Parking outside the lines

[dquan97]

Link

Stewart Katz is a successful Sacramento civil rights attorney. He has made a name for himself suing cops on behalf of people in or just out of jail. His latest crusade is less custodial. It involves a senior citizen and a parking ticket. But it's serious to Stewart.

"Have you heard about people getting tickets for parking with one tire on the white line in a disabled parking space?" he said. "I don't mean someone encroaching or parking there without authority. I mean a person with a legitimate disabled placard, parking in such a way that their tire touches the stripe. There are a bunch of these tickets being issued, and they are costing their victims $345. It's outrageous." Steward represented Marilyn Regan, 71, who was cited for parking on the crosshatch in a disabled slot near Ethan Way. "I took half the parking spot to allow room for my door to open without hitting the car on my left," she said. These tickets are sent not to a local court, but to a private clearinghouse called Phoenix Group Courthouse in Torrance. "This is absurd," Stewart said, "but how is a 71-year-old disabled woman supposed to know it? She's scared." Stewart got Marilyn's ticket torn up last week, six months after it was issued. One small victory. ...

I think the ticket should stand...any driver should know to park within the lines and not in the crosshatch. She made a bet and lost. For those who can't visualize this, I drew a pic. The fine may be excessive, but she still is guilty.

 

[desk]

man, people are so anal nowadays. how did parking slightly in the cross-hatched area affect anyone?

 

[bradruth]

I don't know about this whole ticket thing, but Mr. Katz can lick my hairy beanbag.

 

[Merlyn3D]

Geez...it's an old lady and they make the handicap spaces bigger anyways, she's not hurting anyone. Now it's a totally different story if it's a normal spot and I can't park there because the asshat decided to park on the line.

 

[mordantmonkey]

$345 fine? that amount is rediculous. you'd get less doing 70 in a 45.

 

[frankie38]

Lets appoint a special prosecuter.

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey
$345 fine? that amount is rediculous. you'd get less doing 70 in a 45.

It's because it's a handicapped spot.

The irony is, the crosshatch is made to give THEM more space...

 

[imported_xaguynamedguyx]

if she cant park then she shouldnt be able to drive. Old people scare me when they drive alot of them are ohrrible drivers

 

[notfred]

People who make it impossible to use an adjacent parking space should be ticketed. I don't give a flying fvck about the cross-hatched area. They could turn it into another parking space and save some room, for all I care.

 

[Goosemaster]

Dudes....those cops need to find a job if they are going to pull such vile sh!t on the handicapped

 

[QuitBanningMe]

Originally posted by: xaguynamedguyx
if she cant park then she shouldnt be able to drive. Old people scare me when they drive alot of them are ohrrible drivers

agreed

 

[Idex]

Doh!

 

[astrosfan90]

Originally posted by: xaguynamedguyx
if she cant park then she shouldnt be able to drive. Old people scare me when they drive alot of them are ohrrible drivers

Agreed. Nothing bothers me more than someone who can't manage to fit their land yacht into the space that's more than large enough for them.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe

Originally posted by: xaguynamedguyx
if she cant park then she shouldnt be able to drive. Old people scare me when they drive alot of them are ohrrible drivers

agreed

I agree with the idea behind the situation, but a few inches shouldn't be an automatic revokation of the liscense and a 345 dollar fine. What if the driver on the left side parked just 1 inch away from the marking line on the left and this woman had a big car? If you're disabled enough to warrant a disabled parking pass, then chances are you can't easily slip in and out of your car while only opening your door the bare minimum amount.

While it may be a good idea to keep watch on older drivers, it seems a bit too extreme to say she shouldn't be allowed to operate a car for something that every driver has probably done, whether intentional or not. The concept of "no harm, no foul" is what needs to be looked at here. There were probably a million other things the ticketing officer could have cited people for in that parking lot (albeit maybe not citable offenses).. cars leaking fluid causing an environmental hazard, illegal window tints... blah blah blah... but he'd rather go after something that doesn't affect anyone.


That being said... b!tch needs to learn how to park right.

 

[markgm]

I always wonder when I see handicapped plates and a car is parked funny. Is it the car that is disabled or the person driving it?

And why do they put PD (physically disabled) on the plates? Are their some with MD (mentally disabled) on them?