She was in no condition to drive home. My friend had met us at People’s Bar and Grill for a Saturday evening of banter and a few cool drinks. One drink led to another, and pretty soon we stopped counting the costly refills altogether.

Being legal and responsible drinkers, we insisted that she stay with us at an apartment on Stanton Avenue, a short walk from Campustown. With little room for argument, we left her car outside the bar on Lincoln Way at a meter with the intention of retrieving it in the morning when sobriety hit.

Early the next morning, we walked back down to the spot where the car was parked. On the windshield, held sloppily in place by the front left whipper, was a stark white parking ticket. My friend was outraged!

I gazed up into the blinding July sun to see the little signs that line the streets leading to the Campustown bars. Etched in the white and red metal was the ominous no parking symbol with the words: “No Parking 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Daily.” With a newfound debt to her name, my friend appeared to be almost angry at herself for leaving her car in the violating zone rather than taking it home.

It is sad, but true.

Here in Ames, you are ticketed for being responsible.

It is another example of the way a bar patron with wheels is dammed into paying for a night of fun one way or another. The amount of alcohol-related injuries taking place behind the wheel of a car roughly breaks down to one every 33 seconds. Yet the City of Ames gives an unintentional incentive to move your car when the bar closes at 2 a.m. by threatening a ticket.

Now, a rational person would weigh the inconvenience of a $5 to $10 parking ticket versus the consequences of getting behind the wheel of a car after drinking, but we are not talking about a rational person.

Detective Randy Kessel from the Ames Police Department said the street lockdown is a long-standing practice in the city of Ames: “It is something we historically do because it is the time the street cleaners usually go out for the City.” Kessel says it also eliminates congestion in front of the local businesses when deliveries typically take place.

I ask you, is it worth it? Is the potential risk of putting lives in danger worth the removal of some dust from the streets during the hot summer months? Do a few cars along the side of the road really prohibit store deliveries that take place before 6 in the morning?

The City should be rewarding drivers who leave their cars parked on a Saturday night rather than unintentionally pushing them into driving home.

Ellyn Peterson is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Algona.