I love having a car on campus but with that comes responsibilities - one of which is parking. Finding parking on the University of Maryland campus can be a huge issue for many. The university offers a limited amount of parking spots in their parking lots so it is a battle to get the rare parking pass for one of the prestigious lots such as Mowatt Garage. Once you pick from a variety of parking lots far from where you live, you must now deal with the real issue.

The aggressive ticketing tactics that DOTS is responsible for is one of the major issues and causes student drivers lots of unnecessary stress. Finding a parking spot is hard enough, but now with DOTS at every corner of any street on campus, make sure not to park in the wrong place. Don't even think about parking at a meter and not paying. I learned the hard way. After being parked for 10 minutes, I walked down from my dorm to find a ticket on my windshield. However, in terms of DOTS ticketing, I would be considered very lucky. My friend was not as lucky.

My friend was looking for parking outside of Eppley and parked in a lot with a sign that read "permit only Mon-Fri". It was Saturday so it seems like it should be no problem to park there. Wrong! The sign had underneath in small print that the lot was restricted to faculty only. A ticket was waiting for my friend for $80 when he got out from his workout. His day and experience with DOTS didn't end there that day. DOTS had another trick up their sleeve.

When driving back to my friend's apartment, he made a quick stop at a friend's place. While there for 15 minutes, he comes out to a bright, yellow car. A sign pointed out that cars are towed at their owner's expense and that the car is in Greenbelt. When he thought his day wasn't getting any worse, it did. A $80 ticket and a towed car were enough to deal with for my friend from DOTS.

The moral of the story is to not have a car on campus. Just leave that at home. If you need one on campus or are a commuter then follow these rules. Before you leave your car parked, check the signs. Park in a metered lot and not in a residential zone as they ticket them quickly.