Ridiculous Traffic Ticket Stories...

[lrmillen]

In the past year my DH and I have gotten about 15 parking/traffic tickets. And we absolutely know that it's because our car is bright yellow, we stick out. The cops see us and automatically think something is wrong. We always joke about having it repainted. Anyway here are of couple of tickets that got us fuming...

Car idleing w/ four ways on in loading zone by local hardware store for 5 mins. Cop hands me a ticket (yes, I was in the car). After pleading and insisting I'd move the vehicle I just sent in a check for 50 bucks.

Parked next to a fire hydrant that was completely covered in snow. While gone cop shovels out hydrant then proceeds to tow the car. Forgot how much that one was.

This one is unbelieveable, however doesn't involve the car. DH got a ticket for "riding his bicycle on the wrong side of the sidewalk". Those are the exact words on the ticket. We just had to laugh at that one and send in another $50.

Anyone else have some good ticket stories? Also, has anyone pleaded not guilty, I'm very unfamiliar with that process and have wanted to try it a couple times?

 

[amid chaos]

Where do you live??? Because I'm not moving there! Ridiculous!

 

[HappyMommy2]

Wow!
I'm generally a big rule-follower (maybe almost to a fault ) but I have to say there have been MANY times I have idled in a loading zone--I never thought they'd actually give you a ticket for that when you are IN the car!

Yes, I think I'd repaint the car if I were you!

 

[joshsmom]

HOLY COW!!!!! I've NEVER gotten a ticket for anything remotely CLOSE to that stuff!!!!! Do you like black cars?? They kinda blend in!!!

 

[MICKEY88]

I don't think a Black car would blend in with a SNOW covered fire hydrant...

 

[MICKEY88]

Originally posted by lrmillen

This one is unbelieveable, however doesn't involve the car. DH got a ticket for "riding his bicycle on the wrong side of the sidewalk". Those are the exact words on the ticket. We just had to laugh at that one and send in another $50.

?

where I live it's illegal to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk period..sidewalks are for pedestrians...

 

[Jaypd]

Ok better put my flame suit on before I post.

I am going to go ticket by ticket.

You said you were in the car with it running in a loading zone and got a ticket. What was the ticket given for? Because in most states loading zone or not you can not idle for more then a set amount of time. Or could the loading zone been for trucks only?

Now you said you parked at a snow covered fire hydrant. Did you know that there was a hydrant or did you find out after the ticket was given? Also did you see the cop shovel it out. Because here in NY police officers don't shovel out hydrants the fire dept does. You know why.....they need to get to it in case of a fire.

And the last one is the bike on the sidewalk....Guess what everywhere I know of you are NOT allowed to ride a bike anywhere but the road or a bike path. So sorry to say the ticket was not so unbelievable but totally deserved.

Oh yeah we are not taught in the Police Academy to look for any set color car. If you are doing something wrong you may just get a ticket. One more thing out the 15 tickets you got do you think any of them were given to you justly?

Sorry for the rant but I am yet to hear someone say you know what that cop did the right thing I was doing something I am not supposed to and they gave me a ticket. It’s always the cop’s fault.

 

[joshsmom]

Originally posted by Jaypd
Ok better put my flame suit on before I post.

Sorry for the rant but I am yet to hear someone say you know what that cop did the right thing I was doing something I am not supposed to and they gave me a ticket. It’s always the cop’s fault.

. . . .so. . . I was speeding, I admit it, and I've mended my ways!!! I've only gotten 2 tickets in my life--both for speeding--I did it, I paid the fine, and learned not to have a lead foot!! Both times the officers were just doing their jobs. And I was just kidding about switching car color--just commenting on OP's "yellow car" theory.

 

[lrmillen]

hey Jaypd....I knew some form of police officer was going to be one of the first to post. I understand that you guys usually get the bad rap when you're just doing your job but it just seems that we run into all the bad apples on the force. The only other things I will say about my examples are...with the fire hydrant it was at DH's university and everything was handled by campus security, and as far as the bikes go...there are actually many sidewalks you can ride your bicycles on, especially in a university town where so many walk or ride bikes to work/school.

But anyway, it was not my intention to bash law enforcement, just to open up a thread to hear what types of tickets DISers have gotten. It seems that the majority plays it very safe so far, or those who don't are just hiding?

 

[robsmom]

The only real tickets I have gotten are for being parked after a meter expires. We used to have meter parking outisde of a building that I worked in. Sometimes I would go from site to site during the day and it would be cheaper to use the meters than a parking lot if I was only going in for an hour or so. A couple of times I got caught up in something, stayed longer than I planned and forget that I was at the meter. One time, I actually walked to the parking lot before I remember that I had been at a meter. After about the 3rd ticket ($15 I think), I decide using the parking lot really was cheaper!!! Totally my fault though.

By the way, I used to work at campus security and so many people think that they are exempt from "the rules" for one minute or another or would try to get out of a ticket beause they had only parked illegally for 5 minutes, etc. Our security director kept a no exceptions policy. There would be a lot of tickets every September but by October most people had learned the lesson.

 

[chesirechik]

My DH got a ticket because his license plate frame covered up the web site at the bottom of his PA license plate. The frame was put on by the dealership. He got a $60 ticket. We fought it and got the money back.

 

[Jeafl]

My worst story happened last year. I was driving my nephew home about 7:30 am one Sunday morning. I was going down some deserted country roads that were quite hilly, and I was clocked at the bottom of a hill doing 56 in a 50 mph zone. I ended up with a $100 ticket and 4 hours of traffic school for that one.

 

[tkd lisa]

I've only gotten 2. One was on my 18th birthday. I had gone into a town (speed limit dropped from 55 to 45), and slowed down while in the town. About 3 miles past the town, I realized a cop was behind me with lights on (no sirens). I pulled over to let him pass, and he waved at me. He said he had clocked me at 55 in a 45 (back in the town). I didn't think I had been speeding, but he was mad because I hadn't stopped sooner. Certainly he could have clocked me at 55 on the highway, it was his word that I was in town at that speed. Handed me the ticket and said "happy birthday" in a really nasty tone.

Second ticket was about 2 years later. I was driving to our downtown library to do some research for a college paper while on Thanksgiving Break. I hadn't been to that library in a while, and wasn't sure which street to turn on (a variety of one-way streets). I was in the right lane to turn, and it was one way left, and for some reason, that lane ended at the light. I was driving a stick shift car with no power steering, so I was hauling with all my might on the steering wheel to shift lanes while shifting gears (no hands left for my blinker). Turned out I pulled in front of a cop. I waved in apology, and he pulled me over and ticketed me for failure to use my blinker. Someone had hit him the day before in his personal car doing the same thing. Urggg.

Technically, I could have been breaking the law in both cases, but I don't think I should have been ticketed.

Of course, since then I've gotten 3 warnings (in 15 years) for speeding, but no tickets, so it's probably averaged out.

 

[DMickey28]

I have never been given a ticket

I was pulled over 3 times in the last 9 years but never given a warning or ticket. You know what got me off each time??? The disney ball... I kept getting officers that where going to disney next week or just got back and we got to talking.

Considering I drove to school 1.5 hours each way everyday for four years and then for work and never got stopped I consider that pretty good!!!

 

[Stimpy]

No tickets here, only pulled over once and it was as a "joke" by a friend in the PD. (knock on wood!)

But DH is a police officer and you would not believe some of the stories he comes home with with the excuses people use to try to get out of tickets. I agree with JayPD, if you are doing something wrong, you deserve a ticket. It's up to the officer if s/he wants to just give you a warning, it doesn't matter if you think you should have just gotten one.

On a lighter note, my grandmother, unfamiliar with the area, got a ticket for making a left turn where there was a sign saying "no left turn". She went to court and we went with her because she won't drive now. The judge asked why she disobeyed the sign, she told him "How can I disobey the sign when I never saw it?" She said it so matter of factly, the judge laughed and gave her a $15 seatbelt fine instead.

 

[HoneyPooh]

I actually saw someone parallel parking into the giant line up of vehicles parked in a fire lane yesterday. There were at least eight cars bumper to bumper in there and that ninth car was just determined not to walk the five or six foot to the nearest actual parking space. . The township could have made a tidy sum if they would have come along and given out some tickets. I think I saw a photo once of a Mercedes parked in front of a fire hydrant and the fireman busted out the windows on either side and put the hose through the car. I think I'd rather have my car towed .

 

[MICKEY88]

Originally posted by chesirechik
My DH got a ticket because his license plate frame covered up the web site at the bottom of his PA license plate. The frame was put on by the dealership. He got a $60 ticket. We fought it and got the money back.

you lucked out on that one..is the frame still on your car..??

 

[ckmommy]

We got a ticket on our honeymoon (in FL) for going through a red light. We were reading a street sign and following the car in front of us. The light turned yellow as soon as we started through the turn, by the time we finished the turn--with traffic in front of us, the light was red and flashing lights were following us! We were so mad. We tried to pled our case to the officer, but he would not even listen to us! Now if this was us just trying to get through the light and not obeying the signal I would understand it, but I thought the officer would have a little compassion for newleyweds on their First day of marriage after the wedding. Oh well! $100 out the window!

When we got home from our trip, I asked my dad, who is a police officer what he would have done if he stopped someone that had our situation?? He laughed and said he would have given them a warning, BUT NOT a ticket! He could not believe that we did get a ticket!

 

[kimber79]

I received a ticket that I thought was very unappropriate. Here is my story:

I was on my way home from work, and came upon a traffic light. There was one car in front of me. We were both over the white line into the intersection. The car in front of me turned, so I rolled forward a bit more ~ I am now completely in the middle of the intersection. The light turned yellow......there was a bread truck coming toward me (which proceeded through the intersection on the yellow light) that I had to wait for. Once he passed, I completed my turn......but the light had turned red in the process. Well, I got pulled over........and had explained the above to her when she asked if I knew why I was being pulled over. She came back after about 10 minutes in her car with a nice little ticket. She very rudely told me that there was no way that I could have been over the white line........and that I had no idea what I was talking about because she saw the whole thing. Well, she was behind the bread truck and three other cars at the light.........tell me how she could have so clearly seen where I was!?

I faught the ticket.

Our original court date she was unable to attend, so they rescheduled it. The second date I had a severe migraine headache, but could not not show up. We got called before the magistrate and he was reviewing his paperwork. He asked both of our stories.......I could hardly see straight let alone think straight, and I was a little off on what happened ~ I said we both had to wait on the bread truck instead of the car in front of me had just turned then I had to wait for the bread truck..........and while we were talking he was looking up the violation code, and asked her again what she wrote me a ticket for. When she told him, he said "then why have you wrote this up for this code...........this is something to do with a bicycle". He reprimanded her and told her if she is going to issue tickets, she needs to get her codes right. Well, to make a long story short.......he released the ticket/points BUT I had to pay the $80 fine ~ ~ that is what I wanted out of!!!

 

[darlene9947]

Well, down here at Mardi Gras time, parking on the parade routes is NOT ALLOWED at all. A couple of times I have parked a couple of blocks off the parade route, but right on the corner, which of course is not allowed also. But I figured the $20 parking ticket was cheaper than paying some of the prices charged by parking lots further away. So I will gladly pay $20 to park 2 blocks down from the parades!!