In the American tech mecca of San Francisco, drivers are apparently particularly bad at paying their parking fines.
According to the local paper The San Francisco Standard the city has claims of over 200 million dollars, i.e. over 2 billion kroner, in unpaid fines.
Of the 6 million fines handed out by the city in the nearly six years since January 2018, fully 16 percent, or almost one in six fines, have gone unpaid.
During the period, fines totaling $601 million were handed out, as well as $137 million in late fees to those who did not pay their fines on time.
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SEK 800,000 in parking fines
Perhaps most notably, fines totaling $81,000, equivalent to over SEK 800,000, are issued to a single person – a man from California who drives a Lincoln.
The man has been fined 365 times over a five-year period between April 2018 and March 2023, and in that time has only managed to pay one of those fines.
Another diligent collector of parking fines in San Francisco is the driver of a Mercedes, who has managed to rack up $50,000 in fines, i.e. over half a million kroner, in just two years.
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Several tools for the authorities
The local transportation agency tells The San Francisco Standard that it has several tools to catch those who don’t pay their fines.
For example, you can prevent them from renewing the registration of their car, or from obtaining a residence parking permit.
Considering the number of unpaid fines, however, one can think about how effective these tools really are.
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