Controversial Fire Hydrant Ticket

[I33nji]

What is the name of your state?
California

Okay, here's the picture:

(Okay I don't know how to load pictures up here, as soon as someone tells me, I'll get that done)

But here's a description of what it looks like:
- Yellow fire hydrant
- Car way more than 15 ft away from it

Things that might disrupt my argument:
You could have moved your car before you took the picture:
No, there was a car in front of me, and I was already parked really close to it.

You could have edited the picture:'
The picture is directly loaded from my phone.

But here's the controversial part:
My ticket says, "rear of veh 3ft 2 inc from hydrant"

Even if it wasn't 15 ft away, it was definitely NOT 3ft away
so isn't that like false reporting, and can I get away with that just with that argument alone?

How can I contest this ticket that I know shouldn't have been distributed?
And what would be the best way to testify, because I can make a great argument to support my side (obviously).

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Zigner]

So, let's look at both sides. On your side, you have a biased witness.
On their side, they have an expert, unbiased witness.

Yeah - I suggest you pay the ticket Next time, don't park so close.

 

[efflandt]

I don't know if this is the case, but some people seem to misunderstand 15' from fire hydrant as distance to the actual hydrant. It is actually the amount of unobstructed street you should leave up and down that side of the street from a line perpendicular from street to hydrant. That should leave a 30' wide clear path at the street for hydrant access and to get hoses or rescue equipment through. It doesn't matter if the hydrant is 2', 6' or 12' from the curb. You still should not be within 15' of where that hydrant would be if it was at the edge of the street.

Without a link to your picture, It is hard to tell how what the officer perceived as 3' 2", you perceive as about 15', unless you are including distance from street to hydrant.

 

[I33nji]

Well yeah, I think I'm a little biased (obviously)
but there's a little biased from their view
it was near a high school, and the area is known to have sheriffs desperate to catch the smallest details to give out a ticket.
But yeah, I think if it was the distance to the curb rather than the hydrant itself, I think it might have been 10-15 ft

Again, if anyone knows how to upload pictures to up here, I'll do it and then maybe if there's hope I'll go for it, if not, I guess I can live without 60 dollars.

Thanks again

 

[CdwJava]

You can upload the photo to Photobucket or some other file sharing program and post the link here.

Also, what specific code section were you cited for? (The numbers, please)

- Carl

 

[FlyingRon]

Imagine how big a fire engine is. Then realize that it will essentially want to parallel park next to that hydrant in order to use it.