ICYMI: Reston Town Center's Parking Enforcement System Featured on ABC's 'Modern Family'

Editor's note: This article was originally posted last week.

RESTON, VA — A unique parking enforcement system utilized by Reston Town Center to go after those who don't pay their parking tickets was recently featured on an episode of the ABC sitcom "Modern Family," so if you're curious about what will happen to your vehicle if you don't pay for parking at RTC, the clip linked below is a good example.

Parking enforcement for RTC uses a bright yellow piece of equipment called the "Bumble Bee" or the "Barnacle," which is attached to the windshield of vehicles that have unpaid parking tickets, forcing the driver to pay to have it removed so the car is drivable again.

The Barnacle is a fairly new parking enforcement system, but it is used elsewhere in the United States besides Reston. In the episode, the character Haley finds the Barnacle stuck on her car due to unpaid parking tickets.

You can watch the clip on ABC's website here.

Reston Town Center doesn't have gate arms or ticketing systems. Instead, ParkRTC allows visitors to park their cars and then pay for a session using the app. This makes enforcement a bit trickier, so RTC employs the Barnacle, nicknaming it the "Bumble Bee." That enforcement method is only for the worst of the worst, says Rob Weinhold of the Fallston Group, which represents RTC manager Boston Properties.

"The immobilization device will be reserved for the most habitual, repeat violators - they will not be towed," Weinhold told Patch in January. "The Bumble Bee (immobilization device) is a device that is suctioned to the windshield so a driver cannot see to drive the car away. To get the device removed, the vehicle operator must call security and pay a fee to have it removed."

Boston Properties will have a "very soft touch" enforcement approach at the outset, but has a longer-term goal of "adoption and compliance" of the ParkRTC system.

Image via the Barnacle