Crowded Sporting Events Prompt Car Towing Law

Next time you’re at a crowded school, sporting or borough event, think twice before parking in one of Ramsey’s fire lanes. The borough council voted Wednesday night to introduce an ordinance amendment that would allow for cars parked in these restricted areas to be towed.

According to Councilwoman Deirdre Dillon, “in the past, at sporting events at certain locations in the town, we’ve had a problem because emergency service vehicles were not able to get where they needed to go because of all the cars parked in the fire lanes.”

The amendment to the ordinance gives the fire marshal the right to have the cars towed.

During non-emergency situations, ticketing and other enforcement of the restricted parking law will continue, Dillon said. Violators can be fined $100 and assessed a $500 penalty by the fire marshal, the law says. The addition of towing violating vehicles “strengthens the ordinance,” she said.

Dillon called the change a safety issue.

“We need to be able to get our ambulances, fire and rescue trucks through, and there have been times we weren’t able to do that.” Under the amended ordinance, “it’s no longer a long process to get [illegally parked cars] out of the way.”

The council will take a final vote on the measure at a future meeting.

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