Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have public records here in DC. Most times I report someone doing something antisocial (e.g. blocking lanes, crosswalks, refusing to yield, etc. - things which actively inconvenience other road users) using hmdapp.io there’s at least a 50% chance that they have multiple unpaid tickets. The highest I’ve seen is over $10k, but others have found drivers over $40k.
Ooh, the app should probably bundle all those things you've observed into one simple metric, a "score" of some kind.
Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
211–220 of 375 posts
Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
#212Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong? An alternative headline could be something like, "Entitled College Kids Learn How To Keep Parking Like Assholes Without Paying Fines." And it's a pyrhic victory anyway, because chances are now the cars will get one of the metal tire boots put on, or get towed. Both of which are more expensive and a bigger hassle for everybody.
> Both of which are more expensive and a bigger hassle for everybody.
That's the point. The university was crowing about how they deployed 40000 of these things already. They wouldn't be able to tow 40000 people as easily.
Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
#213Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong? An alternative headline could be something like, "Entitled College Kids Learn How To Keep Parking Like Assholes Without Paying Fines." And it's a pyrhic victory anyway, because chances are now the cars will get one of the metal tire boots put on, or get towed. Both of which are more expensive and a bigger hassle for everybody.
I don't know the situation, but I could easily imagine parking violations being common where parking is inadequate. Instead of improving the situation, the school simply rakes in money.
Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
#214Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong? An alternative headline could be something like, "Entitled College Kids Learn How To Keep Parking Like Assholes Without Paying Fines." And it's a pyrhic victory anyway, because chances are now the cars will get one of the metal tire boots put on, or get towed. Both of which are more expensive and a bigger hassle for everybody.
Yeah, but further down in the article it mentioned that students illegally parked junkyard cards to get booted so that all the boots would be in use when the cops found someone's actual vehicle they wouldn't have any boots left.
Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you kidding? If parking was free then nobody would be able to park there. Everyone would drive even if they only lived a few blocks away or a single bus ride away. It would be unavailable to students who actually need it.
So only the privileged should be able to park? If that would seriously be the issue with free parking, then build parking garages.
If you're driving around in a private vehicle as a college student you're probably already pretty privileged.
There's no way in a million years I could have afforded my own car as a student.
Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
#216I spent a decade in the parking technology space. (Co-founder PayByPhone -- don't hate me, I genuinely tried to make things more civilized and convenient, I swear!). Anyways, I miss hearing about hilarious and genius hacks and escalations like this. The brilliance deployed to work around parking regulations is amazing. Not condoning, but here's a (naive?) though experiment if the Barnacle shows up in use again... Par…
Using a car cover daily will do a lot more damage to your paint than a parking ticket is worth, very quickly.
Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because using scrap cars to exhaust the barnacle supply is a hilarious way to hack the system for the benefit of other students.
How does this “benefit” other students? They're the ones who are being inconvenienced by scofflaws and if it's like most other places quite likely endangered: the same people who park illegally tend to be cavalier about blocking bike lanes and curb cuts, speeding, rolling through crosswalks, etc.
That's absolutely the case, and traffic scofflaws ought to be hit where it hurts: yank their license. Traffic signs (including parking) are there to keep traffic flowing, they don't put them up because they look pretty.
Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you are low income, and need to get to school but have no other way to go than to drive, what else should you do? It seems like you are suggesting that some people have other choices than driving. There are a lot of colleges with no accessible public transportation infrastructure. Many people don’t have the financial means to do anything else, especially when there isn’t the public transportation infrastructure to…
what does low income have to do with this? driving is expensive . between fuel, vehicle maintenance, parking, and insurance, driving your personal vehicle should not be the "low income" choice. If there's truly no choice other than driving (which isn't really possible, because if driving alone is an option then so is carpooling), your income level has nothing to do with it. If there is a choice, then low income is no…
Your comment completely ignores the reality for many, many people.
I was a low income college student who drove and public transportation was not an option for me. Outside of very large cities public transportation is often inefficient to the point that the logistics of attending college and having a job just don't work. Between my part time job and classes I wouldn't have made it to either on time if I took a bus. I sometimes carpooled, but I only knew a few people at the college and work/class schedules didn't often align enough to make ride sharing a possibility. So I bought a very crappy car and basically prayed to the gods every time I used it that it wouldn't break down. It wasn't ideal of course, but being poor never is.
And I was lucky. So many people have problems and commitments that make this situation a lot more difficult, like having a kid. Can you imagine relying on a slow public transportation system while also juggling school, a job, and child care? I can't.
I've seen a lot of these type of comments on HN and my takeaway is that an awful lot of us are totally oblivious to the realities of living in poverty. Although maybe the real takeaway should be that people in general are often bad at viewing the world from any perspective other than their own. I really wish people could be more understanding.
Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you kidding? If parking was free then nobody would be able to park there. Everyone would drive even if they only lived a few blocks away or a single bus ride away. It would be unavailable to students who actually need it.
So only the privileged should be able to park? If that would seriously be the issue with free parking, then build parking garages.
> If that would seriously be the issue with free parking, then build parking garages.
This sidesteps the underlying decision of who pays for those garages. Either you charge for parking and the people who use it pay, or you don't and every student (even the ones who take the bus or carpool) pay.
Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yah, UC Davis runs its own bus service (entirely run by students, actually), and has run a decades long psy-ops campaign to get people to ride bikes. It seems to have worked quite well!
Davis also has the rare advantage of rarely raining, and being incredibly flat. Both of these make biking far more attractive to the average student.
> being incredibly flat
Europe is full of two-wheeled vehicles that manage to solve this problem.