SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— You’ve heard of cars getting the boot, but this summer drivers could be dealing with a barnacle if they don’t pay their traffic tickets.
Scranton’s Parking Authority and Magistrate are rolling out a new way to crack down on drivers ignoring their ticket citations, it’s called the barnacle. Instead of clamping a vehicle’s wheel like the boot, this device attaches directly to a windshield making it impossible to drive.
This bright yellow device locks onto a vehicle’s windshield with 1,000 pounds of force. Once it’s in place, the only way to remove it is by paying your fines.
Once the driver pays, they will receive a code to unlock it, and then return the device to a designated drop box.
But there’s a catch, if a driver fails to return the barnacle, they could get charged $3,000 for the device.
Using this device aims to retrieve unpaid fines.
“You’d be surprised how much money they are owed,” said Gerald Smurl, President, Scranton City Council.
And enforce parking rules.
“If I had to run a business and people weren’t paying just because they figured ‘there’s nothing you can do’, so now they have something they can do, stick this on your windshield and you’re stuck downtown,” explained Smurl.
The barnacle will be used in three cases: one: vehicles with three or more unpaid tickets two: cars that are parked illegally and three: unregistered cars parked in city-monitored spots.
The city’s parking system operators use license plate recognition technology to track vehicles, making it easy to identify who owes what, but some residents think this initiative is too much.
“It seems a little excessive, I get like they want to get people’s tickets paid, but people who are just kind of trying to go through their daily lives like that could be kind of an issue I can see happening,” stated Kate O’Brien, Scranton.
“I think its a little aggressive, I don’t think that blocking your whole windshield should be necessary. I feel like the boot would be enough of a consequence,” added Dylan Moxely, Scranton.
“Way excessive, I think the whole plan should be scrapped,” said Jordan.
Parking officials say they will be sending out letters to those with outstanding tickets, giving them a chance to pay their fines before the barnacle enforcement begins this summer.
