Usually, the only warm-blooded creature in the house that ever bothers to get up and acknowledge me when I come through the front door is my dog, Major.
So I knew something was wrong when I walked through the door and the Honeybee greeted me with a big kiss.
Needless to say, I cut right to the chase: “OK, what happened?”
“I got a parking ticket.”
“How much?”
“Thirty-five bucks. But I’m innocent!”
“Uh huh. That’s what all you scofflaws say. Where did you get it?”
“In front of Patti’s house.”
Patti lives just around the corner from us. It turns out that the Honeybee had the misfortune of visiting her on a day when the city sweeper made its bi-monthly run. Of course, a rascally meter maid took the opportunity to cite her for being illegally parked along the curb.
Cities Are Exploiting Curb Taxes
Supposedly, my city’s street sweeping enforcement program was launched in response to citizen complaints, although I strongly suspect the only citizens that actually, um, “complained” were the mayor and his five city councilmen.
In reality, cash-strapped cities are using parking fines to fill their coffers like never before. A retired New York City meter maid copped to writing 227 tickets during a 5-hour shift. And last year, the meter maids in Washington DC cranked out parking tickets at the astonishing rate of one every eight seconds, writing nearly 2 million tickets that generated $92 million in revenue.
How to Fight a Parking Ticket
I fought the Honeybee’s parking ticket and got it dismissed — so despite the conventional wisdom, you can fight City Hall.
Best of all, you don’t have to be Clarence Darrow. However, it does help to follow these simple rules:
Stay calm. When you first see that pitiful pink ticket on your windshield, don’t rip it up in a fit of rage and vow never to pay it. Failure to pay parking fines can result in additional penalties and even the impounding of your car.
Gather evidence. Before you drive away, note any evidence or facts that could help you beat the rap. Take pictures of anything that might exonerate you; for example, how and where you were parked, or any missing or misleading regulatory signs. This was critical in how I got the Honeybee’s ticket overturned.
Look for an easy out. Carefully examine the ticket. Any incorrect information, whether it’s required or not, is grounds for dismissal — that includes the date, time, location, vehicle code violation, and make or model of your car. There were no mistakes on the Honeybee’s parking ticket, so I had to dig deeper.
Educate yourself. Information is power. That’s why it is absolutely crucial that you do a little research on the Internet. If I was going to beat the Honeybee’s ticket, I had to prove that my city was somehow in violation of the state vehicle code. The Honeybee’s citation referenced California Vehicle Code section 22507.6, which states in part:
Local authorities may, by ordinance or resolution, prohibit or restrict the parking or standing of vehicles on designated streets or highways, or portions thereof, for the purpose of street sweeping.
That section also includes this little nugget:
No such ordinance shall be effective until the street has been sign-posted in a conspicuous place at each entrance to the street with lettering setting forth the day or days and hours parking is prohibited.
So you can imagine my joy when I discovered, after retracing the Honeybee’s route, that the street she had parked on was not properly marked. In fact, the only no-parking sign in the entire neighborhood was two blocks away from where she had parked. So the ticket was bogus!
Don’t take “no” for an answer. My city refers all appeals directly to a private company that processes the tickets. So I sent a letter to them explaining why the ticket should be dismissed. I also included pictures and a street map showing the site of the alleged violation and far-off location of the lone no-parking sign. Ten days later I received the verdict: appeal denied. At this point, I think most people would have given up. Not me; I requested a court hearing.
Vigorously defend yourself. Don’t be timid when making your case, but always show respect to the judge. On the day of my hearing I presented the same map and pictures, along with a copy of the applicable section of the vehicle code. The judge tried to poke holes in my arguments — but I never wavered. The case was dismissed in less than five minutes.
The Bottom Line
In all, I reckon I spent six hours researching, gathering evidence, writing letters and preparing for court. For many folks, the time and effort involved to fight a parking ticket isn’t worth it — but I fought on principle; the ticket was unjust.
By the way, I brought my kids to court too, as a civics lesson to show them how our justice system works. They loved it!
So the next time you get a ticket, don’t get mad. Fight back!
Remember, the law works for the benefit of everyone — not just the meter maids who write the tickets.
Photo Credit: Elvert Barnes
I once fought against a $300 fine because of parking in a handicap parking slot in the city. I live in the suburbs where the signs are HUGE, but in the city, the signs were “low” and hardly visible at night.
I had a colleague got away with it by taking photos in the suburbs car parking and the city car park, being contrite etc etc. I did the same thing, but the person refused to give in anyway! I guess the person did not like my face!
You fought the law and you won!
Where I live, there’s a DUI tax. The cops hang out by a nearby bar and pull over everyone that comes out of the parking lot.
It’s pretty effective money-collection system, although hasn’t done much to curb DUI accidents.
Hard core drunks just avoid drinking at the bar.
There has to be a chapter in the next Freakanomics on this.
@Sam: As I mentioned in the article, heck yeah it was worth it! There were other intangibles that made the money issue a moot point for me.
@Mr CC: I bet if you had checked your state’s vehicle code, you’d have found that those stealthy handicapped signs in the city were illegal. It would have been an open and shut case – with no need to show any contrition!
@Matt: That sounds downright cheesy. Although I think drunk drivers should be prosecuted to the fullest extend of the law, I don’t think the police should be staking out the bar and shaking down law-abiding citizens without probable cause. I’d be complaining to the city council about that practice.
Mr Penzo,
I think your advice on how to fight a ticket is spot on. I have fought a few tickets over the year.
I am not clear on why you thought the ticket was unjust. Did you feel the the ticket was unjust because your wife was unaware that she was parking illegally or do you feel that the ticket was unjust because you feel the government is exploiting the law to fill their coffers?
If your wife knew that she wasn’t supposed to park there, but did it anyway because she thought should could get away with it, then i would have to say that you should have paid the ticket. I think it is important to follow the spirit of the law as well. If the government is using curb laws to fill their coffers, then they may be following the letter of the law, but they are not following the spirit of the law which i think is wrong/unjust.
Respectfully. TheDiggs
The Honeybee had no idea she was illegally parked. The ticket was unjust because the street she parked on was improperly marked per the California vehicle code (i.e., it had no regulatory parking sign(s) on it). The code clearly states that parking citations cannot be enforced until the street is properly marked; the city chose to cite my wife anyway.
The letter of the law has to be followed by everyone — including those enforcing the law.
And while I hear where you’re coming from, I don’t necessarily agree with you about “the spirit of the law.” That argument leads down a very slippery slope.
In the end, it must come down to “the letter of the law.” If we can start meting out justice based upon what one individual believes was the “spirit” of the law, then we remove the blindfold from justice and we end up with no laws at all. If the law is poorly written, then it needs to be rewritten to eliminate ambiguity.
It’s the same thing regarding the myth of a “living breathing Constitution.” If the words written in our Constitution can be interpreted to mean anything, depending on who is doing the interpreting, then it really stands for nothing at all.
“In the end, it must come down to ‘the letter of the law.’ If we can start meting out justice based upon what one individual believes was the ‘spirit’ of the law, then we remove the blindfold from justice and we end up with no laws at all.”
Oops, don’t tell this to the iberal Supreme Court justices – this is how they decide cases (and what’s wrong with them being on the Court)!
You go Len!! Paying for tickets of any sort is like burning money. More importantly, this post reminded me that I have a speeding ticket almost 2 years old that was never resolved (I went to court to fight it, it got put on hold, haven’t heard back from the city since). I should probably make sure there isn’t a warrant for my arrest or something silly like that. Thanks for keeping me out of jail friend! 🙂
@Kevin: Like I said, the whole process was fun for me. There is a bit of real passion that overcame me while I was arguing my points to the judge – exercising my right to defend myself. The only thing missing was the jury. (Man, that really would have been fun!) It kind of made me feel like a, dare I say it, a lawyer up there.
@Paul: I’ve had a car towed once before too, but I was guilty as sin – I didn’t dare try and fight that one. LOL
@Ashley: Let me know if you need a up-and-coming lawyer to defend you. I know a good one – he’s had only one case, but he won it convincingly. 😉
I hate getting tickets! In my defense, it was only once in my life. I am very careful and cautious driver.
It’s amazing how many stop light cameras are popping up where I live all in the name of needing revenues. It’s all about filling holes in the budget, not safety.
I too had a similar experience fighting a $35 ticket issued in error. It would have been far easier to just pay the $35, but I wanted to make sure the error went on record. The more errors we point out, the more incentive ticketers will have to not write bogus tickets.
Right now those writing the tickets have ZERO incentive for writing bogus tickets. Perhaps errors would be reduced if cities were forced to PAY the same fine to the defendant if they win their case. Just a crazy thought that is never going to happen.
I once got a heavy ticket dismissed because it was written at 12:30 am, but they wrote on the ticket 12:30 p.m.
I made sure to go to the court before 12:30 p.m. because it’s not possible, and it worked! The clerk didn’t even notice the mistake until I pointed it out to him and wrote off the ticket.
I’ve beaten a couple of parking tickets for being parked too close to a fire hydrant. In both cases, the ticketing officer neglected to notate what the ticket was actually for.
I also beat a citation from the city’s department of Licenses and Inspections for trash left out on my property on a date not scheduled for trash pick up. In this case, it was a lot more complicated because there was a bucket of trash on my property and it was there at a time it wasn’t supposed to be. The trick was demonstrating that I wasn’t responsible for it, and for that I had a photograph. Well, I’d taken several, but when the time came to print them out for the hearing, I could only find one on my drive. Fortunately, it was sufficient to make my point which was this: I live in a row home, i.e. my next door neighbors each share a wall with me and the houses open directly onto the sidewalk, so no fences. My neighbor’s front door is right next to the property line between our houses. It was very easy for my neighbor to drop the bucket just on my side of the property line when leaving his house, and if I didn’t see it before the inspector came by, well, I couldn’t move it now could I? The judge at the hearing accepted my argument and the photo showing the neighbor’s front door and the property line, conveniently marked by a gap in the sidewalk.
Well done, Raven. If I was the judge I would have dismissed your case too, even if I didn’t believe it, just on the sheer creativity of the argument. A quality defense, and very well done! 🙂
Speeding tickets you should always question…. usually go to court and tell the judge you were guilty with an explanation… they will usually cut you some slack… you pay a fine and no points for example…
fighting a parking ticket? Not sure about that one if it’s worth it or not… I suppose I would If I felt they were in the wrong.
@ Financial Samurai: I’m going through a similar situation right now but I’m fighting a $20 ticket that I got parking on my own property. You ask whether it’s worthwhile. I’ll be taking time off work to attend court (I make $23/hr). I realize that it would be cheaper and less headache to just pay the ticket but it’s the principle. Yes, it is definitely worthwhile!
In our city, (Cape Coral, Fl) we have a lawn watering ordinance that allows only 2 days & only at certain times on those 2 days. About 6 months ago I received a citation that it was going to cost me $100 for watering at the wrong time.
I went in & showed them a picture of my house & it didn’t match the picture taken by the code enforcement guy. So I didn’t have to pay them greedy so-and-sos $100 of my money.
Two questions I should have asked but neglected to do so:
1. If you can’t even get one correct street for a code violation, how many others did you get wrong.?
2. What are you doing out at 11:30pm for code enforcement.?
Regarding #1, I think these code enforcement officers don’t really care — they’re banking that the people getting the citations will be too apathetic (or unable to afford the time off) to fight any technicalities.
Regarding #2, our government (at all levels) is now so big that it must resort to this type of craziness to maintain itself.
“From a personal finance perspective, the time involved to fight a parking ticket is usually not worth the cost”–I think this is the key to the whole system. But my hats off to you for taking a stand. We all need to start acting like citizens, involving ourselves in the process, rather than as victims.
I also like your point about citations being used primarily for revenue generation. I’m hearing quite a bit about this from differnt people and there’s something to that.
Len,
I’m almost embarrassed to admit I felt a little populist pride that you beat the ticket. I had a vehicle towed a few months back in San Francisco, but just gritted my teeth and swiped a card. I suppose I should print this out: (http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc22658.htm) for the next time something happens. Thanks for the story!
My son just got a seat-belt ticket and he had it dismissed in court. He was in his counsin’s Ford Escort that had the old automatic shoulder belts and they were disconnected. But, he was wearing his lap belt, which is all that is required by law.
Since $300 is a lot of money for a 20 year old, I printed out the text of the law and sent him down to court. He told me the judge even snickered when he plead not guilty. But, the same judge dismissed his ticket when shown the evidence.
The point I wanted to make is that the officer either knew or should have known my son was in compliance with the law, but ticketed him anyway. I am sure they are under intense pressure to raise revenue right now.
But, shaking-down law abiding citizens isn’t a solution for an irresponsible Government. They need to cut back at some point and realize there is a limited amount of revenue available to them.
The sad news is, Bret, many people that receive unjust tickets will simply pay the fine and be done with it – either because they don’t have the time, or feel it’s not worth their time.
It’s great that you appealed your parking ticket and were succesful.
Unfortunately too many people say it’s too time consuming but that view is wrong. If motorists appeal when the ticket is unfairly issued it will serve as a warning to parking authorities to act fairly.
Many cities are cash strapped and handing out tickets for stupid things. Good advice on how to get out of a ticket
Around here, you’d have to pay the court fees even if the ticket were dismissed. Yes, I live near D.C. :/
Once I got similar ticket in another city that’s about 5-hour drive from where I live. But it’s such a city that we might visit again and again. So I had to pay for the ticket.
I had to appear before the judge in a criminal court. But the officer who gave me the ticket said it sounded bad but it’s not.
I went to the court – 5 hours drive. The judge said “Get a lawyer” and gave me another court date.
I went to court 5 times over a period of almost 2 years and the same judge would say the same thing.
Finally, the last time I went in, a different judge was sitting. Believe me he held his head in the palm of his hands for seemed like a minute and kept saying “We are very sorry.”
He said “Can you give $5.” I said yes. I gave five dollars and ran on my two legs and borrowed a couple more legs as fast as I could and never looked back.
That was 20 years ago.
If I were wrongly accused or charged something you can bet I’ll spend my time and effort to prove my point. I don’t think there is anything wrong with saying, hey it’s not my fault. Anyone who just gives in just gives in the right to fight for what is right. Cheers!
Well done, Len!
City halls over here I am sure try the same trick with parking and the police too with speed cameras.
I had similar approach with the university.
Sometimes assume you’l just pay the $35 and leave it be.
But it’s always worth the fight!
Any suggestion from a tow on city street alleged vehicle was parked blocking a drive way. Do not thing it happen but the vehicle was removed.
That’s a tough one, Toni. Unless somebody has a pic with a time stamp showing your car wasn’t blocking the driveway at the time the car was towed, I suspect you are going to have to hope to get away on a technicality of some sort (incorrect license number on the ticket, lack of a sign in the immediate vicinity indicating you were in a tow-away zone, etc.).
I am trying to fight a ticket on the same basis, but my concern is with the next sentence of the statute – did this come up for you?
“As used in this section, “entrance” means the intersection of any street or streets comprising an area of restricted parking for street-sweeping purposes on the same day or days and hours with another street or highway not subject to such a parking restriction, or subject to parking restrictions on different days and hours.”
Based on this definition, “entrance” only means an intersection between two streets with different restrictions. I’ve read some other websites where people were cited and appeals denied when the sign was several blocks away because the whole “tract” had the same restrictions. The signs for our neighborhood are spaced out and not at every intersection, but they state the restriction applies to the entire “tract”.
Just curious if this came up and how you dealt with it.
Yes … what I did, Judy, was I printed a map of the tract where the restrictions were in place. I then noted the locations of every sign on the map with an ‘X’. I also took a picture of the sign (they were all the same). At the time, the signs did NOT state that the restrictions applied to the entire “tract”. I argued that the closest sign was two blocks away on another street, and that a reasonable person would infer that it only applied to the street the sign was posted on. Apparently, that was good enough for the judge.
After my case, the signs were all changed — they now state that they apply to all streets in the entire tract. I don’t think I would be able to win my case if that happened again because they changed the signs.
Thanks for the reply! I don’t think this argument will work in my case. Now I’m off to measure the signs to see if they comply with the size requirements!! I’m all about the principle of the matter too!
I got a ticket for going 78 in a 55. The speed limit signs were not posted in accordance with state law and I was found not guilty because of that. Took me some research and persistence, but I figured it out. Saved me over $200 in fines and court costs plus any insurance hikes that might have come my way.
Any tips on how to beat a ticket for blocking a sidewalk? My fiance parked her car in my driveway, which is very short so her car was blocking the sidewalk. We share the driveway with my neighbors (I live in a triplex). My neighbors park their cars in their driveways, blocking the sidewalk, although they mostly park there at night. My fiance parked there all day yesterday, which is when she got the ticket. Honestly, I don’t think I can beat this ticket.
Not sure, TKO. That is a tough one. Here’s an idea — but it is a stretch: I might question why the city approved a driveway that was too short to legally accommodate a car without blocking the sidewalk. Perhaps you can argue that if the city approved a driveway that was too short, you shouldn’t be given a ticket by the same city — argue it as a form of entrapment. IDK … maybe it’s worth a shot?
Hi Len
A question for you. I recently received a parking ticket for parking in a handicapped spot, which I didn’t. The initial review was denied, and the formal hearing also didn’t go in my favor.
I am feeling a bit let down because I know for sure that I did not park in a handicapped spot. I was thinking of giving up and pay the fine of $150 and suddenly I came across your blog. The “Look for an easy out” section actually gave me some hope. I reviewed my ticket in detail, and saw that the ticket says the color of my car to be white, which it is not. You can say it is a silver one, but definitely not white. My registration though for some strange reason says the car color is Green. Do you think I can file a docket in the court and bring this discrepancy in their notice to have the ticket dismissed?
I am not a lawyer, but if I were in your shoes, I would absolutely give it a shot. Good luck!
Our city had given a parking ticket for our motorhome being parked for not being moved after a warning ticket was placed saying vehicle must be moved for 48 hrs before being re-parked in front of our house.. No problem, we went camping with our two young kids at a private camper park about 2 hours from our house for 3 1/2 days. While there we signed up and signed documents (all dated) and took pictures of our fun times with time stamps on the photos. When we returned after 77 hrs we re-parked in front of our house at night. The next morning (Easter Sunday!) there was a ticket. In order to show my kids how justice worked we paid the ticket and filed an appeal. The “administrative law judge” took in separately and we both showed our documentation and told the truth. She asked why we didn’t bring our neighbors as witnesses? We both took time off work to show our kids how legal matters should be handled. The judge said she would notify us of her verdict. Of course a few weeks later we got the notice that the ticket still stood. I researched further and found info on-line that our city was the center for the whole county because they were revenue makers, not a justice system (Napoleonic Law). It’s hard to tell young children to obey the government but don’t trust them ever.
I’m sorry to hear you lost your case, George.
I tell my kids to obey the law, but never have blind faith in the government — especially today. The voters have allowed it to become so big that it is now our master, rather than the servant it is intended to be as specified in the US Constitution.
I have a friend who got a parking ticket in DC. He was legally parked on the street and his parking ticket was valid until 3:59pm. when he returned to his car, he watched the meter maid write the ticket for 4:01pm. Any suggestions?