Outdated Rulebook Confuses Motorists

Though parking tickets create significant frustration for many Cantabrigians, the city has not published a revised edition of its traffic regulations since 1983—leaving residents and enforcement officers alike unsure of many parking laws.

Cambridge has foregone revision of its parking rulebook for nearly two decades because of technological shortcomings, according to Susan E. Clippinger, director of the city’s Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department.

“The laws were typeset, and we had no electronic version,” Clippinger says. “We’re in the process of updating it for all the changes since 1983.”

Clippinger says Cambridge residents routinely request copies of the regulation book, the cover of which still identifies Alfred E. Vellucci as the city’s mayor and which devotes an entire section to the proper treatment of horses.

Six mayors have succeeded Vellucci since his last tenure as mayor ended in 1989.

“When someone gets a parking ticket, they’ll frequently ask for a copy for clarification,” she says. “We’re running out of them.”

According to Clippinger, lack of knowledge about the regulations have not posed a problem to Cambridge’s 33 parking control officers, who do not receive copies of the traffic laws.

“All of the regulations aren’t critical to the enforcement officers,” she says.

Cambridge Police Department (CPD) officers also issue parking tickets, but are similarly not versed in all of the parking regulations, says CPD spokesperson Frank D. Pasquarello.

“There’s a lot of discretion involved,” Pasquarello says. “Parking tickets are pretty easy. Double-stopping is double-stopping, whether it happened in 1990 or 1999.”

But Clippinger says some parking laws might be confusing for people who park their cars in Cambridge without being fully acquainted with the city’s permit requirements.

“Essentially, most of the city is either resident permit parking or meter parking,” she says. “The permit parking can be a rude awakening when people come to Cambridge.”

But according to a CPD officer who requested not to be named, the laws should not confuse anyone.

“Usually, there are signs up,” the officer says. “There’s no training involved in giving out tickets.”

New Bedford resident Robert Baldassari, who visited the Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department yesterday to pay Cambridge parking tickets, says he disapproves of the city’s parking laws.

“It isn’t fair. You can’t find a space so you can do your business,” Baldassari says. “They need to update everything.”

Michael L. Charney, a longtime resident of Cambridge, says he encountered problems when he attempted to learn about the city’s parking laws.

“I thought I should find out what I’d be hit for next,” says Charney, who says he was appealing a ticket for a violation he isn’t sure he actually committed.

According to Charney, when he requested a copy of the regulations from the Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department, an employee turned him down.

“She said to me, ‘Even if we had a copy, we wouldn’t give it to you, because it’ll confuse you,’” he says.

Clippinger says a new edition of the regulations may be forthcoming.

“Our hope is that we’ll have a new version within a couple of months,” she says. “We’re producing it with existing staff, and it’s time-consuming.”

—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.