Step 1: Get your facts straight
Section VC 22502 A states: 22502.(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter every vehicle stopped or parked upon a roadway where there are adjacent curbs shall be stopped or parked with the right-hand wheels of such vehicle parallel with and within 18 inches of the right-hand curb, except that motorcycles shall be parked with at least one wheel or fender touching the right-hand curb. Where no curbs or barriers bound any roadway, right-hand parallel parking is required unless otherwise indicated.
This is the part that is being applied to this specific case – but there’s more to it if you’re curious http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc22502.htm
Step 2: Plead your case
I freely admit to parking well over 18 inches from this particular curb, as it is a terrible habit i’ve found myself violating more frequently than not (i’m a flagrantly indiscriminate parker). In this particular instance, i found parking to be conveniently difficult due to UCLA students moving out of their apartments, and occupying most of the available parking real estate with oversized moving trucks and miscellaneous pieces of discarded furniture.
Here is the logic i would use if i were motivated enough to unsuccessfully fight this ticket:
Model of vehicle i drive: 2006 Mazda 3 hatchback.
Width: 69.5 inches
legally parked width from curb: 87.5 inches
distance from curb as posted on citation: 30 inches
illegally parked width from curb: 99.5
Largest Model of U-haul Moving Truck available without a CDL: 26 foot truck – 1611 cu. ft.
Width: 92 inches
Legally parked width from curb: 110 inches
See? The important part of this argument is that even with my ridiculous legal indiscretion, my car was still ten and a half inches closer to the curb than any legally parked U-haul rental truck.
This is where Vinny pops in and requests of the expert witness testimony ‘Does the defenses case hold water?’
I’d probably have to say, disregarding my own interests – and as Marissa Tomei famously touted, ‘probably not’ (or, something like that). But, it’s a poetic defense isn’t it?
Step 3: Concede.
