Mystery about marking

“Flood of parking tickets” causes a wave of indignation

There is confusion in Ternitzer Hauptstraße because many parkers do not know that the short-term parking zone also applies to the spaces marked in white.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Doris Seebacher )

Parking spaces in Ternitzer Hauptstraße (Lower Austria) are sometimes marked in blue and sometimes in white. To the confusion of drivers, who often don't know that they are in the short-term parking zone and that you always have to put a parking meter behind the window. Parking tickets are the result. 

Scene Monday morning in the main street in Ternitz, district of Neunkirchen. The police issued tickets because hardly anyone had put a parking meter in their car, even though the entire street is a short-term parking zone - and therefore a parking meter must be placed in the car. The signs are located at the beginning and end of the street.

In some parking spaces, the blue line is so faded that it is barely visible.(Bild: Doris SEEBACHER)

Others, on the other hand, are only outlined in white and give the impression that this is not a short-term parking zone.(Bild: Doris SEEBACHER)

There is excitement and confusion among the penalized parkers: not all parking spaces are marked in blue. "I didn't assume that this was a short-term parking zone when the parking space is marked white," says Ms. H. from Ternitz. Penalty for this: 25 euros.

Markings are partly faded and difficult to recognize
A local inspection by the "Krone" also shows that some parking spaces were probably once marked in blue, but these markings have already faded so much that they are barely visible.

When asked, Mayor Christian Samwald is now "grateful" for the information. Although he knows that there has been a short-stay parking zone there "forever and ever", he always likes to forget about the parking meter himself. He also admits that the lines are white instead of blue: "That's not ideal." As the lines are always being redrawn anyway, he promises that next time they will consider marking them blue instead of white.