Screaming Barnacle targets parking ticket scoff laws
Barnacles have appeared on vehicles in Saskatchewan’s capital, but they’re not sticky little water-dwelling crustaceans.
The bright yellow devices, used to make sure parking scofflaws pay their tickets, could soon be making their way to other parts of the country.
“You will see more and more Barnacles,” Colin Heffron, chairman of Barnacle Parking, said in an interview from New Jersey.
When a Barnacle is placed on a vehicle’s windshield, commercial-grade suction cups latch onto the glass with more than 450 kilograms of force. It can be removed only once the driver uses a QR code on the device to pay outstanding fines.
A private company in Ontario has signed on to use Barnacles, and the University of Regina has begun deploying the device for people who persistently fail to pay fines.
“It is important to note that the Barnacle is only used as a last resort,” Paul Dederick, a university spokesperson, said in an emailed statement.
Anyone who has accumulated $199 or more in unpaid parking fines is assigned a persistent violator status and their vehicle gets a notice if it’s on campus.
If the fines are still not paid and the vehicle is spotted on campus, it’s time for the Barnacle.
Dederick said it’s “a less invasive enforcement tool than traditional towing and is a less arduous experience for violators than using a parking boot or wheel clamp.”
The university has used the Barnacle four times since January, and it’s been the subject of much social media attention.
Heffron said the device — with a catchy name, bright colour and prominent display on windshields — often goes viral online when deployed in a new market.
SpongeBob SquarePants comparisons abounded when the New York Police Department began a pilot project with the devices earlier this month. The force said on social media that Barnacles allow officers to reduce parking congestion and address vehicles that are a nuisance and a hazard.
Heffron said Barnacles have been deployed at universities, in municipalities and by other police forces across the U.S.
People have posted online different ways to try to remove the Barnacle, from running defrost to using a credit card to pull up the suction cups.
Unfortunately for those who need to pay a fine, the only way to truly remove the device is to take out the windshield, said Heffron. If someone tampers with the device, it triggers an “earpiercing” alarm.
The goal of the Barnacle is to deter people from parking illegally, Heffron said.
“If you drive into a parking lot and happen to see a few of these on a windshield, you aren’t parking illegally there,” he said. “You are going to move.”
While the company is just delving into the Canadian market, Heffron said it has been tested to make sure it can withstand the frigid northern climate.
How Barnacle works
• Parking enforcement worker places Barnacle on an offending vehicle’s windshield.
• Motorist contacts Barnacle via QR code, phone number or website. Pays fine and a Barnacle refundable deposit fee using credit card. Motorist receives a release code for the Barnacle.
• Barnacle releases itself from windshield. Motorist folds Barnacle and takes it to a drop box.