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Use Your iPhone To Get Out of a Ticket
An anonymous reader writes to tell us that Parkingticket.com just announced new compatibility with the Safari web browser on Apple's iPhone, giving you new tools to immediately contest a parking ticket. The site is so confident in their service that if all steps are followed and the ticket is still not dismissed they will pay $10 towards your ticket. "The process begins by navigating the iPhone's Safari browser to the Parkingticket.com website where you'll find a straightforward means to fight a parking ticket; whether the ticket was issued in New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia or Washington, D.C. Simply register for a free account and choose the city in which the ticket was issued. Enter your ticket and vehicle details then answer a few quick questions. The detailed process takes about ten minutes, from A-Z. To allow easy entry of your ticket, a look-a-like parking ticket is displayed — for your specific city — with interactive functionality."
I think the iPhone just became a positive ROI for many people in these areas.
How exactly will you fight a legit ticket?
Will its wonders never cease!
Will we see this on A&E parking wars?
Is this an ad or something?
They charge a fee of half the ticket fine, which they reimburse if the ticket does not get dismissed.
Jean-Francois Im's blog
Doesn't look like anything special.. just an automated ambulance-chasing service. They get 50% of the price of the ticket by filing some forms to contest it. There must be a low conviction rate for parking tickets (or people who fight them), and they're just taking advantage of that fact. To top it all off, they get all of your personal information, including the make, model, and plate numbers of your vehicle. I'm not sure whether an attorney-client relationship would exist in this scenario, but even if it did, they could probably resell anonymized information.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Wouldn't any phone with a camera and internet access do? Why does it have to be an iPhone? What about a laptop and digital camera?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Those sites and processes only work if you are willing to appeal the judges decision and go through the effort. Plan on the judge looking at you and saying "guilty" in court--they know it's a matter of numbers and most people will just pay the ticket and go about their business. The sites are more of a rip-off than just paying the darned things.
Trust me on this--I've tried.
Peace!
So basically, this site has nothing whatsoever to do with the iPhone except actually working on the browser. The screenshot shows that's it not even an iPhone-specific page.
-mkb
What about this scenario?
$30.00 parking ticket.
deposit $15.00.
The ticket gets reduced to $25.00.
They refund $7.50, but you've still paid them $7.50.
You're out $32.50, more than the original ticket.
This happens in every case where the ticket is reduced less than 25%. They need to address this.
Still, I like the idea in general.
I've seen a lot of bad parking jobs.
I almost got a ticket once, because the parking meter I was parked at ran out. The parking enforcement officer came up, tapped on my window, and asked "Are you going to pay that, or do I have to write you a ticket?"
I pointed at the car that had double parked beside me. I hadn't stayed to be a scofflaw, I had stayed because there was a car blocking me in.
The officer was much more interested in writing the ticket for parking in the road, blocking traffic, etc, etc. When the lady noticed her car was getting ticketed, she ran over, jumped in, and took off. I hope she got the ticket in the mail.
But likewise, not all tickets are legitimate.
I got ticketed once, for parking in my own driveway. They believed my bumper was "too close" to the sidewalk. Since the other bumper was against the garage door, and the vehicle wasn't in any way blocking the sidewalk, they were just looking for anything to ticket. I lived there over a year, and always parked there, and only was ticketed once. They should have made more of an effort to ticket the people who parked across my driveway. Sometimes I couldn't leave because they were blocking me in.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
The summary doesn't make this completely clear and the website only reveals this in a FAQ section, but this is ONLY available for tickets written in New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia or Washington, D.C.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Parking tickets should be backed up with photographs anyways, taken by the ticket-writer.
There's hundreds of years of jurisprudence based on the idea that an eyewitness account of an alleged act, delivered by a person bound by oath to be truthful, can be accepted by the court as evidence supporting the alleged act. Why would you want to reverse that?
Taken to a logical end, wouldn't this also mean that rapists, murderers, and kidnappers would walk free if none of the witnesses to their crimes happened to have a cameraphone handy at the right moment?
If you get ticketed, you're always free to take your own photographs of the scene and bring them to court with you when you contest the ticket.
Yes... it is exactly like that. Parkingticket.com has been operating for 7 years, is still in business, and releasing new products. And govworks.com was in existence for only 3 years, never really got off the ground and crashed and burned before parkingticket.com even existed. So, yes, they are very eerily similar.
We always knew Comcast was corrupt, here's the proof: http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1909890&cid=34545432
There isn't a jurisdiction in the United States that will give you a jury trial for a parking ticket.
I thought there is nothing free in this world especially the USA
There's plenty free. Air is free, and it's a lot cleaner air than when I was growing up (although cleaning up the mess industry made cost us taxpayers a bundle, and few corporations pay any US Federal Income Tax).
Rainwater waters your gardens for free.
Sunrises and sunsets are free.
You can often get condoms for free. The free ones are generally better than ones you buy from bars' rest rooms, the last one I bought at Farley's was out of date.
Heat is free in the summertime, and air conditioning is free in the winter.
The corporations all get free rides from the Federal Government.
You never heard "the best things in life are free?" It's true. You can't buy true friends.
Whoever said money doesn't grow on trees never owned an orchard!
Free Martian Whores!
I thought /. had human editors. I guess I was mistaken.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Wouldn't it be easier to just obey parking laws?
In my old apartment in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of DC, there was a sign that said you could not park beyond that sign. If you assumed that you could park on the OTHER side of the sign, you would be wrong. The other side of the sign was a cross walk.
Half a block from that spot, there is another sign indicating where you can and cannot park. If you park where the sign indicates it is legal, you will get a ticket for parking too close to a fire hydrant. My friend took photos showing that the sign itself was 9 feet from the hydrant. He went to court in person. The judge said it doesn't matter where the sign is, the law says you have to be 10 feet from the hydrant.
The Washington Post has a column called Dr. Gridlock. I recall a few years back where they ran stories of tickets in DC. One person got a ticket for parking at an expired meter. He appealed by mail (which you can't even do anymore) and included a photograph showing that there were, in fact, no parking meters on the street where he was parked. His appeal was denied.
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
So exactly how often do you get pulled over and issued a parking ticket?
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Because the Jury would sentence the person who was trying to get out of a ticket to death for wasting their time.
You can't buy true friends.
My true friend is a RealDoll, you insensitive clod !
Squirrel!
Plus you get that warm glow which comes from knowing that you made one less space available to genuinely disabled people ! Epic win !
Squirrel!
According to your Bill of Rights, any American Citizen can request trial by a jury of their peers when the amount in question is in excess of $20.00.
Granted, that $20.00 was worth a lot more when the bill was passed, and any jury that got pulled from work to try your parking ticket is going to be pissed (good luck finding an unbiased group), but you do have the federally mandated right to do so.
Or you can not be an asshole, and not park in the handicapped spot in the first place. Those exist for a reason, and while there's usually more than needed, I've been in situations where I wasn't able to use the parking space I needed because some fuckwit in a BMW M3 parked in the handicapped spot.
Fortunately, there was a cop shop next door, and I went there instead. The officer who wrote the ticket said "unfortunately, being mentally handicapped doesn't count unless you've got a permit". I get a warmfuzzy when I remember that it was a $300 fine.
And for those wondering why I was using the space, it was shortly after the training accident that got me out of the military, when the doctors thought I wouldn't be able to walk again. Thankfully, I found a good surgeon and don't need the permit any more.
If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
Street parking time limits are meant to provide short-term parking for people to use for short visits to area businesses. The maximum time limit enforces churn.
-mkb
Doesn't matter. Parking tickets are "infractions" or "violations" and technically not crimes. So the bill of rights does not apply. Obviously there's no difference in real life, but in the legal fantasy land our courts occupy there is.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
You don't really want to tax corporations much.
You need to tax the employee's.
If the corporation leaves, then all the popel it would employee have no money, and you generate no tax revenue.
we've seen this plenty of times.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Not quite understanding the purpose behind this application. After all, the perpetrator who illegally parked their car is admitting quilt, just that they want to pay less to the government. This is what is wrong with this country in the first place. Folks are too selfish as it is, don't they realize the benefit that comes from transferring their money to the government? It is proven that that money spent by the government returns more value to society then any other type of potential spending. The sooner we all buck up and pay government it's fair share -- the sooner the economy will pick up, providing benefit to all folks in the most equitable manner possible.
People who want to park their cars for free are pathetic whiners. Cars cost our society an enormous amount. Why shouldn't the individual using the car pay for some of the car's costs?
That said, I did get in illegitimate parking ticket once (parked under a sign with restriction hours posted on it, outside the restriction hours). They dismissed it, eventually.
But I suspect that the overwhelming majority of parking tickets are perfectly legitimate and completely deserved.
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
They should have made more of an effort to ticket the people who parked across my driveway. Sometimes I couldn't leave because they were blocking me in.
A buddy of mine had that problem. He spraypainted all over the car in "chalk paint" that washes off very easy, it's used by car lots.
HE WRITES : DONT PARK HERE ASSHOLE
He says he has to do it only once to a person and they wont park within a block of his driveway.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The clip is long, but worth it. Never seen the show before but I'm tempted to start watching. That was classic.
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
I should note that after doing a little more research, I found that the company has been in business for much longer. The founder has been in the getting-out-of-parking-tickets business since 1982, designed a system called ALARM in the early nineties that performed the service for companies with fleets of vehicles, and in 2001 (when they started parkingticket.com) he estimated the company's revenue at $3MM.
We always knew Comcast was corrupt, here's the proof: http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1909890&cid=34545432
I really can't stand assholes like this either...I was in a chair for about a year but could walk with crutches for short amounts of time (like a few hours a day max), and even then I didn't use the handicapped spots. I figured someone with more need probably could use them (even if that meant I needed to walk a block further).
Sadly, it was generally overpriveledged yuppies or 18 year old punks that needed them more...
he lets them off easy. someone did that to a friend of mine, when he got home from work (construction) and there was a random Caddy parked in his driveway. he dragged their car into the middle of the street, left it in a lane of traffic, parked his truck legally in his driveway, and then called the cops. cracked a beer and watched the car get towed in 10 minutes.
When parking your car becomes a central theme in your life, you need to consider living somewhere else.
Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.
Sure they're happy, if you pay for the tow yourself. Everywhere I've ever lived, the only way to get a car towed at the driver's expense is to go through the police, which is cumbersome and mostly pointless, unless you somehow live in a magic fantasy land where cops aren't lazy pricks.
In Texas not only can they tow you, but even if they tow you illegally, you still have to pay.
To actually get your money back you have to sue in small claims court.
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
Wouldn't that mean that they are charging for legal advice, and can then be prosecuted for practicing law (in every state) without being a member of the Bar?
I don't doubt you did. Criminal cops are a common breed. The question isn't usually IF the cop is dirty, the question generally is how dirty is the cop.
That's just not slashdot's style. AFAIK there has only been one post removed from slashdot... ever. The only reason THAT one went is because the Scientologists brought out the lawyer guns.
I could be wrong, but that's what I remember of my slashdot history.
I don't like any form of hate speech... but I like censorship even less
take my view to be whatever you will
I do wonder if you would vote for a law that would punish a person for using said word on the street... I mean people by far and large are anonymous in large public places. just wondering, that's all.
then again, why stop at just that one word?
you can guess where this is going, and so I will stop here.
"It's the Law of the Universe, and I'm the sheriff." Slash-cott 2/10-2/17
Because then the crime is "failure to appear" before a court when so ordered, and they take that seriously. It seems silly when they make such a big deal out of not showing up for your court date for a seatbelt violation, but I'm okay with it -- a blanket rule saying "Show up to court when lawfully ordered" seems fair to me, and if that means treating the same the dweeb who ran a stop sign and the important witness on a felony charge, so be it. When told to show up, you'd better to do it, and nevermind whether you think it's stupid.
That aside, the way they skirt around the jury trial in traffic violations is by calling them "violations", "infractions", or "administrative matters", and not "crimes". Personally I find that laughable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that you can get arrested, have to post bond, and go through all the other legal BS for this thing which is allegedly not a crime, just a "violation".
The reason they do this is twofold: First, there is no way in hell they'd ever get a panel of twelve average Joes to convict you for little bullshit non-moving violations, and the same is true for most moving violations since nobody really cares that you were doing 70 on the highway marked 55, especially since as jurors they're all locals and they all know that everyone does 70 on that highway. Second, there is rarely, if ever, any evidence in these matters -- the cop charges you and says you did something (ran a stop sign? parked too close to a hydrant? who knows?) and that's all they've got. Pointing out that the only "evidence" against you is an accusation would get most juries to let you go, and the state doesn't want that.
Hence, you're given a "bench trial" instead, where the judge will claim to be impartial but is on the state's payroll and has a vested interest in making sure matters turn out in the state's favor.
mirrorshades radio -- darkwave, industrial, futurepop, ebm.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.