In your opinion...what does "No Overnight Parking" mean?

[hambirg]

I agree with that. The sign should have definitive hours posted or after dark. Unless the town needs a "money maker" sign.

I'd fight it.

I agree with this. The sign is just too vague. I think he should fight it and has a valid defense.

 

[dakcp2001]

Well personally before parking I would have used my phone (but pulled over first!) to google various definitions of "overnight" all over the world. I would then have called the non-emergency police number to verify with them which definition applied to my area. After that, I would write a precautionary note to stick on my dash detailing my phone call and research results, but check on my car every 5 minutes to be safe.

It may seem like overkill, but I sure don't want to get beat again for my out of line behaviour!!

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Well personally before parking I would have used my phone (but pulled over first!) to google various definitions of "overnight" all over the world. I would then have called the non-emergency police number to verify with them which definition applied to my area. After that, I would write a precautionary note to stick on my dash detailing my phone call and research results, but check on my car every 5 minutes to be safe.

It may seem like overkill, but I sure don't want to get beat again for my out of line behaviour!!

Eh...we like to smack him upside the head every so often just in case he "forgot" to tell us something.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Eh...we like to smack him upside the head every so often just in case he "forgot" to tell us something.

You are a good parent. Kids today need to be kept in line.

 

[hereyago]

I am still wrapping my head around the fact that you still take the keys away from a legal 18 year old adult who was late. And that they let you.

now what if the car was owned by the parents? dang sure I would be snatching the keys away. and what would a 18 year old living in my house dare to do to me if I did?

 

[luvsJack]

Normally, around here, "no overnight parking" is meant for folks in campers and 18 wheelers parking to sleep there. I have never known of anyone having their car towed at midnight for "overnight". Sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

My ds would have fought it too. He has gotten a couple of tickets that he fought and he won on both of them. One was for speeding and running a stop sign. He said he came to a rolling stop and made his turn but where the cop stopped him there was no way he could have made that turn AND been speeding, plus there was no speed limit sign. He was willing to pay for running the stop sign, but the judge sided with him and threw out both tickets.

I say let him fight it if that is what he chooses to do. Its good that he wants to stand up for himself.

 

[castmember19]

I know the issue has been resolved and the lesson learned, but add me to the list of people who would have interpreted the sign as "Do not park your car here and spend the night and/or stay until morning," not "Do not park your car here after midnight."

I don't know. I probably would have gotten my car towed for misinterpreting the sign too, if that were the case.

The only difference would be that had it been my car being towed, I would call my parents to explain as soon as it happened.

But yes, not lazy or stupid or anything, just a misinterpretation.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

A little update, because he just got home from being out all day. (All DAY, not OVERNIGHT. )

The receipt says the car was towed at midnight. When he went to the parking lot and the car was gone and he presumed stolen, he called 9.1.1. (Is that what you should do??? Doesn't seem like an emergency, but he's out on a city street with no car. Anyway...) 9.1.1. transfered him to the city police station. The police took his license and tag numbers, and found out it had been towed, and gave him the phone number for the towing company. He called the towing company at 12:18. The towing company was 1/2 mile away, and a friend gave him a ride. (They had gotten separated looking for parking spaces, and met up at their destination; the friend had found a parking space on the street.)

The fees were $93 for towing the 1/2 mile, $24 for one day of storage (ie, 20 minutes...ya gotta chuckle ) and a $20 release fee.

He is never ever taking his car there again, he tells me.

Oh...his law teacher said that if it was on the street, "overnight" would be between 2 AM and 6 AM. So now we know.

 

[Buckalew11]

What a little *snot*!!!



LMBO. Thanks for the laughs. I would have gotten a towed also...I have no idea how to park in a city, lol. I thought overnight literally meant overnight. Midnight-6am.

 

[The Orchid]

I will flush the keys, rip up his "A" report card and honors designations and refuse to allow him to walk across the stage at graduation (because he's stupid and lazy and has obviously learned nothing) and forbid him to go away to college (how WILL he survive???). And as God is my witness, he will NEVER park a car in Germany!

I love your sense of humor!

Honestly, I would have interpreted the sign the way your son did (which I guess means I'm lazy and stupid). Around here, if a sign like that is posted it usually means no RV parking all night.

There is a theater in the town where I live and we frequently see concerts there. There's a parking lot near the venue that has those signs on it. We park there every single time we see a show and never have we been ticketed or towed. We park there, not because we are lazy, stupid, slobs, but because the bands we see usually leave their tour buses there and we like to hang out after the shows for meet and greets. Dozens of people do the same and I never saw anybody get ticketed.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

What a little *snot*!!!



LMBO. Thanks for the laughs. I would have gotten a towed also...I have no idea how to park in a city, lol. I thought overnight literally meant overnight. Midnight-6am.

You know he is Bren! LOL

I love your sense of humor!

Honestly, I would have interpreted the sign the way your son did (which I guess means I'm lazy and stupid). Around here, if a sign like that is posted it usually means no RV parking all night.

There is a theater in the town where I live and we frequently see concerts there. There's a parking lot near the venue that has those signs on it. We park there every single time we see a show and never have we been ticketed or towed. We park there, not because we are lazy, stupid, slobs, but because the bands we see usually leave their tour buses there and we like to hang out after the shows for meet and greets. Dozens of people do the same and I never saw anybody get ticketed.

He told DH that he asked his two friends if they thought it was OK to park there, and they said "yes". Well, there ya go! This is definitely a "What have we learned from this?" experience.

 

[KristaTX]

This isn't about the OP's son's situation.

As far as public streets, why do towns/cities care if people park on the streets at night ? I'm talking about places/streets where parking is okay in the daytime.

 

[morethananyonex]

This isn't about the OP's son's situation.

As far as public streets, why do towns/cities care if people park on the streets at night ? I'm talking about places/streets where parking is okay in the daytime.

Here as far as I can think of the only issues are in the winter when they want to plow the streets. We have winter parking bans (at night) and it's announced when they are in effect.

 

[kwelch10377]

Around here it is because it is easier to plow the snow in the winter if it snows over night. My towns overnight street parking ban is only from Nov 15th until April 1st.

 

[CurlyGirl]

This isn't about the OP's son's situation.

As far as public streets, why do towns/cities care if people park on the streets at night ? I'm talking about places/streets where parking is okay in the daytime.

Where I live, that stipulation of not parking on streets between 11 pm and 5 am is only from November 1st through April 1st and is for snowplowing purposes.

 

[EclecticWAHM]

How is that a rude response?? here in Germany, every one knows that the laws pertains to the hours of 10pm-6am, it is one of the questions on the extensive driver's testing. Every one knows this it is common knowledge, so once again, I am baffled by the responses. It is always someone else's fault, that is why I do not live or work in the states, the attitude and sense of entitlement would drive me crazy!! I parked my car in a no parking spot yet I don't understand what I did wrong??? hello, can you follow simple instruction??

It's not "simple instructions" if the sign isn't clear. It's misleading and clearly there just as a money-maker. It's absolutely STUPID to put up a sign that says "No Overnight Parking" and not specify the hours that covers. That's just baiting and hoping to catch someone so the tow company makes money. How hard is it to make the sign read "no parking between X:00 PM and X:00 AM? That would clear up any confusion.

 

[kaytieeldr]

That stinks for your son. I interpret the "overnight" to mean between midnight & 6 a.m........unless there were specific times listed, which there were not.

Well, if you take the definition of midnight to be as implied - the middle of the night - it's not unreasonable that anyone responsible for keeping the lot clear of overnight Parkersburg could presume that a car already parked there for some length of time was due to be towed.

I don't get some of the posters that say he should be "punished" & keys taken away. It was a mistake. So, if it happened to those of you that say he should be punished (& I now there were only a few) what would your punishment be? That just boggles my mind that someone would say that.

Agreed. Isn't $137 (or any substantial amount of money) enough 'punishment' for an 18 year old?

Imagine this.........one of my DD's got a speeding ticket a few months ago! We didn't yell at her, send her to her room or take the keys away. There is a small stretch on the road she was on that goes down 10 MPH & then back up again - it's a speed trap . Lesson learned for her though.......I can tell you after she paid the ticket she'll be paying much better attention to all road signs.

She didn't even "come at us" with a story. Came home & told the truth, that she got a speeding ticket. No lies or anything.

In all seriousness - good job raising your daughter, to be honest with you.

Same goes to MaryAnnDVC, except with her son.

 

[kaytieeldr]

It's not "simple instructions" if the sign isn't clear. It's misleading and clearly there just as a money-maker. It's absolutely STUPID to put up a sign that says "No Overnight Parking" and not specify the hours that covers. That's just baiting and hoping to catch someone so the tow company makes money. How hard is it to make the sign read "no parking between X:00 PM and X:00 AM? That would clear up any confusion.

Well, if it's a business parking lot and the business hours vary, it's not reasonable to expect them to post detailed signs or to change the signs by day, month, season, etc. Plus, it's a private lot. It's like some stranger parking in your driveway. They own the lot, they set the rules.

Why should they put up a sign or signs saying "no parking between X pm and Y am" if they're open for business some of those hours? Or if they let employees or others leave their cars for a reasonable length of time after closing?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Normally, around here, "no overnight parking" is meant for folks in campers and 18 wheelers parking to sleep there. I have never known of anyone having their car towed at midnight for "overnight". Sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

My ds would have fought it too. He has gotten a couple of tickets that he fought and he won on both of them. One was for speeding and running a stop sign. He said he came to a rolling stop and made his turn but where the cop stopped him there was no way he could have made that turn AND been speeding, plus there was no speed limit sign. He was willing to pay for running the stop sign, but the judge sided with him and threw out both tickets.

I say let him fight it if that is what he chooses to do. Its good that he wants to stand up for himself.

Again, there's nothing to fight. The car was towed, not ticketed. The driver had to pay the tow company to get the car back. They charged their standard rates; they towed the car. They did what they were hired to do, apparently when they were supposed to do it. It's unlikely the OP's son just pulled into the parking lot a few minutes earlier, although she hasn't said how long he was there. A reasonable person couldn't be expected to know when the driver was coming back; the car had probably been there several hours already.

While it's nice that the judge threw out your son's tickets, the lack of a speed limit sign doesn't exonerate him. There are standard speed limits, especially in densely populated areas. The information should be in the DMV Driver Ed manual. And a speed limit stays in effect until a new sign changes it. Not saying your son was speeding, just providing information.

As for this:

He said he came to a rolling stop

well,it just doesn't exist. Either you stop or you don't. If only more police officers who made these traffic stops would follow this example:

"A man was driving down a local street one day and approached a stop sign. He barely slowed down and ran right through the stop sign after glancing for traffic.

What the driver didn't know was that a policeman was watching the intersection. The policeman pulled out after him and stopped the car two blocks away.

Policeman: "License, registration and proof of insurance please."

Driver: "Before I give it to you, tell me what the heck you stopped me for."

Policeman: "Watch your tone sir; you ran the stop sign back there."

Driver: "Man, I slowed down, what the heck is the difference?"

The police officer pulled out his night stick and began hitting the man's head and shoulders.

Policeman: "Now, do you want me to just slow down or do you want me to stop??"

 

[EclecticWAHM]

Originally Posted by EclecticWAHM View Post
It's not "simple instructions" if the sign isn't clear. It's misleading and clearly there just as a money-maker. It's absolutely STUPID to put up a sign that says "No Overnight Parking" and not specify the hours that covers. That's just baiting and hoping to catch someone so the tow company makes money. How hard is it to make the sign read "no parking between X:00 PM and X:00 AM? That would clear up any confusion.

Well, if it's a business parking lot and the business hours vary, it's not reasonable to expect them to post detailed signs or to change the signs by day, month, season, etc. Plus, it's a private lot. It's like some stranger parking in your driveway. They own the lot, they set the rules.

Why should they put up a sign or signs saying "no parking between X pm and Y am" if they're open for business some of those hours? Or if they let employees or others leave their cars for a reasonable length of time after closing?

Sure if they own the lot they set the rules but it's not fair to not POST the rules. "No Overnight Parking" is ambiguous at best and requires clarification. Otherwise how is it possibly fair to go towing cars willy-nilly because no one can possibly guess the rules? It's not difficult to post a sign in a parking lot specifying the rules. If they want their employees to have privileges it's easy enough to give them a special sticker or pass.