NORMAL - Normal's two parking enforcement officers wrote 322 tickets in a single shift because of a snow-related parking ban Friday morning, police said.

Bloomington officers wrote about 45 tickets - at $50 each - because of the snow and also towed several vehicles.

Normal Police Lt. Mark Kotte said the two officers with his department wrote the tickets during the combined 15 hours of their shifts. That means each of the officers wrote, on average, a $20 parking ticket once every 2.8 minutes.

If everyone ticketed between the two departments were to pay up, it'd bring in $8,690.

Kotte said he didn't think anyone was towed in connection with the ban on all on-street parking, which was scheduled to be in effect until midnight Friday night. People are allowed to park in town parks, such as Ash, Fairview and Underwood parks, when the area is expecting heavy snow, he said.

Bloomington police spokesman Dave White said police issued the 45 tickets during the city's overnight ban on parking along designated snow routes, which was lifted at 9:30 a.m. Nine vehicles were towed during that time, but the city only has vehicles towed if city road crews call and say the vehicles need to be removed, he said.

White said the city asks people to help keep streets clear after large amounts of snow, but it's understood that is not always possible. He said people need to keep cars off snow routes, and they should ask to park in neighbors' driveways or other places off streets until after the plows have passed.

White said parking decks are free after 4 p.m., and people who live close to them could park there until early the next day without paying a fee.

Kotte said his department received some crash reports, but not an unusual amount for the conditions. Some roads were bad, particularly snow-packed subdivisions, but it helped that some major employers didn't force people to come to work, he said.