COLUMN: Avoid tickets by observing regulations

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by Michael Munson

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To eliminate any misunderstandings, four students met with the Campus Police on Friday to discuss the campus ticketing policy. From this meeting, several misconceptions became obvious.

All of the following information is contained in the official "Traffic and Parking Regulations."

If you own a car, you should look over the book (they can be obtained from the Campus Police station).

Consider this article as the Cliff's notes for the handbook.

* Very important : Unlike previous years, the number of violations per vehicle are tracked on a rolling 12-month basis. This means that if you received three tickets in December of last year and haven't received any tickets this semester, your next ticket would officially be your fourth. Each ticket falls off your record when 12 months have passed since the citation was issued. The fine schedule is as follows:

-- First ticket: Warning.

-- Second and third tickets: Normal fines for the violation.

-- Fourth ticket: Normal fine is tripled.

-- Fifth ticket and sixth ticket: Boot ($50 to be removed) and triple fine.

-- Seventh ticket: Triple boot ($150 to remove) and triple fine.

As you can see, even if you receive only one ticket every other month, the fines can accumulate quickly. Be careful.

* Regarding the use of flashers in non-parking areas: Cars can only park on the inner loop between the Sallyport and Student Center, but not in front of the Sallyport or Student Center, for 15 minutes using flashers. There is no other place on campus (including the strip behind Lovett College) where cars can park in a non-parking zone using flashers.

* Students can park in the faculty/staff and visitor lots on the weekends and anytime before 7:30 a.m. and after 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday. Students cannot park in these lots on student-only holidays, such as fall break and spring break. Students can park in these lots on national holidays such as Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc. No car with a parking sticker can park in a visitor space during business hours.

* Students without residential lot stickers can never park in residential lots, even on weekends (the only exceptions are during the summer months and university holidays). Residential lots are reserved strictly for students with residential lot stickers.

* Residential students parking in the stadium lot cannot park in the lots directly behind Shepherd School (even the lot nearest the stadium). These lots are reserved for commuter students. Residential students must park in the lot behind the rugby field (to the right of the Shepherd School if facing the stadium). But the first four rows of this lot are also reserved for commuter students.

* If your car breaks down or you lock your keys in the car on the weekend while parked in a faculty/staff lot, call the Campus Police dispatcher and ask them to record this in the log. If you receive a ticket, you can have the citation cleared on appeal by referring to the log.

* All tickets can be appealed within seven calendar days of the citation at the Campus Police station. If the citation was issued correctly, a ticket will not be waived upon initial appeal. After the initial review, if you want to request a regulation be waived because of extenuating circumstances, then you may resubmit a written appeal to the associate vice president for Finance and Administration within 14 days of the original rejection of the appeal.

And finally a friendly warning. From this meeting and personal experience, I have learned that one of the things Rice does most efficiently is enforce the parking policy. I wouldn't suggest trying to beat the system in any way. You may succeed for a while, but you'll eventually get burned.

Any questions or complaints? Contact me at munson@owlnet.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the October 6, 1995 issue.

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