Contesting Parking Ticket at Rt. 59 station. Worth it?

[chet everett]

You are out of pocket $25 instead of $50, but I am thinking unless you make minimum wage you are not really money ahead. Smartest thing is to of course NOT get a ticket in the first place but once you do you gotta really think about the value of fighting vs paying...

Originally Posted by flipchikki

UPDATE: I had my courtdate this morning and had my fine reduced to $25 from $50. Explanation was that the letter of the law says I paid for a spot, albeit the wrong one, but had my fine reduced because it was an honest mistake.

Not sure if I'd say it was worth fighting it, not only are you hassled by all the paperwork and time taking off to sit and wait at court, but you are also taking the chance that they wouldn't forgive your ticket and get charged a total of $180 for your ticket AND the court fees.

So I'm counting my blessings that it was reduced and not charged $180. Still stinks though.

[whakru]

Originally Posted by chet everett

You are out of pocket $25 instead of $50, but I am thinking unless you make minimum wage you are not really money ahead. Smartest thing is to of course NOT get a ticket in the first place but once you do you gotta really think about the value of fighting vs paying...

People get tickets for honest mistakes, like this one. She was trying to NOT get a ticket by paying for a spot....it's not like she parked there and totally blew off the payment.

And, minimum wage or not, I would rather pay only 25 instead of 50 for something that was completely unintentional.

I can't believe that they even made her pay anything for such a simple mistake. It's not like they didn't get their money for the spot in the first place.

[chet everett]

As I recall the OP entered her info in the web site but had the wrong space -- that generally requires entering one's license plate and I would've thought that being a space off would have been forgiven by the either the enforcement person who would've seen the license plate a space over but still paid OR the hearing officers that could have been presented with the info. That said the cash squeeze that forces the City of Chicago to use its "anti-crime" camera network to send out traffic tickets to those not observing school zone speed limits also forces suburbs like Naperville to seek out all avenues of revenue...

Originally Posted by whakru

People get tickets for honest mistakes, like this one. She was trying to NOT get a ticket by paying for a spot....it's not like she parked there and totally blew off the payment.

And, minimum wage or not, I would rather pay only 25 instead of 50 for something that was completely unintentional.

I can't believe that they even made her pay anything for such a simple mistake. It's not like they didn't get their money for the spot in the first place.

[pvande55]

Glad to hear you were able to get it reduced. And thank you for keeping us abreast of what happened.

[flipchikki]

Thanks all!

I am glad it was reduced as well. I used the paybyphone app, in which you enter the parking spot number, and that is the only info required. The parking enforcer only sees if the spot is either paid for or not. (Same with the on-location parking payment booth) so there is no way for the officer to know what car goes in what spot, no license plate numbers are noted.

The judge did mention how often this happens, and even admitted that it was an honest mistake, after reviewing my receipts that I have paid for a spot that day albeit the wrong spot. What can i say, technicalities suck.

I will note, however, that the numbered spots on the Rt. 59 stop can be deceiving when you're looking at it at certain angles (small number signs on a wire above the spot) I just happened to be walking away when I glanced back to check my spot number. trust, I did not deliberately pay for the wrong spot to get a ticket.

[furstratedroute59commuter]

Could you please tell me the process to file the lawsuit?

Thanks,
Amith

[TheSuburbanLawyer]

Same thing happened to me. Unfortunately I found the Code of Ordinances and read the parking section. You can read it here. [url]https://www.municode.com/library/il/naperville/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT11MOVETR_CH2PA_ARTBMU PALOPARE_11-2B-6DAFEPAZO[/url]

It states, "Possession of a payment receipt or payment for a daily fee parking space other than that which is occupied shall not be a defense to a citation for a violation of this Section."

My ticket was for only $25. I will be asking for a refund on my $2.35 though. Because I am not paying "double" for my parking spot now. When you think about it a $50 or $25 ticket for a $2.00 parking spot with the option to contest in court for $180 + court fees is the real crime.

[ChicagoMeO]

I parked over in the Forest Park CTA lot, that plus some other parking lots have the number of the spot really unreadable. if you dont be careful, you will think the rusted out sign says space number 51 but it really is #151. I only found out when i looked on the ground and saw the numbers painted but fading and by looking at the numbers next to it. so i almost did that. Some of those number signs are no painted well and/or faded which could give you a ticket. i actually moved my car over to a space where it was clearly readable.