Went to a party at an Embassy last night... well after the party, go back to Ms. Brahms and she had a calling card from the local parking police for $30.00. Now, there was a sign that said no parking until 6:30 P.M. and underneath that a sign that said no parking anytime. My 2 questions are for you DC natives are.... which sign takes priority ? Secondly, do I just shut up and pay the $30.00 or is it worth fighting it ? Suggestions ?

Thank you for listening to my rant... you may now go about your regular activities.

Cheers !

Derek.

 

Sounds like entrapment! Go back and take a picture of the signs and fight it.

 

There should be arrows on the signs and it depends if you were parked in in front or behind the sign.

As for fighting the ticket, it depends on how much money you make. Lets say you make $10/hr. Court usually takes about 5-6 hours, so you just lost $50-$60 for a $30 ticket. Not worth it. Plus gas. No points on your record, so IMO just pay it.

 

I'll post a pic of the sign that I took last night when I get home...

 

Fight it! I can help you, if you want. Some of the signs really don't make any sense and then the meter maid writes the ticket for something else, entirely. Frustrating.

Also, I never go to court - I just contest by mail.

 

having being in DC for over a decade ... and having collected tickets left and right (one time they booted my rental car by mistake !!! and lost a full day of work to get it sorted out) I suggest to fight a ticket always .

Take good pictures (make sure the street is shown, etc) and send your argument via mail. I had some luck with it. The latest ticket was on GyPsy ($100.00) because I was missing the front tag. I took pictures of the plate holder (which I said, it just arrived a few days earlier ) and wrote that I didn't get the time to put the tag up: They dismissed the case.

if they dismiss your case make sure you check on line and keep the paperwork as, in the past, this was a big issue.

BTW: DC is crawling with ticket maids for the past month or so. They are in full force - at least in Capitol Hill- and target residential streets like I never seen before.


Good Luck

 

I've gotten around 5-6 parking tickets for parking in a 2 hr spot and getting back at 2hrs and 1 min

I just park in the garage now and pay the $10 a day...evens out in the long run.

Also, the number of tickets DC meter maids gave out last year equalled almost 80% of the DC population (or something like that)

 

Having lived in DC area my entire life, just pay it. How much hassle do you want to go though for $30. I have learned to look for multiple signs and follow the most restrictive. Rowan, have had the same thing. If your meter has 2 hours better be back in 1hr 59 minutes that way you can wave to the meter maid waiting to give you the ticket.

 

They must train those meter maids at the Jedi Academy or something...
So prompt! So precise!

 

Yo Derek ! I'm not sure if I would take the time myself, If I did I would take GreenCactus up on the offer. I fell victim to a parking sign at Montgomery College, I used to park on the correct side of the "No parking from here to there" sign, one day they came out and repainted the yellow line on the curb, but left the sign where it was at instead of moving it to the front of the yellow line.

On the other hand, I can think of a lot more reasons to hate DC, just the rudeness of other drivers for instance. Yes, I do enjoy getting passed at 5:00am on a curve with a double yellow line when I'm already 10 over the limit on a road where they run the gun but never catch these idiots

This guy drove up my boot with an SUV for 2 miles, passed me on the double (again I'm over the posted limit) got in front of me, slammed on the brakes (I was expecting this) and had started backing off as I backed down to 10 below the limit, he slowed, obviously wanting a confrontation. I decided I had better change roads so I went to turn off at a light, as I moved over, he slowed to come along side and from the far right lane swerved at me in the left turn lane as if to run into me. Unbelieveable ! and this is at like 4:30-5:00am and no traffic on the road, and as I said I was already going over the limit to begin with ! What the F' makes someone do this ? I could understand frustration if I was under the limit by 10 or had been trying to provoke something but that was not the case......and what did this idiot accomplish, if he was in this earth shattering hurry, he was most certainly later due to his actions towards me.

I've heard so much about California drivers being the worst, I disagree, I've found it quite easy out there, even on the 101 and 405. Hell, look at those idiots we contended with on the St Paddy day run.

Ok, rant over, I'm off the soapbox.....next

 

I always write a letter if there's even a slight shadow of doubt or conflicting information. I had a very similar experience with conflicting signs in 2005 and got the ticket thrown out (see below). I've gotten 5 DC tickets over the years and 4 have been dismissed with a letter, and that means not going to court. With the letter approach you at least delay the fine. On the one they didn't see my way I just paid the fine after their response letter. As someone else mentioned, court is not worth your time, but I find that writing a 15 minute letter is.

Looking back at this letter it's not even that good. But I got it thrown out, so it did the job. Feel free to plagiarize if you find it at all helpful...
---------------------------
I ask that you suspend or cancel this ticket because the parking restriction signs at the location where I received the ticket are in conflict with one another and were confusing to me when I parked my car.

As you will notice in the enclosed photograph, the sign at the top indicates parking restrictions between the hours of 7 – 9:30 a.m. and 4 – 6:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday. Since I parked my car at 8 p.m. on a Saturday, in my mind it was a legal parking spot. The sign at the very top of the pole (partly visible in the photograph) says Do Not Block Driveway. Since the first 2 signs indicated I was within my rights to park there, I did not look to the third sign or think twice about it. I did not notice any other sign that indicated a no parking area. In fact, I didn’t even notice the other sign until I returned to my car at the end of the evening. The combination of these three conflicting and confusing signs, in addition to the other cars parked on the street in the same area, led me to believe it was a legal parking space. Furthermore, the curbs are not painted yellow, which would clearly demarcate the area as no parking. Also, it is directly outside of a police substation, which would have deterred my parking there if I had any thought that what I was doing was not legal.

As there are conflicting signs posted in this area, any ticket issued for the street should be reviewed. I only relay the confusion of the parking area to highlight what I believe to be a problem for the law-abiding public.
----------------------

 

If anyone is interesting in some mildly entertaining reading, check this out...

http://www.lefande.com/COLLATERAL2007.pdf

then, you can cross reference the DC Code number by googling. I bet you never knew it was a crime to park closer than 3 feet to car in front or behind you when parallel parking or that the fine for parking on the sidewalk is only $100 ("only" in comparison to the cost of other violation).

 

Actually this "law" is in effect in MD too, I put quotations on the word because is practically impossible to determine who parked first..

My DC ticket history includes a ticket for parking too far from the curb
and for having a dog off leash in the park, my ticket was $25.00 but another guy who argued the same ticket (we all gather w/ our dogs at the park after 5 pm for years!! ) got arrested.... The joy of living in the city ....