Ask The Parking Ticket Geek
Hi Geek,
I recently received a ticket for parking in front of a driveway.
I parked there after it had snowed and the space was unrecognizable as a driveway since it had not been shoveled and at the building line there is a 7 foot chain link fence across the driveway from one building to another.
A few days later I returned to a ticket.
With the snow melted it was a little more clear I was in front of a driveway. At first I was surprised that the car had not been towed but considering the circumstances I now assume the driveway was not in use. Should I try to fight this ticket? Is there a chance for it to get dismissed?
Thanks,
Evan
I think you’re in kind of a grey area here Evan.
But, you should definitely fight it.
Essentially, it sounds like you parked in front what used to be a driveway. There’s a curb cut, but no destination for a vehicle to go to, and according to your description there’s a big ass permanent chain link fence blocking where the former driveway went.
To my mind, this is a bunk ticket written by some smart-alecky ticket writer.
So, let’s read the municipal code.
9-64-100 It shall be unlawful to park any vehicle in any of the following places:
(c) At any place where the vehicle will block vehicular access to or use of a driveway, alley or firelane;
Ok, that makes sense on the surface. But check out the definition of driveway in the muni code.
“Driveway or private road” means every way or place in private ownership and used for vehicular travel by the owner and those having express or implied permission from the owner but not by other persons.
It implies that in order for a driveway to be a driveway you actually need to be able to drive on the driveway. But the big ass fence is in the way so therefore it’s not a driveway. Instead, it’s just a useless curb cut with no where to go.
Here’s what I would do.
Request an in-person hearing. I don’t suggest you contest by mail on this one.
While you’re waiting for a hearing date, wait for it to snow again. When it does, take photos of what the curb cut looked like at the time you parked there. The photos should demonstrate that it was not clear there was a curb cut there.
In addition, provide photos of the fence and the non-driveway to bring to your hearing.
Make the argument it’s not a driveway for all the above reasons and cite the muni code I listed above. At the very least it is, at the very least, very confusing.
To put icing on this little cake we’re making, I would also take some time to take photos of what real driveways look like and present those photos as evidence of how most people define driveways.
I don’t have 100% confidence in this defense. But, if you present your argument in a common sense way and you get a hearing officer who embraces a common sense interpretation of the term “driveway,” I believe you win this one.
Thanks,
The Geek
Hey there Geek,
Here is my latest parking dilemma.
I was driving my 81 yr old grandmother downtown in my car and we brought along her handicap placard to hang in on the rear view mirror when we park. Upon arriving back at the car we were shocked to find a ticket
on the windshield.
The violation was being parked during “Rush Hour” (4-6) and was issued at 5:30pm. There was no sign near our car that said that, only far down the block.
My question is, shouldn’t the fact that we had the handicap sign in the window made us exempt from this ticket?
Please let me know whether to pay or contest it. Thanks so much for your help!
Amanda
p.s. They didn’t note the handicap sign on the ticket at all.
Amanda,
Unfortunately, your grandmother’s handicapped placard does not allow you to park for free anywhere you feel like it. And placards don’t possess any special powers that magically repel all parking tickets.
Handicapped plates and placards do two main things.
1. Allows vehicles possessing the placards or plates to park legally in parking spots designated for handicapped persons.
2. Let’s cars with these plates and placards to park for free at any metered parking spaces in the city of Chicago without the typical time limits other drivers face.
So, because you have the placard dangling from the rear view mirror doesn’t mean you can park the car in front of a fire hydrant, in a tow zone or leave your vehicle parked in a rush hour zone.
And despite the fact there was only one sign, parked all the way down the block it looks like you’re out 50 bucks. That’s because the city only has to post one sign per block. Yeah, it sucks, but the city says it’s the driver’s responsibility to obey signs even if they’re posted an eighth of a mile away from where you parked.
Sorry Amanda.
The Geek
Mr. Geek,
If you have a temporary residential parking sticker for a parking space and there is a meter box there that states you have to pay the meter box from 6am-6pm, do you still have to pay for the meter? (ie: I parked at 8pm on a Thursday and put my sticker in the window and I received a ticket at 10am for an expired meter).
I thought the residential parking permits were good for 24 hours?
Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Polly
Yeah, this situation can be confusing Polly.
There are some areas of the city where metered spaces and residential permit areas overlap.
It is my opinion that the city should eliminate any of these seemingly contradictory parking situations.
But the thing everyone should know is the metered zone has precedence over the residential parking zone.
Of course, your RPP sticker was good for 24 hours, but you would still have to feed the meter where applicable.
So, yeah, sorry to say I think you’re screwed here.
The Geek
Ask The Parking Ticket Geek is a semi-regular parking ticket advice column.
If you have a question for The Parking Ticket Geek, please e-mail the Geek with your query at:askthegeek@theexpiredmeter.com
I have a question on the RPP/Meter issue. Okay, if you have a meter and it is in active time you need to feed it. But what about the period when the meter isn’t active. Thus, for example, the period between 9 pm and 9 am. Does the meter trumping the zone mean that I do not need an RPP permit after the meter time, or does this mean that at 9 pm, the space is no longer legal without an RPP. I would have thought that if I am at a strip of meter spaces, that the RPP does not apply.
(And her ticket was valid anyway, her RPP expired last year….)
David,
The way I understand this type of situation.
If the meters are in the RPP zone, the restrictions of the RPP overrides the meters.
If the RPP is in force and you want to park at these meters, you will need an RPP for the zone or a guest pass.
You will still need to pay the meters, but you can’t park there in the first place (if the RPP time is active) unless you proper permits/passes.
In the particular place in Lakeview where I observed this situation (and was issued a ticket), the RPP restriction ran from 6 PM to 6 AM.
So, essentially the meters were unavailable to the general public only for three hours from 6-9 PM.
It’s certainly a hyper confusing situation and the city should get rid of all meters in RPP zones.
So let me understand this. When Meters are in an RPP, you need both an RPP AND a Meter Strip? Has anyone really bothered to think this out? What about meters in 24 hour RPP zones (and yes, I think I have seen some) are those really “private” meters for the people that live in the zone? I had always thought that Meters were the exception from the Zone in order to provide businesses in the zones with the ability to get customers.
here’s a question…How much notice do they need to give when making a street RPP? There is this one street that has been non-rpp for as long as I can remember. So I parked there, not thinking twice about it. I received a ticket. I thought it was ridiculous. I took pictures and everything. But, all of a sudden, way down the block there is a NEW sign that says it is now RPP. What are my chances of fighting this?
Thanks..
Yes, I think you’re reading me correctly.
And YES, it makes no freakin’ sense to have meters in RPP zones, especially 24 hour zones.
I do believe these situations are pretty rare, but to my mind they should never exist. It’s too confusing.
Dear PTG,
I was driving grannie downtown and she has a handicap sticker. I decided to throw the car in park in the middle of the Michigan Avenue & Ohio Street intersection during rush hour.
I was shocked, upon returning to my car, that it had been towed. I thought that having a handicap parking sticker allowed me to do whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want.
Sincerly,
Hopelessly clueless
Hey Reader!
That’s pretty darn funny. Actually, what you wrote was essentially what was going through my head when I was writing my response to the person who asked that particular question. But, I decided to keep things a bit more diplomatic. But, you pretty much hit the truth right on the head.
Is it illegal to park in front of one’s own driveway?
Yes, it is illegal to park in front of your own driveway.
However, considering the current weather situation, no one is going to enforce this. The cops have better things to do, and PEAs were off today.
Dear PTG,
I pulled into a Walgreens parking lot and pulled into a handicapped spot to let my girlfriend out and wait for her will she ran in to get something for our baby who’s sick. Less than 5 minutes later a cop pulls up and gives me a ticket for being parked at a handicapped spot and just left. Obviously he went in hoping I was parked there illegally because I was the only car there and it was at night. Anyways should I try and contest it by mail saying I was there for my kid and was still in the car? Or just let it go?
Omero!
Never, never, EVER park in a handicapped spot. NEVER!
If you pull in and drop someone off and then leave, that’s one thing. but if you are there for more than 60 seconds, you’re in violation of the law. But you are not allowed to be parked there.
That being said, you should try fighting it.
Fight it at an in person hearing. Make the argument that you pulled in and dropped off your girlfriend to pickup medicine. Explain that as you were backing out to find a spot in the lot, the police car pulled up and blocked you from exiting the spot and issued you ticket–despite trying to explain you had just dropped off your girlfriend and weren’t parked there. Perhaps you were not aware it was a handicapped parking space when you dropped her off and as soon as you realized it and she exited the car, you went to move the car and then the cop pulled up. That’s the ticket! Sorry, bad pun.
Bring in your girlfriend to the hearing to testify in support of your story. Of course, she can echo the story you told, correct?
Look, a reasonable cop would have just yelled at you to move your car if they saw someone in the driver’s seat with the engine running.
If you are your girlfriend just had a baby, you need to fight this and save the $200 fine for this violation for diapers, baby food, etc.
Was this you?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/06/tiffany-rent-pregnant-chi_n_1574402.html
that was the Roosevelt/Wabash Jewels as I recall.
Hello
I recently received a ticket for parking at Walgreens in a handicap spot for only one minute. The problem is I immediately moved. The officer allowed me to leave Walgreens and followed two blocks down to then pull me over. He never asked for my license or registration he just handed me a 200$ ticket. Mind you its 1:19a.m. I was waiting on my sister to run out from the atm … Do you believe this ticket is worth fighting.
Amanda,
I don’t want to beat you up here, but why were you parked in a handicapped spot for even 1 second?
That being said, I think you should fight it.
I would fight it by saying you were not parked in the handicapped spot. You were turning your car around, doing a three point turn, to leave the parking lot.
I would fight this in person and tell the Administrative Law Judge you were given the ticket on a street two blocks away. How could you have been parked in the handicapped spot if you were issued the ticket 2 blocks away.
Have your sister draft a letter that supports your story and have it notarized at a Currency Exchange. This will serve as sworn testimony. Make sure your stories match up.
Look, in the future, don’t even THINK of parking in a handicapped spot. But, a decent cop should have told you to move and only ticketed you if you didn’t comply.
Fight the ticket this way and you have 50/50 odds you will win.