Parking Etiquette in the City | GTAMotorcycle.com

Parking Etiquette in the City

M

mudmojo

Well-known member
Forum Sponsor
What's worse than getting a parking ticket you deserved? Getting one you didn't deserve of course! Here's my story today.


I parked with my back wheel up against a curb like everyone else does. As I park, there is a fire hydrant to my left about 15 ft away but I'm not worried because I'm far enough away. I park and walk away.

As I'm gone, a car driver moves my bike so that he can park his car, presumably, since he doesn't want to get a ticket parking to close to the hydrant. It's a big fine after all.


Since my steering lock is on and my back tire is up against the curb, he can only roll the bike forward and to the left in a circle prescribed by my steering lock. Guess where he leaves the bike? Basically, almost touching the fire hydrant with my front tire! The bike is a 690R so the turning radius is huge and the front tire would have understeered on snow today adding to the radius.

Sure enough, a meter maid comes by, spots glorious low lying fruit in the form of this blatant violation and slaps a $100 dollar parking ticket on my bike!

By the time I check up on my bike, I find out I've been ticketed and the offending car is long gone. Heck, he didn't even move the bike back to the spot he just freed up when he left. What kind of person does this?


However, a kind waiter at a local restaurant happened to watch the whole thing go down and explained what he saw to me. I now have a statement from the witness. Unfortunately he didn't get any evidence (plate #, car description) but he's a waiter not a valet.


So what are my chances of getting this dismissed? I'm thinking slim because we/I don't have pictures of the offending car or person and even if I did, I suspect that parking justice will not prevail but I shall contest it all the same.

In a worse case scenario, I'll spend some time at a courthouse, plead guilty with an excuse and suck up a reduced $33 or $25 fine.


My Lesson Of The Day: Don't park to the right of a fire hydrant if you can be easily wheeled into the ticketing zone by anyone !!!




Looks like disc and cable locks are more than just theft deterrents!

Maybe I'll start putting my bike in gear now when I park to keep people honest... sheesh.
 
hookup some noisy alarm, add sticker (velcro sticker for on/off)
DANGER SHOCKING HAZARD
DON'T TOUCH

Actually just go see the Crown at the ticket office listed on the back and provide the letter, they should dismiss it.
I think only some places let you see the Crown if not you have to wait for trial date.
Fight ALL tickets...it will come back to haunt you with insurance.
 
Yep, you need to go alarm shopping. They're a minor nuisance but are effective at discouraging racoons (Procyon lotor) and the average Torontonian (Stultus commune) from getting friendly with your ride.
 
Parking tickets have NO effect on insurance.

-D- said:
hookup some noisy alarm, add sticker (velcro sticker for on/off)
DANGER SHOCKING HAZARD
DON'T TOUCH

Actually just go see the Crown at the ticket office listed on the back and provide the letter, they should dismiss it.
I think only some places let you see the Crown if not you have to wait for trial date.
Fight ALL tickets...it will come back to haunt you with insurance.
Click to expand...
 
how's this for parking etiquette...it was at my school this morning.

12705478_10153534448874403_6113427737546333333_n.jpg
 
I would fight it with the witness' help. Even if they won't drop it, perhaps it could be lowered in cost. I also would not be rash and spend $$$ to avoid what some (as has been posted) considered an 'urban myth.' I also wouldn't go about making your life miserable trying to avoid particular spots in the rare chance someone moves your bike.
 
-D- said:
Actually just go see the Crown at the ticket office listed on the back and provide the letter, they should dismiss it.
I think only some places let you see the Crown if not you have to wait for trial date.
Fight ALL tickets
Click to expand...

Get the waiter to swear his statement as an affidavit before you go to speak to the Crown. That way you have it under oath and will carry more weight as evidence. Hopefully that will be enough to convince the Crown that this will be more trouble than its worth.
 
I82l8 said:
I always leave my bike in gear when it's parked.
Click to expand...

The thing is i'm afraid it would cause more damages to the bike if some morons moved it .... by force (pushing/knocking over with a car/truck)
 
Last edited:
hedo2002 said:
Parking tickets have NO effect on insurance.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

And people messing with my bike was one of the reasons I spent the bit of money on a disc lock with motion sensor/alarm. Outright theft isn't a huge concern for me, but there's lots of other scenarios that would set it off that I'm all for discouraging.

When we owned Jetskis it wasn't uncommon to come back to the docks (after leaving them tied up unsupervised) to find kids sitting on them while the parents snapped photos with their smartphones. Worse yet was the idiots who would cast their fishing lines over them. I had wished plenty of times that there was some sort of alarm for them.

Now, if someone is poking/prodding my bike or doing something stupid I want it to make noise. Mission accomplished. Not being able to actually roll it anywhere, side bonus.
 
hedo2002 said:
Parking tickets have NO effect on insurance.
Click to expand...

hmmm I wonder why the insurance company tried to get the govt to allow parking tickets to be used against you....
I guess it was a slow year for them...carry on.
The ticket was for a fire hydrant violation.

You did read the last line of my post you quoted.
 
to the OP about disc locks...

if they tried to move your bike and you had a disc lock on it and the person knows nothing about bikes and starts to move it, hits the disc lock, loses his balance and drops the bike...

sure you don't get a ticket but now you have a bike that's been dropped and damaged body work, etc.

so what's worse ? the ticket or the damage on the bike ?

I think either way, just don't park 15ft right of a hydrant
 
My disc lock alarm will have gone off before the kickstand is more than an inch or so off the asphalt, much less the bike actually even moving forward or backward yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom