Mount Pleasant DC Forum

bdweller · Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 118

Yet again there is an issue with emergency parking signs.

Last night I parked on 17th between Lamont and Kilbourne. There were emergency parking signs but I didn't read them b/c there was no other nearby parking and I was getting up early to move the car.

Anyway, I went to move the car around 7am and I read the signs. They said no parking from a certain date (which I can't remember) until May 30th. The sign where I was parked was ripped in half and the others were taken down. I figured the time period had passed and the signs were just not removed properly. About an hour later, we get to the car and there is a new sign dated 5/30 through 6/21 AND I had a $50 ticket on my car.

This is ridiculous. Absolutely no notice and no way to effectively appeal b/c we can't take a picture of the sign as it has been replaced.

Any ideas on how to fight this?

and is there any place we can file a complaint on the abuse of these signs in the neighborhood?

jack · Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 4399 Location: 19th & Lamont

igorok · Joined: 05 Oct 2005 Posts: 64

Has anyone ever won a mail-in contest of a parking ticket? I've given up. I've sent in photos of a sign rusted and bent over to the ground - i.e., not visible (and I was at the required distance from the intersection) and lost. I've sent in photos of the street showing no signs or yellow markings on the curb though I had been cited for parking in a marked "no parking" zone - and I lost. I parked at a meter that read the equivalent of "out of service" and by the time I returned it had been reset by a repair person and I had a ticket for not having fed the meter - and my letter and calls got me nothing.

So, anyone ever win? Anyone know anyone who has won?

micmac · Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 354

I have won 3 of 4 mail in contestations of faulty tickets. A good picture illustrating your point usually does the trick. It does take a while to get the ruling, but you don't have to pay in the meantime.

bdweller · Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 118

I have won a few but that was when I was a student with out of state plates. I had a residential parking permit and the ticketers never even bothered to check, they would just write the ticket automatically when they saw the out of state plates...then I would go appeal with all my paperwork showing I had the RPP. 5 times in 2 years. Ridiculous.

In all the hearings that I went to, I was the only person I ever saw win an appeal. Some things I learned:

You can't park at broken meters. If the meter is broken that space is out of commission.

If you get to a meter and there is money left over from a previous parker, you have to actually put money in yourself. This doesn't usually come up but some woman parked in front of a police officer who saw that she didn't put money in and she was issued a ticket even though there was still 15 minutes left on her meter.

If you are parked in a two hour zone and move your car across the street when those 2 hours are up you can still get a ticket...you have to move it off the block.

You can't feed the meters.

If I think of anything else I'll post it.

Also, off topic, did you know that it is illegal in DC to drive through a yellow light? Even if it is solidly yellow the whole time you are driving through the intersection. A $50 fine for running a yellow light! That makes no difference between red and yellow.