City of Fredericton says too many drivers ignoring parking bans

The City of Fredericton says many drivers aren't paying attention to street parking bans and islooking to make it easier to tow cars in violation.

Mike Walker, manager of roadway operations in Fredericton, says cars parked on streets are making it difficult for snow plow operators to clear the roads.

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"It impedes our ability to properly clean the roads and the sidewalks," Walker said.

Jane Blakely, director of consulting and human resources with the city, said operators should have more power when it comes to having cars towed.

Right now, operators need to call the police or a foreman to have a car towed.

"We're looking at not having to wait for someone to come and necessarily ticket or whether there's the ability to just notify and have the towing take place without the poor foreman who's chasing around town doing 500 other things getting called to deal with the parked cars," she said.

Cars towed following storm

Buckely said operators could just make the request to have a car towed themselves.

Walker said several cars in the city had to be towed during the cleanup for the Feb. 13 blizzard.

As a result, the rules will likely come into effect next winter.

"People need to understand that this is serious and if their cars are where they shouldn't be that they're going to be towed," said Blakely."That's just going to be a given."