I can just see a dedicated server needed just for Richmond.
However we also need poorly translated chinglish version of those tickets!
I Park Like An Ass Edmonton man peeved by poor parking posts photos to web, hands out tickets - News1130
EDMONTON - People who can't park drive Eli Dupuis mad.
There's the "on the line" driver who parks so close you can't open your car door. The "fancy car" driver who takes up two stalls because he doesn't want anyone near his precious set of wheels. And there's the "illegal location" driver who steals a spot designated for the handicapped.
Dupuis, an Edmonton website developer and creator of iparklikeanass.com, has been posting photos and tagging all types of bad parking jobs on his website for more than a year.
Last spring, he started tucking his own personalized parking tickets under the wipers of offending vehicles.
"Hey, Donkey ... Start showing some respect for your fellow parkers ... You'll have more friends," says one version of the ticket, adorned with a mythological half-car, half-mule graphic.
"Trust me, this ticket is much less embarrassing than your blatant disregard for your fellow parkers," says another ticket. "You brought shame to yourself (and possibly your family, if they are with you right now)."
Although Dupuis sells the tickets on his website, it's not a business venture. He says he and his wife, Jessa, a graphic designer, came up with the idea as a way to vent their frustrations over bad parking. It's now become a pastime.
"It's more public shaming," says Dupuis. "If I came back to my car and it had a ticket on it ... it would probably make me think twice."
Dupuis says he gets strange looks from passersby when he's handing out his tickets but has so far avoided confrontations with vehicle owners. And he prefers it that way. He simply slips a ticket on a car, snaps a quick photo and walks away.
Other frustrated drivers have been sending him photos of bad park jobs across North America and even Europe.
Dupuis says he recently removed the photo tag "should be beaten" from his website. It was meant as a joke, but he doesn't want to promote violence.
Tom Keenan, a computer expert at the University of Calgary, says it's all fun and games until someone takes it too far. He knows of a woman in Edmonton, angry at a driver who cut her off, who hacked into a computer system and cancelled the driver's auto insurance.
"That's clearly going over the line."
But Keenan acknowledges people have a fundamental need to express themselves and sometimes bureaucracy hampers other avenues. "One alternative route is for people to take the law into their own hands and try to shame the person publicly."
Following Vancouver's Stanley Cup riot in June, an online public shaming campaign helped identify people who set fire to cars, smashed windows and looted stores.
Keenan says, as a professor, he's also subject to Internet scrutiny on grading websites. So are school teachers and doctors.
But driving and parking tend to get people really hot, he says. "I've certainly thought about ... putting a piece of paper under someone's windshield. Like 'how many parking spaces do you need, buddy?'"
Dupuis doesn't have the only parking vigilante website on the Internet. There's also an iPhone app called "Fail Driver" that allows users to post licence plate numbers of those deemed driving and parking challenged.
"People have parked badly for as long as I've been driving, and that's over 40 years," says Rick Lang, a manager with the Alberta Motor Association's driver education unit.
Drivers have the most trouble parallel parking at meters, Lang says. But they also have to be able to pull in and out of a parking stall to pass their driver's test. If they park on the yellow line, they lose points.
Ryan Pleckaitis with the City of Edmonton's compliance and investigation section, says there's nothing illegal about putting a phoney ticket on someone's windshield. It's like a flyer.
The only offence would be if a car's owner took the ticket and chucked it on the ground. That could be result in a fine for littering.
Pleckaitis suggests the best recourse is to call the police complaint line. A parking enforcement officer will be dispatched to hand out a real ticket.
Dupuis says he's considered that option. But by the time a bylaw officer arrived, the bad parker could be long gone. Besides, says Dupuis, armed with a stack of his own parking tickets, "this is a lot more fun."
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
The banners on the left side and below do not show for registered users!
