Kane Co. to step up ticketing snow route parking scofflaws

Kane County residents who flake out during heavy snowfalls and leave their cars parked along snowplow routes may soon see more tickets decorating their windshields.

Anyone from the county and local townships associated with snowplowing joined Kane County Sheriff's office officials Tuesday to deliver a message that parking infractions that may slide during warmer months become much bigger problems when it snows. Cars illegally parked in the roadway can prevent the full clearing of a street, or even cause a major accident if a plow driver can't see the parked car in a heavy snowfall.

Both of those examples would cause a police response, further tying up emergency workers that could otherwise attend to other events if the car was just legally parked off the snow route.

"In our line of business, seconds and minutes make a huge difference between life and death," said Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez. "If our snow removal efforts are hindered, the entire community is put at risk."

If gentle warnings don't push cars off the roadway for the plows, increased ticketing could provide a monetary incentive.

"It's one of those cascading problem where if we can't do a good job of clearing the roads, everything suffers from there," said Kane County Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Wyatt. "The ticketing is sort of like treating the symptom. We're trying not to have to go there."

In case they do have to go there, Wyatt's transportation committee will try to provide a better map for the police. Right now, most tickets issued for vehicles parked illegally on a snow route receive a state ticket, which is somewhat elaborate compared to some other citations officers typically issue. Wyatt said he expects his committee will look for ways to tighten up the countywide parking ordinance so sheriff's officers have a more "easy to use" method of writing the tickets.