A new way of sticking it to illegal parkers
Suction-cupped windshield cover lighter, easier to apply than ‘boot’
The latest tool in the battle against parking scofflaws looks as harmless as SpongeBob SquarePants.
But it sticks to an offender’s car like a barnacle — hence its name: the Barnacle, a device its inventors say could replace the steel “boot.”
Both are intended to immobilize a vehicle until the owners pay outstanding tickets. The boot goes on a wheel. The Barnacle attaches to an offender’s windshield with giant suction cups and blocks the driver’s vision. If you try to tamper with it, the device sounds an alarm. Even if you break the shell, its twin suction cups keep holding on for dear life, or at least for payment, as one unhappy Pennsylvania motorist found out. Some models even come with a GPS device that will help the law track you down.
“If you’ve ever seen a glass company truck driving down the road and seen workers carrying glass panels with those suction cups they put on them — it’s a very similar concept,” said Jon Haney, who is scofflaw supervisor (actual title) at the Allentown Parking Authority.
Haney said the device has been a hit with parking enforcement officers. The Barnacle is lighter than the solid steel boots — about seven kilograms versus 14 or more for the boot, Haney said — and easier to apply. A coded keypad locks the suction cups into place.
Haney said one illegal parker did manage to break off the yellow shell, but dis- covered that those suction cups wouldn’t yield.
“I like to say in that instance, that the Barnacle lost the battle but we won the war.” He said so far, no one has been brave enough, or foolhardy enough, to drive off Ace Ventura-style with his head out the window.
The Allentown Parking Authority has been using the device as part of a pilot program that began in August 2016 and will end later this month, Haney said. Each device cost about $600; it’s $12 per device per month if the GPS option is added. The parking agency said it has been getting inquiries from other jurisdictions about the odd-looking device.
Parking Squidwards, beware.