Des Moines Issues Tickets During Snow Ordinance - ABC5 News Des Moines, IA

Des Moines Issues Tickets During Snow Ordinance

By Addie Olson

aolson@myabc5.com

@addieolson

During the storm last week, police issued 236 tickets on snow routes and about 1200 tickets on residential routes. They haven't seen quite as many tickets with the most recent snowfall, but they could still hand out a lot more.

Last week was the first time police started ticketing cars instead of giving out warnings.

This storm wasn't as highly anticipated as the one last week.

"I think this one hit us by surprise a little bit," said Sgt. Jason Halifax of the Des Moines P.D. "I know a lot of the forecasts were saying one to two inches, and we were kind of all expecting that, and we ended up getting nearly eight."

The latest numbers aren't in yet, but as of this morning 193 tickets had already been issued on snow routes.

They started plowing residential areas around 1 p.m. today. Most streets were completely covered.

"It was just hard to drive in," said Brady Walker of Des Moines. "Like this morning we couldn't even get on our street, so we had to improvise."

One thing that seemed to be throwing people off was the odd and even parking schedule. 

"It's definitely been confusing because we'll notice some people are parked on one side and some people are parked on the other side," said Molly Matthews of Des Moines. "I'm not quite sure it's catching on."

For those who are confused, police recommend visiting their snow removal web page.

"You can sign up for emails from the city that let you know when we're going to be hitting residentials and that kind of thing," said Sgt. Halifax.

The city is not yet sure when snow removal will be complete.