Just like last time, these are real emails from readers, along with my allegedly professional opinions.  If you would like to read the previous mailbag, click here.

This month I received a $250 ticket for parking in a handicapped spot at the library.  There are two reasons I’d like to contest the ticket.

First, the spot was not clearly marked (faded paint, no sign on the spot like other handicapped spots had, no diagonal lines on either side, as the others did).  [note: this person enclosed photographs of the situation, but for reasons of privacy I will not share them here]

Second, after I exited my car and headed for the library with my 11-month old baby, a man in his early 20s called to me that it was a handicapped spot.  I replied, “Oh, thanks for letting me know.”  (I swear I did, that’s all I said.)  The man then dropped his books into his car, came back toward me, and started yelling at me.  First he mimicked the way I talked, then he started yelling about how I think I’m better/more important/etc. than everyone else.   Whereas I had been heading back to my car to park in a different spot, when the man approached me I panicked.  I ran with my daughter to the front of the library (which, it turned out, was closing at that moment).  I couldn’t enter the library but knew there were employees inside so I stood there for about 5 minutes until I saw the man drive off.  As I walked back to my car, a police officer drove up, blocked my car, got out and said the police had received a call about me parking illegally.  That angry stranger called the police on me.

So here’s my question.  If I contest the ticket, should I raise both issues?  The second part sounds unbelievable – even to me – but it is really the truth.  The only evidence I have to support that I left my car there to get away from the scary man is that he bothered to call the police.  My car was parked in an almost empty parking lot of a closed library.  There were plenty of open spots I could have parked in (boy don’t I wish I had).  And, if I really was indifferent to handicapped spots, I would have parked in one of the two better-marked spots . . .they were closer.

I’m just confused about what I should say at court.  Yes, I technically did park in a handicapped spot.  I honestly could not tell it was one, though, when I parked.  Then, when I was going to move my car, I felt threatened by an angry driver and so I stepped away and left my car there (for 5 minutes).  If I hadn’t had the baby with me I might have acted differently – just gotten in my car to drive away.  However, what I was thinking was that it would take more time to buckle her in her carseat than it would take for the man to do something to us in the parking lot.

If this had been a live hearing, and I had just heard what you’ve written as your live testimony, the first question I would ask is, “If you really did return to your car immediately after the man told you it was a handicap space, why did he continue to come at you?”  This is the one issue that, to me, does not add up.  Let’s say you exit your car and are walking towards the library with your child.  The man tells you that you have parked in a handicap space.  If, upon hearing this, you stop in your tracks and begin walking back towards your car, there is no reason for the man to continue to yell at you, especially after taking the time to drop his books back into his own car.  It simply makes no sense.

This is a significant hole in your story and, to be honest, I would not believe that you were telling the whole truth.  The worst thing you can do in any hearing, parking ticket or otherwise, is to seem dishonest.  Moving on, the five minutes you spent waiting for the man to leave are probably irrelevant, as is whether or not the man called the police on you.  This case is going to come down to one issue: whether or not it was reasonable for you to miss the painted handicap logo on the parking space.  It is not enough to say you did not notice the logo; you must also show that any reasonable person also would have not noticed the logo.  Your pictures show, to my eyes at least, that the handicap logo was visible enough that you should have seen it.  If you can pass the state-mandated vision test to receive a maintain a driver’s license, you probably should have noticed the yellow paint on that parking space, faded or not.

Those who receive parking tickets for illegally parking in a handicap space often did not even realize where they had parked.  Unfortunately, ignorance, by itself, is never a defense to liability for parking tickets.  To win your appeal, you will have to prove to the parking ticket judge that there was almost no way you could have, or should have, realized that you were parking in a handicap space.  I do not see much merit in raising the issue of your confrontation with the man; in fact, it might harm you.

If your jurisdiction allows for a settlement offer that is less than the full amount owed on the ticket, it might be wise to take it.  If there is no such option, I wish you the best of luck.  On to the next email.

My son parked his Honda in a permitted parking zone in the [local university] area, close by the [campus landmark] late Friday PM, nearby his friends apartment.  His activities for Saturday were in and around the immediate area of the apartment, and, consequently, he had no reason to use or even check on his car.  Sunday AM he found that the street was festooned with temporary no parking placards – in honor of the [event] ceremonies that night – and his car no where in sight.  After several telephone calls, he learned that his car had been towed to an impound lot for having been found parked in a (temporary) no parking zone!  He retrieved the car after paying $250 and found a $70 parking tx affixed to its windshield.  Assuming that there was no advance notice given to the residents in the neighborhood(s) adjacent to this temporary no parking zone that it would become such, it would seem that there is some basic due process violation here.  It doesn’t seem fair, reasonable or responsible for the city to enforce its (temporary) no parking regulations by ambush.

In this jurisdiction, city law only requires that the city put up temporary tow away zone signs 24 hours before the tow away zone goes into effect.  The city often puts the signs up 48 to 72 hours in advance, but they are not legally required to do so.  Here, your son parked his vehicle Friday night and it was towed Sunday morning.  If your son contested the legality of the impound, the city would only have to prove that it put the signs up no later than Saturday morning.  I trust that your son can’t prove that he definitively checked the signs after Saturday morning and before Sunday morning, which therefore means that the city will not have to refund his money (the burden of proof lies with the citizen in these hearings, which does seem unfair to me).  I would recommend, however, that he contest the legality of the impound on the small chance that the traffic officer who ordered the impound made some sort of mistake when filling out the vehicle impound report, which is a requirement in most jurisdiction when vehicles are towed.  Even the smallest mistake could lead to a full refund.  Alright, let’s do one more.

i live in [city] and i got a parking ticket while i was parked on the corner of the street where the handicap curb begins. it is a 275$ ticket is there any possible way i can contest this and win?  i was parked on the corner of the street, blocking part of the “handicap ramp”, where the sidewalk  lowers to the street.

I’m sorry to say this, but if you were blocking any portion of a handicap ramp, you deserved to be ticketed.  Why would you block a handicap ramp?  It is there for a reason.  Unless there is some critical extenuating circumstance that you have not mentioned, there would be no point in contesting this ticket.  You would probably lose.

That’s all for now.  Comment on these if you’d like.

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