The 10-minute parking leeway announced today has been largely welcomed. My view is that parking policy still stinks, as most traffic control does. Why was inflexible parking control sanctioned in the first place? How many injustices have been perpetrated over the years in the name of the law? How many visitors to towns and cities, unfairly clamped or ticketed, have been deterred from visiting again? How much commerce and community spirit has been damaged? If parking control must be imposed (in my view only after at least a free hour), we should be able to pay on leaving, instead of fearing retribution if we miscalculated, got waylaid or needed more time shopping. The injustice has been allowed to rule for far too long, and now the relaxation is far too short. The imperative to “keep traffic moving” is dubious at best. If officials want to keep traffic moving, let them scrap traffic lights.
