Illegal Parking Adds to the mess

Photo by Chris Gordon

Cars parked illegally on the east side of the highway across from Point Lobos. Most of the cars parked here did an illegal, dangerous, mid-road U-turn from the southbound lane.

Cars illegally parked adjacent to a ‘No Parking’ sign and barrier force pedestrians directly into oncoming traffic on Highway 1.

Are these cars parked 'parallel'? The parking sign directs drivers to “Park Parallel.” And these vehicles are parked parallel… to each other!

Law enforcement officers occasionally cite parking violations, but the number of officers for State Parks, Monterey County Sheriff, and California Highway Patrol assigned to this part of Monterey County have all been reduced in number over the years.

There are too many violations and too few law enforcement personnel. To curb the dangerous problems from illegal parking, officials must immediately implement simple but important physical and legal barriers to prevent parking problems.