Sunday, June 3, 2007
Today I found 31 cents . . . 3 dimes & 1 penny.
Walking from my car to Minute Maid Park this afternoon I spotted a penny at the base of a parking meter. On the drive home from the ballpark I was stopped at a red light and spotted and retrieved a dime from the street. The final 20 cents (two dimes) came at a KFC drive-thru, where I stopped for dinner.
At the ballpark this afternoon I came face to face with a police officer who had issued me a parking ticket several weeks prior. I had parked on a street with this sign:
My interpretation of the sign was that there was no parking Monday through Friday because it was a school loading and unloading zone. I assumed that parking was OK on Saturday and Sunday. When I appealed the ticket the judge agreed with me, and dismissed everything.
Anyhow, I went to park on the same street this afternoon and a police officer came over and told me that if I parked there I was going to be ticketed. The officer who wrote my ticket had an unusual last name, so I remembered it and saw that it was him. I told him what the judge had told me, but he insisted that the sign actually said no parking, BUT it was a loading and unloading zone Monday through Friday. He was nice, but told me that if I parked there I would get another ticket and would have to go and fight it again. It was safe to say that I found another parking spot.
If anyone wants to share their opinion on the sign I would be interested. I can see both sides of the argument, so sufficed to say it is a poorly designed sign.
Totals for the day: 31 cents
Race Totals: $566.21
posted by Chris @ 10:59 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I'm right there with you- poor signage. I would assume that the sign means "No parking, at certain times, due to the following..." rather than "No parking at all, except for school pickup"
I had a roadside chat with an officer of the law last Friday due to similar poor signage. There is a school zone in the hoity-toity town of Lexington. Now this "school zone" is not actually in sight of a school, but it is signed as such, so I am always super careful to drive 20 mph on the occasional morning that I drive through.
On Friday, Rich and I decided to meet for lunch in Lexington, so I was zipping on through the school zone at about 40 (the mph before and after the school is 35) and I got pulled over. Turns out, its a school zone not only during morning and afternoon hours, but all hours between 8am to 4pm. Now granted, it did actually say that in the small print below the sign, but I'd never seen kids out at noon time, nor had I ever seen a school zone that's a perpetual school zone during the day! Grr. The nice officer kindly let me out of the speed trap only sucking 20 precious minutes out of my life and a written warning. I guess I got off easy compared to what he COULD have done, but really? Are such stupid rules necessary?
Look forward to seeing you in Boston in a few days...
LP
LP:
The nice thing about school zones in this part of the state is that they are only active when the school zone signs (which all have flashing lights) are flashing. Also, school is out now so it would not matter.
It seems to me that if I was a city planner the first thing I would do would be to make sure all the signs are clear. After all, if you can have a discussion about the meaning of the sign than it is not a good thing.
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