How do I fight a completely outrageous parking ticket in a court that clearly has no empathy for my case?
December 13, 2011 6:35 PM Subscribe
How do I fight a completely outrageous parking ticket in a court that clearly has no empathy for my case? The ticket is $250 for parking at a completely reasonable spot on Splitrock Road without no parking signs close by. At the trailhead where I parked, there is a map kiosk that shows a map that is labeled parking at that spot. When I went to court the first time, the prosecutor was very aggressive and the judge seemed to have no empathy for my case. The whole thing seems like a shakedown, please help!
I went to the court in Rockaway Township NJ to try to fight this but I ended up waiting for five hours for the prosecutor to say that the ticketing officer had "called in sick". This was a bit insulting since at the opening of the court session many hours previously the prosecutor and judge were joking that a lot of people would be upset if the officer was not back from his trip to Texas. The judge said I had to come back for a trial another day since the officer didn't show up. When I said that this was difficult since it is hard to schedule to be in court for a full half of a day with work, he said that it was my right to fight the ticket in a way that made me think there was no way they were going to drop this. That also seems to be the stance of the prosecutor who would not look at my photos and would not really let me present my case when I was able to talk to him before going before the judge. It seems like they have a lot of people fighting the tickets from this spot. His argument was that at the town line on this dirt road where I parked there was a sign saying no parking is allowed along the length of the road.
I honestly did not see this sign before and always wondered what the parking rules where at the spot. There are a few no parking signs along the side of the road but not near this spot that is much wider from people obviously parking there. And there is a NJDEP map at the kiosk with the spot as a parking lot! If it was a $25 ticket I would pay it and not park there anymore but $250 seems outrageous!
Another odd thing is when I was talking to the prosecutor, several times he called the spot the "emergency turnaround". He kept calling it this even as I tried to show him the pictures I took. This is not an engineered structure. It is a wide spot near the trailhead, obviously there from years of people parking on the side of the road there to hike to the reservoir. He would not look at the photos of the spot or the picture of the map on the kiosk
Deep background: I hike and Kayak at Splitrock Reservoir in Morris County New Jersey a lot. I have been going there for years but over the last couple of years there has been some local politics regarding emergency responsibilities etc. and the town of Rockaway seems to make it as hard as possible to use this state managed land. I hike there two or three times a week to exercise my dog and have parked on the side of the road at the trailhead for years. Literally over a hundred times. The dirt road is very wide here and there is no obvious safety issue. I have never gotten a warning or anything and there is often other cars at the same spot.
If I go to court and have a similar experience, is there any way to appeal the decision? This feels more like a shakedown after the unsatisfying court appearance. What can I do?
I went to the court in Rockaway Township NJ to try to fight this but I ended up waiting for five hours for the prosecutor to say that the ticketing officer had "called in sick". This was a bit insulting since at the opening of the court session many hours previously the prosecutor and judge were joking that a lot of people would be upset if the officer was not back from his trip to Texas. The judge said I had to come back for a trial another day since the officer didn't show up. When I said that this was difficult since it is hard to schedule to be in court for a full half of a day with work, he said that it was my right to fight the ticket in a way that made me think there was no way they were going to drop this. That also seems to be the stance of the prosecutor who would not look at my photos and would not really let me present my case when I was able to talk to him before going before the judge. It seems like they have a lot of people fighting the tickets from this spot. His argument was that at the town line on this dirt road where I parked there was a sign saying no parking is allowed along the length of the road.
I honestly did not see this sign before and always wondered what the parking rules where at the spot. There are a few no parking signs along the side of the road but not near this spot that is much wider from people obviously parking there. And there is a NJDEP map at the kiosk with the spot as a parking lot! If it was a $25 ticket I would pay it and not park there anymore but $250 seems outrageous!
Another odd thing is when I was talking to the prosecutor, several times he called the spot the "emergency turnaround". He kept calling it this even as I tried to show him the pictures I took. This is not an engineered structure. It is a wide spot near the trailhead, obviously there from years of people parking on the side of the road there to hike to the reservoir. He would not look at the photos of the spot or the picture of the map on the kiosk
Deep background: I hike and Kayak at Splitrock Reservoir in Morris County New Jersey a lot. I have been going there for years but over the last couple of years there has been some local politics regarding emergency responsibilities etc. and the town of Rockaway seems to make it as hard as possible to use this state managed land. I hike there two or three times a week to exercise my dog and have parked on the side of the road at the trailhead for years. Literally over a hundred times. The dirt road is very wide here and there is no obvious safety issue. I have never gotten a warning or anything and there is often other cars at the same spot.
If I go to court and have a similar experience, is there any way to appeal the decision? This feels more like a shakedown after the unsatisfying court appearance. What can I do?
I'm not familiar with your area, but I am familiar with parking enforcement.
First, you should know that a simple Google search for "Splitrock Road parking" brings up multiple hits for pages that say there is no parking along the road itself and vehicles are ticketed there frequently (this appears to be by request of people who reside in the vicinity who actually asked the mayor for more enforcement).
I'm talking websites like njhiking.com and friendsofsplitrock.org -- not some obscure site that local hikers wouldn't be expected to visit. So I'd say this is more of you screwed up and didn't pay attention than they're shaking you down.
It may still be worth contesting the ticket, but having heard a hell of a lot of "I don't deserve this citation because..." stories I can tell you off the bat that pleading ignorance (politely) might work but "I've done this 100 times before and never been cited" will likely earn you a response of, "Well, you got lucky 100 times". And unless you can find something in the local parking regulations stating that they are required to give you a warning (my guess is you won't), complaining about that will just make you sound whiny.
posted by camyram at 7:35 PM on December 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
First, you should know that a simple Google search for "Splitrock Road parking" brings up multiple hits for pages that say there is no parking along the road itself and vehicles are ticketed there frequently (this appears to be by request of people who reside in the vicinity who actually asked the mayor for more enforcement).
I'm talking websites like njhiking.com and friendsofsplitrock.org -- not some obscure site that local hikers wouldn't be expected to visit. So I'd say this is more of you screwed up and didn't pay attention than they're shaking you down.
It may still be worth contesting the ticket, but having heard a hell of a lot of "I don't deserve this citation because..." stories I can tell you off the bat that pleading ignorance (politely) might work but "I've done this 100 times before and never been cited" will likely earn you a response of, "Well, you got lucky 100 times". And unless you can find something in the local parking regulations stating that they are required to give you a warning (my guess is you won't), complaining about that will just make you sound whiny.
posted by camyram at 7:35 PM on December 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
The biggest issue seems to be the fine amount. I'd love to know how they justify that amount. That's more than a serious speeding offence fine where I am. If its a slow news day the media might help.
posted by backwards guitar at 7:38 PM on December 13, 2011
posted by backwards guitar at 7:38 PM on December 13, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks camyram, I see what you mean about pleading ignorance. I didn't really push that point in court and see how that is a weak defense. I do however think that the absurd price of the ticket is really the the point, especially considering it is a very reasonable place to park and is marked as such on the map there. The spot is not blocking traffic or on top of a person or anything like that.
Also, I have heard before that if the officer doesn't show up for court that the case gets thrown out. Is there any recourse for having to go through this terrible process more than once?
posted by JayNolan at 7:49 PM on December 13, 2011
Also, I have heard before that if the officer doesn't show up for court that the case gets thrown out. Is there any recourse for having to go through this terrible process more than once?
posted by JayNolan at 7:49 PM on December 13, 2011
I tried to fight a similar fine recently (not in the USA, so the details are not going to help you). I was also unsuccessful, which was total bullshit, but one thing that did help me deal with it was that I too had used that parking spot hundreds of times over the years, so I calculated that the $100 fine I had to pay worked out to only a few cents per time, which is much less than I would have paid for parking in the city.
(Of course it's ridiculous to be effectively paying for parking on a rural strip beside a hiking trail, but it did help me to reframe it that way.)
posted by lollusc at 7:51 PM on December 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
(Of course it's ridiculous to be effectively paying for parking on a rural strip beside a hiking trail, but it did help me to reframe it that way.)
posted by lollusc at 7:51 PM on December 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ticket Assassin might be helpful. Accept the fact now that you will not reform the system or prove yourself in the right having just received a ticket. Your goal, at this point, is to get out of the ticket by whatever legal means possible.
posted by uncannyslacks at 8:40 PM on December 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by uncannyslacks at 8:40 PM on December 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
I think a successful line against the ticket might be to question why you should have to pay (the full price of) the ticket when they won't even do the minimum to warn people away. Notifying the public through a profusion of ticket income to the city isn't really fair. Might go nowhere, but.
posted by rhizome at 9:40 PM on December 13, 2011
posted by rhizome at 9:40 PM on December 13, 2011
It's not the prosecutor's job to listen to your case. It's the prosecutor's job to present the prosecution case. Don't waste any more time talking to the prosecutor.
The judge said I had to come back for a trial another day since the officer didn't show up.
Listen to the judge. Be respectful to the judge. Do what the judge tells you that you need to do. Don't make extra work for the judge.
If this is in fact a shakedown, then you are in fact screwed. But if it isn't, and you show up when you've been told to show up, and you actually get a hearing, and you present a strong case including photographic evidence of the spot where you parked having been specifically advertised as a parking spot, you'll probably win. Certainly worth a try.
posted by flabdablet at 7:52 AM on December 14, 2011
The judge said I had to come back for a trial another day since the officer didn't show up.
Listen to the judge. Be respectful to the judge. Do what the judge tells you that you need to do. Don't make extra work for the judge.
If this is in fact a shakedown, then you are in fact screwed. But if it isn't, and you show up when you've been told to show up, and you actually get a hearing, and you present a strong case including photographic evidence of the spot where you parked having been specifically advertised as a parking spot, you'll probably win. Certainly worth a try.
posted by flabdablet at 7:52 AM on December 14, 2011
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posted by KokuRyu at 7:16 PM on December 13, 2011 [1 favorite]