New August 1 law will see tickets hiked to $140 to help congestion & reduce traffic – three places drivers can’t stop

DRIVERS are opening their wallets as fines for parking offenses have increased by hundreds of dollars.

The new August 1 parking rules will ask drivers to fork over more cash if they’re caught leaving their cars in three spaces.

CP24 News

CP24 News

Drivers in Toronto, Canada , are set to pay more for the parking infractions.

The city will launch the new fines on August 1 to “curb illegal parking, stopping, and standing,” per the CTV Television Network .

The fine increases focus on three main parking infractions.

First, drivers who fail to pay their meter are susceptible to a $50 fine.

The previous ticket cost drivers $30.

Second, drivers who park in a bike lane are subject to a $200 fine, an increase of $140 from the outgoing tickets.

Third, gas cars will get a slip for a $75 parking fine if they’re illegally stopped in an electric vehicle charging station.

The city said the three fine increases will help the city maintain more order on the roads.

“Increasing fines can help reduce congestion by discouraging drivers from parking and stopping their vehicles in high-traffic areas and encouraging people to consider other modes of transportation,” the city said in a statement.

Toronto added that it hoped residents would forgo driving and opt for other transportation methods like “walking, cycling, or public transit.”

City lawmakers passed the fine increases in April.

The city also said it has seen increased parking ticket scams and warned drivers about sketchy text messages.

Residents complained about receiving parking fine texts from alleged scammers who posed as City of Toronto enforcement agencies.

However, the city does not send text messages about parking infractions.

“Residents are urged to treat such messages as fraudulent,” Toronto added.

How to spot a fake parking ticket

Thieves sometimes go to great lengths to squeeze money from drivers

With parking ticket scams on the rise, it’s important to know how to tell the difference between a bogus ticket and a legitimate one.

Many parking enforcement agencies, like those employed by cities, will never ask people to pay for their tickets via apps like Venmo, PayPal, or Zelle.

A QR code should always make drivers cautious, as many times they lead to fake payment websites built by scammers to access banking or personal information.

It’s also wise to pay close attention to logos, as some scammers will even use fake logos close enough to a city’s official logo fooling those who don’t look closely.

Emails or text messages regarding parking citations should always be ignored, as most parking enforcement agencies will never use those mediums to collect a debt.

Other helpful tips for spotting false citations:

• Do some research on the lot you’re parking in, as signs are legally required to be posted to inform drivers on who is enforcing parking rules.
• Carefully examine the citation for any flaws – misspellings, incorrect logos, links, QR codes, etc.
• Evaluate the contact information on the ticket. Websites that belong to cities will always end in either .gov.
• Finally, pay with a card, as disputing an illegal charge is easier. Avoid mailing checks or cash to a suspect parking ticket.
• Look at a city’s ticketing database to double-check that you’ve been cited by an official.

Source: CBS affiliate WHNT

MORE LAWS

Several drivers across the US are also bracing for major road law changes in August.

North Dakota passed a law that allows car insurance companies to view all tickets incurred by drivers.

Previously, the state only reported infractions that assigned three points on a driver’s license.

But officials said the rules needed an update after repeat low-level offenders had their licenses suspended and their insurance companies weren’t aware.

Minnesota also passed two major August road laws impacting parent-drivers and technologists.

First, the state has a slate of new regulations on safety seats for children under 13.

The state announced a five-step program to test a child’s seat readiness.

Also, the state has new rules that could guide flying vehicles .

It’s now the second state with flying vehicle rules on the books.