<p>Howdy parents of college confidential. I'm a senior in high school who drives to school everyday. Our parking situation is HORRENDOUS, with not nearly enough spots in our school's lot. Anyways, I didn't get to school early enough to get a spot in the parking lot (my AP test was at 8am, my school starts at 740), hence I had to park on the street. The streets surrounding my school are all 2 hr parking, and I knew I was going into a 3 hour test, but I had to run the risk otherwise I'd be walking a good mile to school and miss it. Anyways, after my exam, I walked outside to discover a nice ticket in my windshield wipers for 25.00 (2.5 hrs in 2 hr zone). Anyways, I hear parking tickets are dismissed a lot of the time if you plead not guilty and have a legitimate reason. Is mine a legitimate one, and should I try fighting it? All advice would be GREATLY appreciated. You CC parents are wise indeed. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>not legitimate excuse, imo- childbirth,. accident, dead car, hurt animal, stuck in an elevator, those are legitimate excuses, not planning ahead to get a ride, car pool etc...not so much a valid reason....</p>
<p>I think you will just have to pay up</p>
<p>I just paid a fine for my D, which she is working off, 100 dollars for a 50 cent fare she didn't pay, while thinking her monthly pass was in her purse....sigh</p>
<p>Just pay it. Being late is not a legitimate excuse.</p>
<p>I think you should go into parking court and see if your excuse works. Why not? It's a good way to learn how government works for real, as opposed to theory. (Dare I hope the AP test was in AP Government?) Do you have anything better to do with your time? How much is the ticket?</p>
<p>Just pay the $25. Everyone gets hit with the stupid random cop rape, be it speeding tickets or parking or rolling through a stop sign. It's best not to let it get to you</p>
<p>You're guilty. Pay the fine. It's only a parking ticket; it doesn't put points on your license. Your insurance rates will not go up. The only cost is the parking ticket itself.</p>
<p>Pay it and stop making excuses. Unless you have never been to your school and did not know how long it would take, you have no legitimate reason not to take responsibility for your tix.</p>
<p>You knew you were taking a risk when you parked and ended up losing the bet. Just pay up. $25 will probably be the least expensive ticket you'll ever get in your life and the investment ($25) will probably help you avoid more tickets later since you'll likely be more careful.</p>
<p>I agree with previous posters. Just pay it. You have no really strong excuse for having parked where you did other than your own convenience--not good. You're lucky it isn't a larger fine and/or that your car was not booted or towed.</p>
<p>$25?????</p>
<p>Pay The Fine</p>
<p>AJ - I know it feels horribly unfair to receive a ticket under these circumstances. And if you think you'll learn anything useful by heading to court then by all means do it. But the bigger lesson here is that nearly everyone get unfairly dinged from time to time. DW parked in a legal spot along the street near work. City workers came by and painted the curb red (ie, no parking fire lane). Police followed and ticketed her car for parking in a fire lane. Judge was unsympathetic. Sigh. So my "advice for life" is the same as majority of posters above - pay the $25 and move on with your life.</p>
<p>circumstances, he was taking a test, it wasn't like he was being inducted or something...this ticket was totally fair...</p>
<p>I agree you should just pay it too.
My unfair parking ticket story is that when I was in college I had a part time job working in a bank. We were being held up, and I could not go out and move my car, and got a ticket for an expired meter. The judge was unsympathetic, although I brought a copy of the police report that showed we were actually being held up a the time the ticket was issued.</p>
<p>The lesson learned is that life isn't always fair.</p>
<p>
[quote]
City workers came by and painted the curb red
[/quote]
I thought that only happened in movies!</p>
<p>How could you possibly plead not guilty? You let yourself get behind schedule this morning, causing you to leave late. You knew that parking at your school is bad if you get there late. You knew there was a 2 hour limit on street parking. You were aware of all of this and you did it anyway. You are guilty as charged. The city knows these things happen, and that's why that limit is on those streets, so they can make money on parking fines :). It's only $25. Pay the fine and move on with your life.</p>
<p>anothermom-w-q, I've heard "life's not fair" stories all my life, but YOURS really beats them all. I'm going to retell it forever. Thanks. (not that it justifies it, and I'm glad you weren't hurt in the bank robbery, really)</p>
<p>AWQ, that really was unfair! Last time I was in traffic court, for what I believe was a meter that ate up my money to fast, I'd say at least half the tickets were cut in half. If you have the time to protest, it's sort of interesting to go. But basically I think you were in the wrong here. You knew you would overstay the limit.</p>
<p>I don't understand why you think this isn't <em>fair</em>. You were aware of your schools parking situation and the appropriate action would've been to arrive earlier. You didn't and therefore accepted the risk that you would be ticketed. Pay the fine.</p>
<p>AJ: if you sit back and think about it, how reasonable do you think your excuse is? While asking for advice is fine, I suspect that you're fully capable of adjudicating the situation yourself.</p>
<p>AJ I'm very glad that you presented your question in such a polite and honest manner. Other than that...I agree with what others have said ahead of me. Guilty, pay the fine, and I hope you did well on your test. ;)</p>