longbowe

So I park on 2nd, between Broadway and Santa Monica, facing north (on the east side of the street). I get a front license ticket, and an expired meter ticket. The front license one is harder to fight: CVC 5200 says it has to be attached to the car, and generally it has been interpreted to mean that it must be mounted (i.e., putting it on your dash doesn't work). The expired meter one is odd; I'm pretty sure the sign on the meter says no parking 9am-2pm, and 30min parking only from 3am-5am. (If anyone lives in Santa Monica, please let me know if I'm wrong.)

My pet peeve is the front plate ticket. Only in a city as well-heeled as Santa Monica would cops have enough spare time to go look for those kinds of infractions. I know they were hunting for it, because I've parked all over Wilshire before, with my front plate on my dash, and never had trouble for it.

imseksy

as far as the expired meter ticket, go back to that place where you got the ticket and read the signs again, if it says you cant park there during those hours and you didnt park there during those hours, you can try and fight that ticket. i do believe that cops write down the time they write the ticket, for sure i know they write if it is in the morning, afternoon or evening. if the time on the citation is beyond the time posted on the sign, then fight it. as far as the front license plate ticket, its only a fix it ticket, not a moving violation. just slap on your front plate, show it to the courts, and if you want to, take it off again. i know its a b!tch to go thru the hassle of doing these things, but hey if you feel like you were cited wrongfully then why not try to fight it? just my .02

SHO-TIME

iTrader: (9)

Santa Monica Cops? or metermaid? I am sure SMPD is too busy to give out front license fix it tickets on a parked car. Well, time to get Pat's ZEE BRACKET.

Welcome to So Cal, BTW. (Did you move from No Cal?)
Did I mention I got a front plate fix it ticket while parked at a Home Depot parking lot? I had mine on the dash as well.

FLZ_Boy

West LA has an ultra efficient parking enforment division. Their main rides are a white neon with orange lights on top. For some odd reason you will never see those buggers running around, but they will hand you a ticket within 5 minutes after you park.

My pet pieve about West LA is that there isn't any parking without paying at least $30. The sad part, the local government knows this and rather hand out citations. You would think that a government is suppose to be serving the people and not act like a for-profit center.

cnile51

could be worse... try parking in new york city...... only way to park now a days is if your part of the city law enforcement or parking garage at $15 an hour.

longbowe

Yeah, I'll do the fix-it at a DMV some time this week. (SHO, I did just move down from the Bay Area just under a year ago.) I plan to also go out to Santa Monica and check that sign again. I'm bringin' the dang camera, too!

SFPD are **** about dashboards, too, supposedly, although I've never gotten ticketed there. Mostly because I never gave them a reason to pull me over to begin with.

I did once get a fix-it at the Mountain View Caltrain station, though. It was the Monday after a weekend meet, and I forgot to put my plate back on my dash, and the Sheriffs hit it; but normally, they'll allow dash plates.

All I'm sayin' is, rich cities trying to keep up their image are the worst places to park without a zee bracket.

longbowe

A'ight, so I checked it out. It was 30 min from 9am - 2am. Mah bad. Still, that front plate thing was the insult added to the injury.

SHO-TIME

iTrader: (9)

I think the fix it ticket is a $10 if you fix the offense. Plus the parking ticket. Sorry man.

btw, I don remember SFPD being that ****... though MPD (Millbrae) was pretty bad.

charlie_rdstr_Z

iTrader: (2)

I got one over there last year. My meter expired and they check the front to rub salt in the wound.

longbowe

Yeah, I never got one in SF, but I hear stories all the time. I have gotten a ticket for going 55 in a 50 on the Bay Bridge, though, but that's CHP.

SHO-TIME

iTrader: (9)

Did they ever turn on those cameras on the bay bridge? Quite a few yrs ago, they were mentioning about CHP's using those cams to send tickets to speeders (sort of like a red light camera).

Scott Webb

I got a no front plate ticket from parking enforcement while parked in Gardena as far back as 1991, and there was no other infraction (i.e. no expired meter). And I got another one within the past year in West LA not 2 minutes after the meter expired (I think enforcement must be "radio dispatched" by the meter!). As I recall, the front plate in the windshield does not satisfy the front plate requirement in CA, so you are taking your chances. Luckily most of my rides have had DST or out-of-state plates.

6swhite350z

side note: if you park at LAX, usually those overnight things, they walk around and look at the front for the license plate.. no plate, get a ticket. sucks