This New Parking Enforcement Device Really Sucks
There is a new form of embarrassment for rule-breakers of the parking variety. It’s an irremovable suction-based clamshell blindfold for your car that inconveniences you to the point of having to cooperate with authorities.
Devised by Barnacle Parking as a friendlier alternative to the infamous “boot,” the device is already being tested in a few American cities and might one day make it to yours.
The underside of “The Barnacle” is fitted with two massive suction cups that hold the yellow rectangle firmly to the windshield. According to its makers, the item cannot be removed until drivers pay a fine over the phone and receive a release code. They are then required to return a Barnacle to a designated drop-off location within 24 hours.
Attempts to pry the device off of a car will be met with the sounding of an obnoxious alarm. Barnacles are also equipped with a GPS locator, so disposing of them improperly isn’t really an option after you’ve paid the fine.
Barnacles are currently being used in two U.S. cities: Allentown, Pennsylvania and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “We wanted to see how the Barnacle held up in a variety of environments, and Fort Lauderdale’s heat and humidity made it a perfect test market,” company president Kevin Dougherty told City Lab.
Fort Lauderdale spokeswoman Monique Damiano claims her city wanted to try the device out of concern for their parking enforcement officers. “Since the ‘Barnacle’ can be installed on the front window of a vehicle from the safety of a sidewalk or curb, officers do not have to kneel down on the street, often with their backs to traffic, as they do with a boot device,” says Damiano. “This significantly reduces the chances of our officers being struck by passing cars.”
“Other reasons [we] wanted to test the prototype,” she adds, “are that it is quick and easy to install, easier to transport and store, and due to its compact size officers are able to carry more of the devices in their vehicles.”
As convenient as it may be for enforcement, it doesn’t technically stop an infuriated driver from sticking their head out of the window while driving down the street at speed, endangering other motorists. It also doesn’t keep a committed rule-breaker from damaging their easily replaceable windshield and leaving the item beeping by the side of the road.
[Images: Barnacle Parking]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
More by Matt Posky
Comments
Join the conversation
Finally, some use for that floss I forgot in the glove compartment. Just pull it under the suction cup, and let that obnoxious alarm blow in a nearby trash can.
Here in Atlanta, the boots are applied by private companies hired by the retailer or property owner. You have to wait for a separate guy to show up after you have paid. And it is not a matter of stacks of unpaid tickets, its a matter of minutes, or being observed walking into the wrong store after parking in front of the Starbucks. The folks putting them on cars are paid by commission, so they are quite aggressive. So if a private company puts this on my car, it will be dealt with in a manner I decide. Then we can move to civil courts and they will have a challenge of proving I did anything against a jury of my peers who will always hate them.