The Game of Parking Tickets

To break up the monotony of posting daily about current and significant events, I will take the liberty to inform you of my recent experiences with the City of Moorpark and their game with parking citations.

As a guest student of Moorpark College in Southern California I found it impossible to find any on-campus student parking 11 September 2012, both in regular and over-flow. I spent between 30 and 45 minutes looking for parking before being forced to settle on a 1-hour parking zone in an adjacent neighborhood in order to attend class. I parked at 1130 and returned at 1245 to see a citation on my windshield. I was cited at 1240 after my vehicle was clocked by parking enforcement at 1135.

Nearly 2 months later, having disputed my citation in two different letters, being found "liable" after the first letter, and wishing to speak with a judge on the matter I was called up by the City Clerk to discuss the next step. She told me, "you need to pay for your ticket before we can schedule a hearing for you with the judge." Quickly, I responded that my understanding was payment is admission of guilt in the eyes of the law and that I have disputed this citation twice now. Frustrated, she instructed me to follow-up with the City Manager of Moorpark in another letter to request a "waiver" of payment for the hearing to be scheduled.

When I arrived back home, it took me 5 seconds to find that the website for the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) clearly says "Paying a parking or infraction traffic ticket is an admission of guilty or no contest." Well, what do you know?! Neither have I admitted "guilt" nor have I plead "no contest," but here I have the City Clerk demanding I pay before a possible hearing with a judge. It appears that government officials conduct daily business on the ignorance of those whom do not understand law nor will probably ever try to understand it. Nevertheless, I do not blame them for using a dragnet. Most people are ignorant of what is important to understand and as the expression goes, "ignorance is expensive." Had I made a payment what is the probability that I would be found guilty regardless of my explanation? Very probable. This is the case in most State jurisdictions, so watch yourself.