DPW to Post "TicPix" Online

We saw a press release from DPW on Thursday announcing that in some cases images of parking tickets would be posted on DPW's web site within 72 hours after the ticket has been written. DPW is also letting motorists register their email addresses so that they will receive email alerts if they've received a ticket on
a car they've registered.

This is uncomfortably close to the April Fool's joke we posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv on April 1, 2009: "DC to Get First in the Nation Paperless Parking System"

The "uncomfortable" part is that recently on the listserv we've had a number of complaints from people who never received a paper ticket but were notified about an unpaid fine, which included penalties for non-payment. (List members can read the messages in the thread "Visitor Parking Pass Missing Ticket Again" on September 27 and 28.) The April Fool's column was about a DPW plan to make you check the web site
periodically to see if there were any tickets you had to pay.

No, DPW is not going paperless, but they do expect you to pay up, whether you got the initial paper or not. They'd like you to sign up for email alerts so that whenever there is a paper ticket written, it will arrive in your inbox electronically, even if you never saw it on your car. And as proof that it was
really there, you'll be able to see a photo online.

But do take note of the long, long list of exceptions to the photo imaging.

An excerpt of DPW's announcement is below. DPW issued 1.5 million parking tickets last year.

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DPW Announces Parking "Ticpix" Now Available On Web Site

Go to dpw.dc.gov  and click on TicPix to see images of the parking ticket and violation. [The direct link to this page is http://bit.ly/qmsCSd.]

The DC Department of Public Works announced today that motorists who receive a parking ticket issued by DPW may go to www.dpw.dc.gov then click on TicPix to see images of the violation and resulting ticket. The images will be posted 72 hours after a ticket is issued, but not all violations will have associated
images.*

The images will remain online for 90 days and can be seen by entering the license tag number, state where the vehicle is registered, and the ticket number in the spaces provided on the TicPix site.

* Images will not be posted for the following violations:

•  P017 Excessive idling
•  P033 Meter, deposit 2nd coin
•  P034 Meter, fail to deposit coin
•  P037 Overtime at meter
•  P076 ROSA (register out-of-state automobile) warning
•  P077 Motor run unattended
•  P159 No parking/No standing AM rush
•  P259 No parking/No standing PM rush
•  P161 Snow regulation
•  P172 Fail to secure DC Tags or reciprocity sticker
•  P218 Ballpark event meter overtime
•  P239 Expired meter handicap
•  P287 Overtime in meter loading zone
•  P386 Relocation tow