, mail zone and special event parking.

 When parking penalties are imposed, motorists will soon discover they’re not as onerous as they used to be. Last July, the NSW Government cut 25 per cent off the ten most common parking fines. That number was extended to a further 42 l parking offences on January 1, 2019. 

 So far, 18 councils and five universities have opted in to start lowering their fines from $112 to $80, from 1 March 2019.

 There will be three further opt-in opportunities this year ”“ in June, September and December.

 “I’m delighted but frankly not surprised there’s been so much interest in lowering parking fines. They’ve been far too expensive for too long ”“ higher than many other cities including New York and London,” Mr Perrottet said.

 “Fines should be used as deterrents not a license to print money and I encourage more councils and authorities to come on board and do the right thing by their communities.”

 For more details about the grace period and other parking reforms, please see: nsw.gov.au/nswfinesreviewAttachments area

Short URL: https://indiandownunder.com.au/?p=12485