A parking management system is described that includes a light detector, a reflector positioned within a parking space and aligned to direct received light to the light detector, and a processor receiving a signal from the light detector that indicates an amount of light detected by the light detector. The processor causes a parking space indicator to indicate that the parking space is unoccupied based on the amount of light detected by the light detector being greater than a threshold, and causes the parking space indicator to indicate that the parking space is occupied based on the amount of light detected by the light detector being less than the threshold.