Don't get me wrong. . . . I like paying taxes to have police to risk their lives when it comes to protecting myself and other citizens from bad guys, but they really need to stick to crime fighting and leave the revenue generation to the tax man.

 

yeah im the same way... and trust me in this town there is worse going on than incorrect parking...

now as far as the pictures... i am going to pay my ticket no questions asked.. i broke the law i pay the fine. no problems... BUT they broke the law the EXACT same as me and i expect them to be fined as well... why should only civilians have to obey the law??
i have always wanted to be an officer and have a lot of respect for them but there is a lot of money making gimmiks that make me mad and a lot of things that i don't care for

EXAMPLE 1) turning around to pull me over for doing like 3 mph over... the fact that he is pulling me over is fine but the fact that he throws an illegal U turn and is going 20 MPH over the limit through a school zone to catch me with NO SIRENS on pisses me right off. (happened to me)
you flip them lights on and then i say let him do whatever but until that happens his vehicle is no different than mine other than the fact that taxes didn't pay for mine to act illegally. .


any way none of that has to do with my parking ticket and i can afford the 50 bucks but its very lame IMO... if i had gotten a speeding ticket there would have never been a thread started but this is petty

 

X2. Showing others breaking the law won't do anything to help your case. How much is the ticket? In my area these residential parking tickets are cheap (like $20), not worth the fight.

 

Well lotsa luck fighting it. Frankly, I think it would be a waste of taxpayer money to even stand up in front of the judge and try. You broke the law. Gonna be hard to get out of that. The only places I can think of where it's legal to park like that would be in countries where people drive on the left hand side of the road. People can holler about quotas and this and that, but in the end, they are just mad because they got caught.

 

I'd be very curious what a judge would have to say, because you had to drive "left of center" to park facing the wrong way.

I would not bring up the officer's u-turn, nor would I bring up other violations that occured by drivers of town, city or state vehicles. You cannot place any blame on another operator.

The judge will keep the conversation on task, the operator of your vehicle improperly parked facing towards the flow of traffic. In Oklahoma, that could equate to a one point ticket. Besides, with the motor vehicle facing the wrong direction, you initiate your travel by moving towards oncoming traffic, which is not safe, regardless of how many times you check for any oncoming traffic.

On the otherhand, you could bring a copy of the OK driver's training manual with you, and show that nowhere does it state that it's illegal to park facing wrong direction in section 10-1.

Oklahoma Driver's Manual

Best of luck, have your wallet with you.

 

My son had a friend over this past weekend and I had his friend move his truck, which was in the driveway behind my Jeep, out into the street so I could take the Jeep. He parked facing the wrong way. There are about a dozen (probably more) cops that live in my neighborhood, including two within five houses of me. I told him he probably wouldn't get a ticket, but we might get a knock at the door over it. Anyway, he did eventually go move it before anything happened.

You might ask to visit with the DA or the judge before your court time, Dave. Explain that you just moved to McAlester, that the town you lived in didn't enforce this law and, after all, it isn't mentioned in the driver's manual, and that you promise to never let it happen again. He might waive the fine.

 

Police cruisers like emergency vehicles AND government vehicles such as postal vehicles and the like have rights some of the rest of us do not. Daddy was a mailman for 36 years. He told me so many stories of how some cops would give him a ticket in certain areas. Usually for double parking, or parking on a curb...and even parking in the wrong direction. Nothing ever stuck because the judge would always say that that mail truck was a certified vehicle of the Federal Government and it had to be able to access postal boxes however it could. Government and emergency vehicles are just immune to some things, like it or not. The same holds true for cops......ESPECIALLY one that was on the official capacity of writing a ticket, no matter how stupid some might think it was. I wouldn't touch that cop's U turn with a ten foot pole. But knock yourself right on out.

 

I don't know what the law is in Georgia but in PA a police officer is not allowed to disobey ANY traffic signal unless his lights and siren are on. Even at that they are required to treat a red light like a stop sign to make sure the road is clear. However this is never in forced, who's going to write up another cop?

I thought I was going to get pulled over one day. I was coming to a stop at a 4 way stop sign and a cop was coming up on my right and didn't stop and turned right in front of me. I threw my hands like that to say what gives, you CAN'T do that. He just stared at me with his mouth open. He was in a hurry is was shift change , time to punch out.

 

this is a good example of how I wish i could think rationally when my temper is flared. The day it happens im mad and gonna change the world one picture at a time and the day after i am like eh... i was parked the wrong way.. I'd hate if people got all mad at me for just doing my job... so like posted above i will just pay the ticket like everyone else in the world.

 

Well, if the truth be told, it really AIN'T THAT big of a deal. That said though, no one has said this yet. Think about when you would be leaving that parking spot facing the wrong way. You would be driving RIGHT into oncoming traffic in order to get to the right hand lane. Possible head on collision. Honestly, I think you probably reacted like anybody would have....and you thought about it more as time progressed. Sounds human to me. You've always struck me as a kinda good guy anyway, Dave.