When vehicles are parked on the street after a heavy snowfall, Steinbach’s head of Public Works says it’s quite a nuisance to deal with.
Randy Reimer says encountering vehicles parked on city streets after a snowstorm is not uncommon.
“And especially if there are two, three, four vehicles on a block. It really makes it a real nuisance for the rest of the residents that are living there as well as for us trying to clean it up,” says Reimer. “And then when they finally do move them, to try and come back and it’s not as efficient. We have to come back and clean up where the vehicles have been moved.”
Crews have been out clearing streets since the first day of snowfall this week and will work into the weekend.
He notes there are a number of windrows left around the parked cars, which narrows the street quite a bit.
If the windrows are not cleaned up right away, it becomes a safety concern.
“For motorists coming down the street, if everything looks white and you don’t see that big, hard pile of snow there, it does become a bit of a hazard for somebody driving along with a smaller vehicle,” Reimer explains.
If they come across vehicles that are still parked on the street, there’s a chance the tow truck will be called, or that fines will be issued.
“We do have the ability to ticket or tow if people don’t remove vehicles off the street,” says Reimer. “So, we don’t as such announce parking bans, but that is what our by-law states; that people should remove vehicles off the street when there are snowfalls until the street’s been cleared.”
Reimer urges us to help them out by not parking on the street until it’s been cleaned up.
This story was first published on January 21, 2022