As part of an ongoing DOTS effort to cut down on illegal parking, enforcement officers have begun giving scooter drivers the boot.
This semester marks the first time the Department of Transportation Services has begun to “boot” scooters, clamping a metal brace on their wheels that only DOTS can remove, replacing a previous system of warnings and impoundment.
The boots can be used on any scooter that is either not registered with the university or that is parked outside a designated scooter parking area, according to DOTS Assistant Director Beverly Malone. Students then have to go to the DOTS office where they can either pay the fee or appeal the charge, she said; only after this meeting is the boot removed.
Employing wheel boots is part of a recent blitz by DOTS to curtail illegal parking, which Malone said is a result of continuous complaints from the university community. Just this semester, DOTS increased its scooter fine from $30 to $70 and did away with the three-warning system.
“We would get e-mails with pictures and tables telling us how many times people saw illegally parked scooters,” she said. “Students were also complaining that they never got a third warning, which of course meant they were knowingly parking illegally.”
Though exact numbers weren’t available, DOTS employees say the number of scooter violations has decreased this semester, in part because of booting.
“[Booting] has definitely helped,” DOTS Director David Allen said. “Though you can’t give the boot full credit, there are less scooters than two months ago.”
For its new enforcement, DOTS uses a Daihatsu mini-truck informally dubbed “the scooter booter,” which drives around the campus carrying as many as 36 boots as employees search for unregistered and illegally parked scooters. Unlike tow trucks, the maneuverable scooter booter can access the crowded areas around the dining halls and the South Campus Commons.
Ultimately, DOTS officials said using the boot sends the right message — that violations will not be tolerated — while minimizing the hassle for students.
“The boot allows us to immobilize scooters without sending it to be impounded,” Malone said, noting that students are also spared the $100 impounding fee.
“We’re concerned with preventing illegal scooter parking,” Allen added, “and we feel the boot shows a level of enforcement that we want people to see.”
Junior elementary education major Meredith Hickman said she prefers booting to towing, saying she once rescued her scooter as it was about to be loaded onto a tow truck. But she said DOTS shouldn’t be less tolerant to scooters than cars.
“When was the last time you saw a car towed on campus?” she wrote in an e-mail. “Just the other day their was a car parked in the DRIVING LANE of the Commons [Mowatt] Lane Garage and it just had a ticket! That’s not only illegal its [sic] dangerous!”
Scott Raileanu, a senior Jewish studies major who said he had nearly avoided a boot on his scooter when he parked for two minutes to pick up a binder from a friend, also suggested DOTS was using a double standard.
“They’re really strict about it. I think it’s extremely effective,” Raileanu said. “But also isn’t it a little bit insensible? Cars get ticketed, and they don’t have to pay nearly as much. So why can’t we get ticketed [instead of booted]?”
Malone said scooter drivers need to consider the safety reasons for staying on streets and designated parking lots.
“If you’re going 25 mph,” she said, “you don’t belong where people are walking.”
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