Parking on campus can be a challenging feat for students, whether they’re freshmen or seniors. According to NSU Public Safety, fines ranging from $20 to $200 are issued to drivers who violate NSU’s parking protocol.
But how are students supposed to know they are violating NSU parking regulations if they are never informed? Numerous students have admitted that when they receive their parking decal from the One-Stop Shop, they are not told that they can only park in certain areas. Neither is this information expressed on the parking registration form.
Some students are only able to discover which parking lots were reserved for students by trial and error ― by using their Shark Cards at the barrier, and if they don’t work, some deduce that the parking space is reserved for faculty and staff.
Of course, one would expect all parking lots to be signposted. Well, they are. If you look closely, many parking lots have signs stating whether the lot is reserved for faculty, visitors or students. Field Operations approves of these signs and said that they are prominently displayed and clearly identifiable for students. Yet, many students are unaware that these signs exist. They tend to blend into the scenery or may be overpowered by larger signs, and some students only discover them in a chance encounter. Field Operations said some parking signs had been temporarily removed due to construction, but efforts are now under way to return them.
However, regardless of the signposting, or lack thereof, public safety officials expect that students are aware of the color coding system of parking decals. This system is supposed to inform students that each parking decal assigns them to park in specific areas. For example, an orange residence sticker prevents students from parking in commuter parking lots.
But it would probably have greater success if more students were aware of it. At the moment, the parking decal signs serve more as decorative ornaments than points of information.
So, in all of this confusion over where to park, you might think that the public safety officers at the entrance of many buildings are responsible for your parking ticket. That’s not the case. There is a small team of Park Enforcement Specialists who are certified to issue tickets to drivers violating the parking regulations. They’re responsible for the $20 fines issued to drivers who don’t purchase a ticket from the parking meter in the Alvin Sherman Library parking garage, the $40 fine for obstructing traffic or parking without a permit and the $200 fine for parking in a handicapped spot.
However, students are given the option to either pay the fine or appeal it during a trial at the Shepard Law School. Students may be told that they should have read the parking policy in advance. But the parking and traffic information seems to focus more on telling drivers where not to park, above all else.
It would be ideal if the NSU parking policy was not only reviewed for clarity, but also circulated among students via e-mail. Even more so, it’s imperative that this information is communicated to students when they collect their decals at the One-Stop Shop. At the end of the day, everyone is striving towards the same goal: trying not to get a ticket.
Photo credit: Permission granted by T. Smith
