Handicap parking Ticket

[shwekhaw]

What is the name of your state? TX

Can someone define what is parking? I had argument what parking is with a Houston Police. It was friday night at RedBox DVD rental at Mcdonald. I pulled into the disability spot to unload my wife and make U turn back to the way where more parking spot were available. Took there about 30 - 60 secs. Police walked up and gave us ticket. Apprently he was watching us from inside Mcdonald. When he walked up to me, my car engine is running and backward gear is in and I was ready to back out.

He said it is not acceptable and gave me ticket for $200.

I was arguing I was not parking. Anyway, should I just pay fine or go to court.

Will it increase my my insurance. Is this violation counted as moving violation for insurance purpose?

I appreciate honest answer.

Saved a couple of bucks renting redbox dvd, but loosk like I will be paying year round rental fees.

 

[CdwJava]

541.401 of the TX Statutes:

(6) "Park" or "parking" means to stand an occupied or
unoccupied vehicle, other than temporarily while loading or
unloading merchandise or passengers.

However, 681.011 indicates that even "standing" a vehicle in a handicapped space is a violation.

But ... 541.401 again:

(9) "Stand" or "standing" means to halt an occupied or
unoccupied vehicle, other than temporarily while receiving or
discharging passengers.

You may be okay ... depending on whether there is a different definition for the section you were cited for. If you were cited for a municipal code violation, you might be out of luck depending on the definitions there. Also, keep in mind that the officer may have seen you dally there after unloading your passenger. It could be that it appeared that you were waiting for your passenger to return which WOULD likely place you in violation.

You're lucky ... in my state, you'd be guilty. TX is a little lenient on this.

- Carl

 

[gattman]

What is the name of your state? TX

Can someone define what is parking? I had argument what parking is with a Houston Police. It was friday night at RedBox DVD rental at Mcdonald. I pulled into the disability spot to unload my wife and make U turn back to the way where more parking spot were available. Took there about 30 - 60 secs. Police walked up and gave us ticket. Apprently he was watching us from inside Mcdonald. When he walked up to me, my car engine is running and backward gear is in and I was ready to back out.

He said it is not acceptable and gave me ticket for $200.

I was arguing I was not parking. Anyway, should I just pay fine or go to court.

Will it increase my my insurance. Is this violation counted as moving violation for insurance purpose?

I appreciate honest answer.

Saved a couple of bucks renting redbox dvd, but loosk like I will be paying year round rental fees.[/QUOTE

If you pulled into the park and ran inside without a handicap decal you were legally given a ticket. It does not matter if it was 30 seconds or 30 minutes. If you occupy a space that prevented a legally handicap person access you broke the law. I know you are saying, no one was around to park there. Sorry that does not work. Sad to say the cop could have just asked you to move the car, but he was more than likely being a jerk.

 

[Litigation!]

What is the name of your state? TX

Can someone define what is parking? I had argument what parking is with a Houston Police. It was friday night at RedBox DVD rental at Mcdonald. I pulled into the disability spot to unload my wife and make U turn back to the way where more parking spot were available. Took there about 30 - 60 secs. Police walked up and gave us ticket. Apprently he was watching us from inside Mcdonald. When he walked up to me, my car engine is running and backward gear is in and I was ready to back out.

He said it is not acceptable and gave me ticket for $200.

I was arguing I was not parking. Anyway, should I just pay fine or go to court.

Will it increase my my insurance. Is this violation counted as moving violation for insurance purpose?

I appreciate honest answer.

Saved a couple of bucks renting redbox dvd, but loosk like I will be paying year round rental fees.

My response:

"I was arguing I was not parking." That has GOT to be the MOST stupid comment. Did your wheels come to a stop? Yes, of course they did. Then, you were parked. Nobody gives a damn about your so-called "intentions" because nobody wants to read your mind - - let alone the officer.

You just thought that the signs and the blue markings didn't mean anything for you. You're special! You think those signs and markings are for someone else, and not you!

Well, you're wrong. "Warnings" do nothing for idiots, because this isn't the first time you've done this, isn't it? Of course not. You do this all the time.

So, next time, you won't do it because the $200.00 fine is a pretty good DETERENT!

Dummy.

IAAL

 

[Indiana Filer]

Sad to say the cop could have just asked you to move the car, but he was more than likely being a jerk.

Why would the cop be "a jerk" for giving a ticket for someone breaking the law instead of asking the lawbreaker to move instead? As a disabled person, I want the cops to give tickets for this so that those of us who need those spaces have them.

The only defense the original poster could have is to show his or his wife's disabled parking placard. If they don't have one of those, or a disabled license plate, he had no business what-so-ever being in that space. It's not a drop-off spot! It's for people with health problems.

 

[JETX]

I was arguing I was not parking. Anyway, should I just pay fine or go to court.

My answer. Go to court. Take the time off work. Piss off your boss. Then, when you have to pay the fine for your stupid action.... it will hopefully cost you some wages... and maybe your job.
That might help you realize that your inconsiderate decision to PARK in a handicap space has consequences.
Consider the following.... if a handicapped person were to enter the parking lot at the time you were PARKED there... how would he/she know that you were just there for a minute (of course, longer than that!)??? He/she shouldn't have to wait for you to decide to exit where you shouldn't have been in the first place.

Will it increase my my insurance.

No.

Is this violation counted as moving violation for insurance purpose?

No.

I appreciate honest answer.

We'll see.

 

[CdwJava]

Now, I may be missing something, but it appears from what I have found in TX law it seems that dropping off or picking up people may be an acceptable violation of "no parking" and "no stopping" laws. Strange, but it seems to be the case.

Admittedly, I am not well-versed in TX codes, so there may be an applicable section for this that I am missing.

- Carl

 

[shwekhaw]

Again, I am just pulling in to unload my wife and U-turn to go back to available parking spot. I was not there more than 30 40 seconds. Even if I deserve the ticket, attitude of officer and his behavior is not acceptable.

> Go to court. Take the time off work. Piss off your boss. Then, when you have to pay the fine for your stupid action.... it will hopefully cost you some wages... and maybe your job.

I am a kind of guy who would fight if I believe if I am on the right side. I am small business owner so I do not need to worry about pissing off my boss. Again, I do not have a lot of extra time. If it does not increase my insurance, I will just let it go. Or may be I just ask my lawyer to go to court and give him $500.

My point is that if I did not violate the law, I want the officer knows that he cannot just give me ticket because he has authority to do so. So at least, next time, he will think twice jumping on a guy like me.

I thank you all for replies. But I wish more of you guys would reply like CdwJava with references and stuff. After all, those statutes are the ones that determine if I am guilty or not.

Houston Police dept is $6 million short in their budget. So they are little desperate. Just 3 weeks ago, I signed a check for $100 donation to them. There are a lot of crimes in this city and I am sure we need more police to fight crimes. But I do not want money making cops.