If you?re visiting the Inner Harbor, think twice before you change lanes. Otherwise, you might end up with a souvenir in the form of a ticket, courtesy of city traffic enforcement.
Thursday morning, just a block from the aquarium, out-of-towners sat in their cars steaming as city traffic enforcement officers wrote tickets.
The infraction? Trying to change lanes ? and sometimes crossing a solid-white lane that extends more than half of the block to do so.
“I was just trying to change lanes and go forward,” said Chris Noceti, a real estate agent from Rockville visiting Baltimore for the first time.
“I know officers have to do their job, but when it?s someone?s first time in the city, they should just give them a warning,” Noceti said, holding the $90 ticket.
Noceti said he was stuck in the left-turn-only lane on Pratt Street between Light and Calvert streets. When he tried to change lanes instead of turning onto Calvert he was stopped by a group of city traffic enforcement officers.
“They stepped in front of my car,” he said.
A motorist from California who did not want to be identified sat in his car waiting for his ticket to be written up.
“I didn?t realize changing lanes was illegal,” he said. “It?s confusing.”
James Prichard, 60, a limousine driver who lives in Baltimore, was waiting to pick up a client. He said the traffic enforcement officers frequently stake out Pratt Street at the Renaissance Hotel.
“They?re out there all the time,” he said. “If you got stuck in the lane and you want to get over, you?re screwed.”
But David Brown, spokesman for the city Department of Transportation, said that intersection is a “hot spot,” and pedestrian safety is foremost.
“We have people at the corner every day. It?s a heavily touristed area, and safety is important,” Brown said. “Sometimes it causes a little inconvenience, but the signs are posted early enough for people to abide by the law and make the turn.”
A traffic enforcement officer on the scene would say only, “We don?t have quotas.”
He, along with two other officers, departed minutes after a reporter arrived.
Noceti said he was definitely planning on returning to Baltimore ? once.
“I?m coming back to fight the ticket,” he said. “It?s not fair.”
