An Alaskan elementary school student has discovered that parking meters in downtown Anchorage tend to give drivers less time than they paid for.

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Lizzy Snyder, who's almost 12, recently went public with her results to make a case for reducing the fines for parking overtime at a meter, the Anchorage Daily News reported. She spent Super Bowl Sunday in 2005 feeding different combinations of coins into meters and timing the results with a stop watch, using her mother as a research assistant.

Her findings have led Lizzy to support Anchorage Assemblyman Dan Sullivan's proposal to halve the fines from $20 to $10.

Lizzy found on average meters short drivers by 20 seconds. She said that nickels appear to work best, often giving drivers a little extra time.

She also discovered while doing her project that many of the meters were broken, the newspaper said.

Mary Fong of Anchorage Parking said the old mechanical meters have problems because their metal parts are becoming worn and can no longer be replaced. The city is gradually replacing them with digital meters.