Parking violation

Parking ticket from Arlington County, Virginia

A parking violation, parking citation, notice of illegal parking or parking ticket (depending on the jurisdiction) is a notice of monetary penalty issued for parking a motor vehicle in a restricted place or for parking in an unauthorized manner. Such offenses include, but are not limited to:

• Parking at a parking meter without paying, or for longer than the maximum time
• Parking in a prohibited space such as a bus stop or in front of a fire hydrant or crosswalk
• Parking in a handicapped zone without a handicapped permit (the fines for these offenses can be very severe, in some case worse than the penalty for drunk driving).
• Parking with expired or missing license plates, parking without proper vehicle inspection decal, parking without a zone permit in places where parking severely impacted
• Parking on certain streets in a snow emergency when streets need to be plowed of snow.
• Parking on a sidewalk (unless specifically allowed by signs)
• Parking in front of a driveway
• Parking too close to a street crossing, or railroad crossing
• Parking facing against the direction of traffic (considered confusing to moving drivers, especially at night)
• Angle parking where only parallel parking is allowed or parallel parking where only angle parking is allowed, or otherwise outside marked squares.
• Double parking

In 1926 American merchants listed downtown traffic congestion as their most serious difficulty. Unenforced curbside parking and lack of off-street parking facilities were listed as the primary problems. Customers went where they could park.

During the great depression city revenues dwindled. With parking meters, however, a new source of municipal revenue was found. Not only did the nickels paid in by parkers accumulate, but so did the fines imposed for over parking. By 1944, American cities were generating some $10 million annually from parking meters alone. Soon after came meter maids, who were paid less than police officers, to increase city revenues. Complex parking rules, restrictions and regulations are now an integral part of modern life and landscape.

Typically a ticket is placed on a vehicle when the owner or driver is not present. There is no place for a signature, and in California the registered owner cannot be charged with a misdemeanor or other criminal offense for ignoring a ticket. A letter will usually be sent prior to any punitive action. Most jurisdictions, however, will have sanctions such as refusal to allow renewal of license plates if the owner of the vehicle has unpaid parking tickets. In some jurisdictions, such as New York City, a vehicle may be towed if it has overdue parking fines exceeding a specified balance. In many jurisdictions, such as Boston, vehicles with numerous outstanding parking citations are subject to booting.

In Europe, parking tickets are also heavily used. One difference is that owners of foreign-registered vehicles can in reality not be fined. This is partly because it is too much work to find the owner in a foreign country, but mainly because it is not legally possible to claim money from a foreign resident person if they don't pay volontarily. The European Union is introducing legislation into all member countries to collect fines across borders. In some cities, like London, this has been solved by locking one wheel of a falsely parked vehicle. The driver has to pay to be able to drive.

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  Placement of parking citation from Huntington Beach, California.
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  Car with a sticker violation tag for illegal parking.
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  Closeup of sticker.

See also

• Traffic ticket