It doesn’t matter who’s driving it, it matters who owns it. We do a good job making sure the car we’re booting is the car in question, it doesn’t matter if your wife is driving your car...I’m booting the car, not her.

Oh, I should have been clear. You don’t get booted for parking illegally, you get ticketed for that. You get booted when you have three tickets that are more than 90 days old that you haven’t paid. Occasionally they’ll tow somebody for parking, but that’s if there’s road work or if you park in the mayor’s spot. I’ll…

Personally, I’ve always felt a reciprocating saw was the best tool to get it off there. Give me a Sawzall with a good metal cutting blade and I’d have a boot off in 30 seconds.

Your argument falls down almost immediately because booting is rarely done by the police, it’s actually done by the court. We’re not judge, jury, or executioner...we’re more like the constable who’s serving you your court papers.

It’s not bad, the main issue I see is that it’s bulky. They’ve got 5 stacked in that picture, and I can fit more than a dozen boots in that space. From a ripping it off standpoint, I think in the short term you’d see less lost, but eventually people will figure out how to get them off...I lose a boot about twice a…

Yup. My boots have a keypad on them just like the barnacle. You call an 800 number, pay your tickets, and they give you a code so you can remove it immediately. Probably 50-60 percent of people do it that way, for the rest I come out and remove it, but only during business hours.

They’d probably clean the windshield before applying it.

I’d wager they would carry a boot or two as backup, but I like how you’re thinking.

Typically this isn’t a punishment for parking in the wrong place, it’s a punishment for repeatedly parking in the wrong place.

At my company it’s $25 a day, so you’re not far off.

Booting cars is what I do for work, and while I can see a couple of small issues with it, by and large it looks like a good device to me.

I boot cars for a living, and having me come out to remove it is always an option. I can sympathize with people who don’t want to remove the boot and return it, so if they’re willing to wait 45-90 minutes (I’m usually there in 15), they don’t need to worry about returning it.

I agree, that’s why I’m conflicted about it. If they get home safely and the kid isn’t buckled in they can get a ticket, but the literal worst case scenario happens (albeit with no consequences) and there’s no citation. It just feels weird, you know?

I feel your pain. I went to catholic school from preschool through high school, and it’s nearly turned me into an atheist.

That’s exactly what I’m thinking. My instant reaction is that something ought to happen to them, but what’s a ticket compared to your kid ending up in a storm drain? I think there’s no good answer.

That’s a good point. I live in godless New England, so that’s probably clouding my judgement. My gut instinct is that yeah, I’d like to see repercussions, but what’s a money fine compared to what happened? Maybe they should lose their license for a few months, I don’t really know.

No you’re right, it’s not necessary at all. It’s just weird that I could do that and not have an issue but get a ticket and that person had their kid ejected from the car and not get one. But if the point of the ticket is so you don’t do it again (which it is), then the kid being ejected accomplished that and more. In…

Nice FJ80 in your avatar. I just got one, love it.

You’re almost certainly right, the result here was more convincing than a ticket would ever be. It’s just weird to me that if somebody didn’t buckle their kid up and got to work safely they could get a ticket, but this person had their kid wind up in a storm drain and doesn’t. At the end of the day the kid is lucky to…

Glad nothing happened. Normally my son gives me such shit while trying to buckle him in that there’s no way I can forget, which I guess is a good safety feature. But I was furious with myself when I saw that, I was shocked my wife didn’t straight up stab me.