Sitting On Vespa in disabled onramp crosshatch line

[amreason]

Sacramento California.

Today I drove my vespa to lunch at a local Chinese food place and as usual i drove my scooter up the curb and parked right by the window. When i left the restaurant i discovered that my battery had died. I called my friend jess who was right down the street to jump me. I saw him at the light so i sat on my scooter and rolled my scooter next to the handy cap spot where there is all of the lines for unloading. Its a very small and busy parking lot so i purposly chose not to get in the I was sitting on it waiting for him for about 30s and up comes a parking enforcement woman and she took my picture on her pda. I asked her what she was doing and if she was trying to give me a ticket. I told her that my battery died and i was rolling my scooter to the parking lot so that my friend could jump me. She said, "you are not able to be parked here". I said, "well, I'm not parked." she said "the engine is off." I said "The battery is dead so technically right now I am the engine and I'm running great." She said "that doesn't fly with me" and continued to take pictures. 30 seconds later the light turned green and my friend pulled up to jump me. he brought his jump box. We hooked it up and the scooter started running again. She printed my ticket (without checking my ID) she gave it to me, and she left.

I looked up the definition of parked and it is:

"to set and leave temporarily" - Merriam Webster

I did not leave my vespa. In fact, I'm sitting on it with my feet on the ground in the pictures she took.

So technically i was only stopped. And the violation she gave me was for PARKING there.
CVC 22507.8c2 Disabled space Parked in crosshatch line (sc)

well you could argue that my engine was off.

At that point i did not even have en engine. So technically at that point the scooter was a man powered device. And i was on the scooter causing me again not to be parked.

Lastly is the fact that i have 21st century insurance where anyone who drives that scooter is covered. I leave the keys on the seat and any of my roommates can drive it anytime to save gas. she never checked my ID. So technically she is giving the ticket to someone who may not even own the scooter.

Please tell me what you think and if i broke the law at all.


Lastly i want to say that i was stopped in that spot for less than a light rotation before she got there. It took her 20 min to fill out her ticket and get me out of there. So technically she made me block that handy cap spot for way longer than we should have. What an evil woman.

Here is a picture of the crime scene. I went on msn maps and pulled up a satellite picture of the parking lot. I also added some commentary.

http://www.atwellrock.com/crimescene.jpg

 

[Curt581]

I looked up the definition of parked and it is:

"to set and leave temporarily" - Merriam Webster

How Webster defines "parking" is irrelevant.

How the California Motor Vehicle Code defines it IS.

I did not leave my vespa. In fact, I'm sitting on it with my feet on the ground in the pictures she took.

You are not required to leave your vehicle in order to be parked.

So technically i was only stopped.

That's all it takes.

well you could argue that my engine was off.

Irrelevant

At that point i did not even have en engine.

Yes, you did. The fact that it wasn't functioning doesn't make it disappear.

Still... irrelevant.

So technically at that point the scooter was a man powered device.

False.

Nice try, though.

And i was on the scooter causing me again not to be parked.

False... but again, irrelevant.

she never checked my ID. So technically she is giving the ticket to someone who may not even own the scooter.

She doesn't have to check ID.

The ownership is also irrelevant.

Please tell me what you think and if i broke the law at all.

I think you broke the law.

You were occupying a marked handicapped space without displaying a handicapped placard or handicapped registration plates.

The circumstances of how or why you were occupying the space is IRRELEVANT.

Lastly i want to say that i was stopped in that spot for less than a light rotation before she got there.

Yup... irrelevant, again.

It took her 20 min to fill out her ticket and get me out of there. So technically she made me block that handy cap spot for way longer than we should have. What an evil woman.

Yup, it's always the cops' fault. She MADE you park there.

Tell ya what.... go to court.

Use the nonsense you've posted above as a defense. See what happens.

Don't forget your checkbook.

 

[CraigFL]

I agree.. go to court and try your defense!!!

As a person with a handicapped spouse, if I would have seen you in that spot as you were, I would have bypassed it and tried to find another spot. There is no way I could easily tell if your occupation of that area was legitimate while I was driving past. I would have suspected that you might not be authorized to be there but no way to tell for sure at that time. If all the other spots were taken-- maybe some by people not displaying proper markings, I wouldn't have been very happy and might have reported a vehicle that I suspected to be illegally parked. The bottom line is these spots were set up for the convenience of Handicapped users and you were blocking their access...

 

[Ozark_Sophist]

I read yesterday or the day before of a man who won an appeal for unlawful parking because he left while the meter maid was writing the ticket but before he received the ticket. Of course it was in England and doesn't apply here but the thought of people running out, jumping in their car, and running over the meter maid's foot to avoid a parking ticket.

To the OP: I think you are in trouble either way. Had you left your vehicle where it was originally parked, you should have also got a ticket. A motorized vehicle is supposed to be parked in a lawful parking space--not on a sidewalk. By parking on the sidewalk, not only are you obstructing the sidewalk, there is a serious fire hazard in parking a gas powered vehicle immediately next to a building.

 

[xylene]

(c) It is unlawful for any person to park or leave standing any vehicle, including a vehicle displaying a special identification license plate issued pursuant to Section 5007 or a distinguishing placard issued pursuant to Section 22511.55 or 22511.59, in either of the following places:

You were not charged for parking, but standing.

So you are pretty much sunk.

Not that I have much sympathy for California's whiny activist disabled population or the draconian fine structure they and your PC bourgeois elite have created, but you aren't going to be beating this.

Next thing you know its going to be 90 days in jail for inconviniencing someone with medical problem.

-----

PS I have literally lobbied my Congressman to repeal the ADA.

In the interest of providing full wheelchair access entire blocks of historic buildings are now financial untenable to be renovated. YAY. Way to go. More fair. All that regulation, Its been a boon for northeastern downtowns...

 

[PrinceCharming]

You are talking wayyyyyyyyy too much.

Your defense is simple. You had a disabled vehicle and you were expeditiously getting the vehicle removed.

I am not sure how you would win with Califormia laws, as you cannot even stand at a handicapped spot.

In my opinion, it's either this defense (which you have a 10% chance of winning) or just pay it up.

 

[justalayman]

Your defense is simple. You had a disabled vehicle and you were expeditiously getting the vehicle removed.
QUOTE]
OP was getting the vehicle removed????

I would think getting his butt off the thing and pushing it 5 feet would have accomplished the same thing.

 

[CdwJava]

PS I have literally lobbied my Congressman to repeal the ADA.

In the interest of providing full wheelchair access entire blocks of historic buildings are now financial untenable to be renovated. YAY. Way to go. More fair. All that regulation, Its been a boon for northeastern downtowns...

There are many exceptions for particular older sites, and those for which coming up to standards would create a financial hardship. ADA doesn't suddenly mean that every old building must become ADA compliant or be shut down. If that is how it is being interpreted, I'm doubly glad I'm not a business owner in the northeast.

- Carl

 

[Miss Smith]

Well color me Fuchsia and get me into a Prom Dress!

I think you are trying to dance away without taking the consequences Mr. California. If you see blue space, and you are not handicapped in a physical way, you are to stay out of those spaces.
I do think you might have another handicap living in the United States driving an italian contraption like a Vespa. I did not think people bought those anymore?

I have a cat named Vespa. I named her that because I had a crush on Gregory Peck and I would dream about being Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday cruising around Rome sitting on the handlebars of his Vespa. Sighhhhh.

No Kitties I am not going to dress up and dance around like a loon for your entertainment again. Okay well maybe a little bit.
here kitty kitty kitties.

 

[PrinceCharming]

Your defense is simple. You had a disabled vehicle and you were expeditiously getting the vehicle removed.
QUOTE]
OP was getting the vehicle removed????

I would think getting his butt off the thing and pushing it 5 feet would have accomplished the same thing.

I did say a ten percent chance of beating the ticket.

 

[CdwJava]

I did say a ten percent chance of beating the ticket.

And you pulled this stat from where??


- Carl

 

[justalayman]

And you pulled this stat from where??


- Carl

I don't think we want to know. I'm sure he has some "crappy" answer.

 

[CraigFL]

We all know that 62.7% of all statistics are made up....

 

[xylene]

There are many exceptions for particular older sites, and those for which coming up to standards would create a financial hardship. ADA doesn't suddenly mean that every old building must become ADA compliant or be shut down. If that is how it is being interpreted, I'm doubly glad I'm not a business owner in the northeast.

- Carl

There are exceptions for bona fide historical buildings, and generally only when they are operated by the governement and/or some public foundation in a not for profit fashion.

No business owner needs to shutter his business to meet ADA standards. But that isn't the problem here. This is buildings that are disused - with investors waiting to renovate them - who find it impossible to do so. ADA isn't just about having a ramp. Its everything from hall widths to having sufficent elevators.

The end point is that beacuse of the ADA and lots of other onerous regulations (like removing a certain non friable carcinogen that's principle (only) harm was it gave cancer to the people who mined/milled it 75 years ago) its ends up being cheaper to build an ugly sprawl low rise on farmland, than to use the city for what it was built for.

 

[CdwJava]

There are exceptions for bona fide historical buildings, and generally only when they are operated by the governement and/or some public foundation in a not for profit fashion.

No business owner needs to shutter his business to meet ADA standards. But that isn't the problem here. This is buildings that are disused - with investors waiting to renovate them - who find it impossible to do so. ADA isn't just about having a ramp. Its everything from hall widths to having sufficent elevators.

The end point is that beacuse of the ADA and lots of other onerous regulations (like removing a certain non friable carcinogen that's principle (only) harm was it gave cancer to the people who mined/milled it 75 years ago) its ends up being cheaper to build an ugly sprawl low rise on farmland, than to use the city for what it was built for.

This is exactly what is happening to our downtown. However, there ARE exceptions under ADA for the historical sites and those that create a financial hardship. New owners in our town are hoping to occupy the buildings without destroying their historic exterior with elevators, and from what I am told they won't have to.

The bigger problem isn't ADA, it's that one of our largest vacant buildings is filled with asbestos and the cost to clear it would be greater than the value of the property and structure. So, it sits. And another former department store is filled with mold and unsafe to occupy and will also require extensive modifications.

- Carl