Do you Make These Common Parking Ticket Mistakes?

Last Updated on March 7, 2018 by Lawrence Berezin

Where do you acquire your parking ticket knowledge?

I’ve been getting telephone calls from some wonderful members of the NYC driving community who suffered “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” by following parking advice from a passerby.  Please do not rely upon the testimony of the butcher, baker, candlestick maker, doorman, parking ticket warrior, or police officer when deciding whether it’s safe to park your chariot in NYC. It’ll cost ya!

Can the Evil Empire impose a penalty 31 days after the issuance of a parking ticket?

The NYC Council recently enacted a law that prohibited adding a $10 penalty once the Evil Empire received a notice of dispute within 30 days of the issuance of an NYC parking ticket. If so, all further penalties are suspended for 30 days following a verdict:

• Further, the law provides that if the Evil Empire gives the second notice for failing to respond to a parking violation (the first notice is the parking ticket), an additional penalty, not to exceed $20, may be assessed 46 days following issuance of a parking ticket
• Further, failure to respond to a parking ticket within 75 days of the issuance date, a third penalty, not to exceed $30 may be assessed on or after 76 days from the issuance of the parking ticket

How are doing with registration and inspection parking tickets? Want to learn how to beat ’em? Click right here.

Here is the text of the law found in the NYC Administrative Code

Ҥ 19-211 Additional penalties for parking violations.

In accordance with paragraph b-1 of subdivision two of section two hundred thirty-five of the vehicle and traffic law, the parking violations bureau may adopt a rule providing for the imposition of the additional penalties set forth in the following schedule for failure to respond to a notice of violation for a parking violation: a. Failure to respond to a notice of violation for a parking violation within thirty days shall result in liability, commencing on the thirty-first day, for an additional penalty in an amount, not to exceed ten dollars, indicated on the notice of violation for a parking violation; where a city has given a second notice pursuant to paragraph a of subdivision two of section two hundred thirty-five of the vehicle and traffic law failure to respond to a notice of violation for a parking violation within forty-five days may result in liability, commencing on the forty-sixth day, for the penalty prescribed above for failure to respond within thirty days and an additional penalty not to exceed twenty dollars; and where a city has given a second notice pursuant to paragraph a of subdivision two of section two hundred thirty-five of the vehicle and traffic law failure to respond to a notice of violation for a parking violation within seventy-five days may result in liability, commencing on the seventy-sixth day, for the penalty prescribed above for failure to respond within thirty days and for a failure to respond within forty-five days and an additional penalty not to exceed thirty dollars.

b. Notwithstanding the foregoing schedule of additional penalties, if an owner makes a plea or appears within twenty days after the issuance of a second notice of violation in accordance with paragraph ‘a’ of subdivision two of section two hundred thirty-five of the vehicle and traffic law, or prior to such mailing, such additional penalty shall not exceed ten dollars.”

Plain as the nose on your face?

Can you purchase muni-meter time from one muni-meter and apply it to a different muni-meter?

Yes. But, the parking rate for the parking space in which you park your chariot must equal or exceed the rate on the muni-meter time reflected on the receipt purchased from the first muni-meter. In other words, it is not permitted to purchase time in Queens at a lower rate and apply it to a parking space in Manhattan at a higher rate.

You are permitted to apply the unused time on a muni-meter receipt to another muni-meter as long as the rate is equal to or exceeds the rate on the second, third, etc. muni-meter.

Commentary

The law prohibiting the assessment of penalties is long overdue. Receipt by the Evil Empire of a notice of dispute obviously should suspend imposition of penalties until after a decision is entered by a parking ticket judge. I hate that a member of our driving community may not actually receive the notice of the decision in the mail until 2-3 weeks after the date a judge enters the decision. This delay significantly reduces the actual time a person has to file an appeal (due within 30 days of the date of decision…Not the date a person receives the decision in the mail).

Park safely and apply unused muni-meter time wisely.