CHICAGO (STMW) – Tow trucks were busy on the city’s major streets again overnight, as 119 vehicles were towed on the second morning of the seasonal overnight parking ban.

The Winter Overnight Parking Ban for 107 miles of the city’s most critical arterial streets went into effect Wednesday at 3 a.m. Crews towed 215 vehicles on the first night of the ban, bringing the two-day total to 334.

The ban is in effect between Dec. 1 and April 1 between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. But despite permanent signage with posted calendar dates along the impacted streets, press conferences and news stories, and leafleting last weekend along the ban route, vehicles’ owners left their cars on the banned streets. This resulted in ticketing and towing, a release from the city Department of Streets & Sanitation said.

A few people may have learned a lesson from last year, though. The city says that on the first day of last year’s parking ban, 234 vehicles were impounded for violating the ban. Crews towed 164 vehicles during the second day of last year’s ban.

Violators can find themselves hit with a $150 minimum towing fee, a $50 ticket and a daily storage fees of $10 that increase over time.

The other pertinent ban activated during a heavy snow is the 2-Inch Snow Ban. This restriction is technically in effect year-round, but realistically only a factor in the winter. The ban is not activated often, but motorists who violate it face ticketing and relocation of vehicles.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)