CATOOSA, Okla. — Catoosa police are working to raise awareness of a parking violation that the department says is on the rise. It's known as jay parking.
Jay parking is when a driver parks against the flow of traffic.
When a car is parked correctly, the reflectors in the taillights help make the car more visible to approaching drivers. If a car is parked on the wrong side of the street, headlights are not designed with the same kind of reflectors, making it more difficult for oncoming drivers to see.
“Whatever way they are coming in that’s just where they decide to park. We’ve had several accidents occur in neighborhoods where we have individuals that they just leave the scene of the accident because they couldn’t see the vehicle and then we have a resident that wakes up the next morning and their vehicle has been crashed into," says Sgt. Jennifer Swarer with Catoosa police.
Swarer says there is one Catoosa neighborhood where more people are jay parking, making it more challenging for drivers to navigate already packed streets.
“Rolling hills is our main neighborhood that we have the majority of the increase. It's where you don’t have driveways big enough for the family size that have people driving," says Swarer.
Swarer adds a driver can get a citation with a fee of around $100 for doing this since jay parking is illegal.
Right now, they are just trying to raise awareness so they are "green stickering" cars that are parked the wrong way. This gives a person 48 hours to move their vehicle.
Since the department's been doing this, Swarer says her shift patrols are seeing an improvement.
2 News reached out to Tulsa police to see if they are experiencing an increase in jay parking violations, especially with the Tulsa State Fair going on. TPD says they aren't seeing an increase but they also say they find this type of violation in neighborhoods as well.
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