Park the wrong way in Wilmington? Prepare to pay up

WILMINGTON -- It is not uncommon on Wilmington roads, especially on crowded downtown streets, to see cars on the same side of the road parked nose-to-nose.

It's also illegal, and can result in a ticket from either Park Wilmington or the Wilmington Police Department.

Since January 2017, more than 2,000 tickets have been written in Wilmington for parking facing the opposing traffic. The most frequent locations for the tickets, by far, are on downtown streets, while areas around Carolina Heights and off-campus housing near the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) also show up in data provided by the city.

The rule, Wilmington officials say, is a national one, and is based on the idea that to park facing opposing traffic, a driver effectively has to break the law twice, driving against opposing traffic both when pulling into and out of the spot.

"You are essentially illegally pulling across the street, driving in the wrong lane to get to that parking space on the wrong side of the street," said Chance Dunber, Wilmington's parking manager.

Orange Street was the most frequent avenue for tickets in city limits during the past two years, leading the way with 243 citations. Of those, 211 were written on the first block, 100 block or 200 block.

Most of the citations, Dunbar added, are written during routine enforcement. Park Wilmington wrote about 70 percent, while the Wilmington Police Department wrote about 30 percent.

Wilmington's city code references the wrong way parking in two separate places, once in Sec. 5-52, when it says parking is prohibited on the left side of the street except on certain one-way roads and again in Sec. 5-55 when it states cars must be parked "headed in the direction of lawful traffic movement."

If Park Wilmington or the Wilmington Police Department write a wrong way citation, it comes with a $20 penalty. All money returns to the city's parking enterprise fund, which is used to maintain and update parking facilities.

"I've been in parking for 13 years, not always in Wilmington," Dunbar said. "I find this one kind of unique to Wilmington in terms of how common I see it."

The ultimate goal of any citation for parking facing the wrong way is to convince a driver to face the direction of traffic the next time they're searching for a spot, even if that means circling the block.

"This one is really a safety issue," Dunbar said, "and it does try to promote safer driving habits."

Reporter Adam Wagner can be reached at 910-343-2389 or Adam.Wagner@GateHouseMedia.com.