California parking ticket?? advice?

[Tenchuu]

just wondering if you guys have delt with the downtown ticket cops in San Diego, I got a ticket for not cramping my wheels when parked. diddn't matter that my car was in a 15 min zone (just ran inside to get books from school) or that my car was an automatic with the e-brake on. Yes i realize that autos suck, but i am going to be switching it out soon.

back to the subject, I had no idea what a cramped wheel was, the signs read "cramp wheels to curb" so i turned them to the curb. apparently this is wrong when facing uphill. Yes i know to turn your wheels away when parking a manual uphill, but never have seen a tickitable offence out of it, and it's just stupid to do it with an auto. if the brakes fail the tranny will keep it from rolling (at least for the 10 min i was inside).

Any suggestions?

[kandyflip445]

An auto transmission will not let your drive wheels move at all if it is in park. The transmission is basically solid when it's in park.

[FaLKoN240]

I don't know if that is a LAW, punishable by a ticket, maybe it's just a warning, see if you receive a notice in the mail.

[Tenchuu]

Yeah the tranny locks it, but they don't want to hear that. As far as the ticket goes, it is a $47 fine they are tryign to hit me with, and the ticket has parking violation and payment info on it, so I'm sure it's not just a warning.

[Ghst 01]

Yes it is a ticketable offense and there is no way to get our of it..... according to the law it does not make a difference if you drive a stick or not.. the sign reads for all cars.. regardless of the type of transmission.. parking tickets can not be argued.... and there is no such thing as a parket ticket warning.. pay it and keep it as a reminder... i know because i receive all types of tickets.... and i have relatives that work for DPT

[Tenchuu]

they had a address to send in Appeals, so i wrote up a statement and am hopeing for the best, but any info helps. my statement bases that i am from out of state and don't know what a cramped wheel is, the transmission locked it, and i was only out of the vehicle for 10min.

[sr240mike]

Its on the driving test, its law, you lose. Russell Peters voice "don't be so cheap".

[Tenchuu]

it may be on the CALIFORNIA driving test, but not on the OREGON driving test. resident/licensed/registered in Oregon. so ???????? hopefully

[lucky7]

i know the routine for parking on the hills out there because ive been there twice. but i have never heard of the term "cramped" before in my life. thats the dumbest fucking law ive ever heard. im glad im in rochester than in la jolla where my family almost moved. weather is beautiful, but life sounds like a pain in the ass. good luck dude.

[rainier]

police used to go up to the hill where my old school used to be and start writing everyone off for that kind of ticket. even if you dont have a California drivers license and the car is not registered here, you ARE here and were driving in california so they can ticket you any way they want. you cant get out of it at all. just pay the ticket.

[lucky7]

you cant get out of it at all. just pay the ticket.

sounds like freaking nazi's in cali. EFF that. you can get off for damn near anything here, if you schedule a court date and "talk things over" with the judge/magistrate. they will amost always drop your ticket so you do not get any points, and just a fine.

i somehow find it hard to believe they would still give you a ticket for a halfassed law you didnt realize existed. heartless bastards.

[jOeHaCk98]

I FUCKING HATE DPT... They could all burn in hell as far as im concerned. They have like a million phone lines to pay your ticket, but if you want to contest, you have to call and write, and they automatically "lose" your contesting letter the first 3 times. So here is a secret, if you dont like someone and you have their name and address, just put that on the back of ur ticket. DPT will bug the shit out of them, and not you. I had a guy i sold a car to do that to me. The only way i got off was because he spelled my name wrong.

[MakotoS13]

sounds like freaking nazi's in cali. EFF that. you can get off for damn near anything here, if you schedule a court date and "talk things over" with the judge/magistrate. they will amost always drop your ticket so you do not get any points, and just a fine.

i somehow find it hard to believe they would still give you a ticket for a halfassed law you didnt realize existed. heartless bastards.

the californian govt is a money making machine dude. they tax the poor and get paid off by the cats with stacks of armani suits and garages with ferrari's. they enforce stupid smog laws for automobiles that pump out cleaner air than the factories that WAY more smog than the populous of cali could ever do on their own.

why? the govt is just as superficial and greedy as much of the rest of the state. hypocrisy is very lucritive in cali.

[mistaanime]

it's almost as stupid as not having ur front plate on..just deal with it..

[NemeGuero]

the californian govt is a money making machine dude. they tax the poor and get paid off by the cats with stacks of armani suits and garages with ferrari's. they enforce stupid smog laws for automobiles that pump out cleaner air than the factories that WAY more smog than the populous of cali could ever do on their own.

why? the govt is just as superficial and greedy as much of the rest of the state. hypocrisy is very lucritive in cali.

That brought a tear to my eye..

[rainier]

actually you could try and get out of it. you can try to fight it and take it to court. and if the police officer does NOT show up the time of the meeting, YOU WIN.

[NemeGuero]

BUT, they get paid as if they were on the clock to do NO work except explain the ticket..
chances of them not showing up are slim

[theicecreamdan]

writing the appeal is probably the best thing you could have done, maybe you'll get lucky and somebody will feel for you.

[theicecreamdan]

. they enforce stupid smog laws for automobiles that pump out cleaner air than the factories that WAY more smog than the populous of cali could ever do on their own.

\.

The air HAS gotten a lot cleaner since they have started enforcing laws, whether the smog laws had any more impact than technology I don't know. BUT cars are an easy thing to target to help, and with as many people as there are in CA trying to get everybody to do their part to keep the air cleaner isn't something I see as stupid.

[Ghst 01]

There is no logical explaination you could possible give to get out of this ticket.. writing an appeal.. or anything else is goong to be a waste of money... if the ticket was issued by DPT... it is a simple parking ticket.. it is what it is... it is not a traffic stop.. where there could be a slight possibility that the COP could be wrong in some way... stop being cheap.. and pay the thing. No way around it PERIOD

[lucky7]

it's almost as stupid as not having ur front plate on..just deal with it..


that also makes me laugh. i dont know anybody here with a front plate. oh yeah. and to rub it in, we have 70mph speed limits on afew of our highways. :fawkd:


explain 1 thing to me. what exactly does DPT stand for? department of public traffic??

[NemeGuero]

Highway 5 is 70mph.. that runs through the middle of california. ur not special

[S14DB]

The air HAS gotten a lot cleaner since they have started enforcing laws, whether the smog laws had any more impact than technology I don't know. BUT cars are an easy thing to target to help, and with as many people as there are in CA trying to get everybody to do their part to keep the air cleaner isn't something I see as stupid.
Factory's still pay off CARB to spew more shit than all the cars combined. With these total emissions goals they just squeeze the small guys to let the big guys pollute more.
Nice thing about FL is that they figured out busting one factory is like busting over 100 cars. Busting factories is so better an expenditure all they don't inspect the cars anymore.


I would fight that ticket for all it's worth. The reason they give out BS tickets is cause no one fights them.

[Ghst 01]

explain 1 thing to me. what exactly does DPT stand for? department of public traffic??

DPT = Department of parking and traffic

[theicecreamdan]

8 east from Alpine all the way out of CA is 70mph too, not the entire state is 65 or under.

edit: post number 1000 what a waste,

[ZK]

I've heard the term "curb" your wheel. But yeah .. on an incline, you have to turn the wheel so if your parking brake goes out you slide into the curb and not down the hill.

I've gotten a ticket in Burlingame, CA for "not parking within the lines" when I was at an end space, there is nothing on the other side, my tires were on the line! The only reason I parked like that was because the guy next to me parked off center and I didn't want his door to hit mine when he opens it. I was pretty pissed but paid the $30 fine. Not worth my time to worry about it.

[OptionZero]

i got a warning for that, i was lucky. I was on my way into a court house during an internship so i guess she let me off for that.

[Yuri]

About no front plates in MI: They aren't required. +1 for Michigan.
As for the term cramping? I have never heard of that in my life! I would have so gotten a ticket, and it would have gone like this:
Me: "Cramping wheels? WTF does that mean?" (finds big rock or misc. broken car part and puts it behind wheel....... gets ticket.)

[Tenchuu]

well in the end they charged me for it, but then i wnet back and stole a street sighn and tossed it in a dumpster a ways away. so i fel i have gottten $40 worth of ddamage back out of the city of San Diego.

[rainier]

hahaha good job! ive done the same

[OptionZero]

we're great at making money but we're pretty bad at spending it.

It's not so much the California government as it is the people that are shortsighted and ignorant...but thats not a problem exclusive to California.

Stealing a traffic sign doesn't accomplish anything except salving your own ego. IF that's important to you, well...cheers.

As a side note, I think an individual should spend a month or two working FOR the state government before bitching too loudly. The least you could do is add a little credibility to your complaints.

[Tenchuu]

welli got about 8 years combined state and federal government work under my belt. it was a matter of principal really, an old ordinance that even they admitted diddn't apply to me as i already had a redundent safty system in place (AKA transmission lock if e-brake failed) and that even if i blocked the tires they would have given the ticket because it is all in the wording and not the intent of the laws that are enforced.

[OptionZero]

since when is it realistic to expect laws to reflect reality?

[Tenchuu]

if you just roll over and take everything thrown at you then what fun is life?

[OptionZero]

i'll have the time and mental energy to do things other than fight a $47 ticket.