How is this legal? Would love a fed to weigh in.

[Anonymous]

Call 911 and get to the bottom of this and report back.

[Anonymous]

I don't get what you think is illegal. You think the cop should believe some random person "but I never got notice and plus I shouldn't have gotten any ticket because I never did anything wrong" who is illegally parked in front of a fire hydrant, instead of the system that he and all other officers rely on every day to check for criminal activity, etc. You think it's illegal that he followed protocol? Do you think every time he pulls someone over and they have a suspended license and they say "no way, that can't be true" he should just take their word for it? You sound really out of touch, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've posted a couple responses already. But I took a beat and thought I might offer something more helpful-

OP, I get that this is frustrating. It is a real headache to deal with. You have to track down what happened, which will likely mean a bunch of time corresponding with this "random town." That is annoying. Some venting would be warranted.

But I do suggest you take a little ownership here, rather than questioning the legality of......enforcing public safety laws. Many of the details you include are really not relevant. You DID do something illegal by parking in front of the hydrant. You (most likely) DID do something illegal to incur the ticket and then again by not responding to it. Rain, the need for bagels, and the fact that you were outside NYC is irrelevant.

You say this is the type of thing that "makes life not actually work." But what would REALLY not make life work is if everybody ignored tickets and blocked hydrants when it is more convenient for them.

op - i am not questioning blocking a hydrant. as i said i was in the car so could easily have moved the car if anyone needed the hydrant.
and the second thing - we could have done something terrible or nothing at all and the point is i have ZERO idea and could have lived my whole life not knowing because no one told us at any point that we had incurred a ticket. that is what i think is weird.

Oh for heaven's sake. The law is don't-block-the-fire-hydrant. Not don't-block-the-fire-hydrant-unless-you-leave-your-wife-in-the-car-so-she-can-move-it-if-a-fire-begins-while-you-are-grabbing-the-bagels. The officer doesn't have to bother with asking you to move your darn car. And even if you were to move the car, you still deserve the ticket for blocking the hydrant in the first place. Why don't you understand any of this? This entitlement is next level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can you "not reach the town?" Yiu can call their police dept or the state trooper office in the area. One of them issued the tickets. How do you think the "town" would have a record of this?

the police gave us a number to call which is 'the town' and they are just ignoring and not answering. no idea.

More details needed.

So presumably the police told you your license was suspended due to a parking ticket in, let's just say....Greenwich Connecticut. They gave you a general number for the desk in Greenwich. You have called exactly how many times? How long ago? Did you look up their website? Did you leave a message?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can you "not reach the town?" Yiu can call their police dept or the state trooper office in the area. One of them issued the tickets. How do you think the "town" would have a record of this?

the police gave us a number to call which is 'the town' and they are just ignoring and not answering. no idea.

Maybe becaus it is 10pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A cop ran our plates this last week because we were parked in front of a fire hydrant for 5 mins (bagel run, rain). And told us that dh's license was suspended for failure to answer a ticket that we don't remember receiving from a town that we have not driven through in 2 years. We can't reach the town. How is this a thing? We are in 2023 - how is it possible to have your license suspended over a ticket you never even knew you had and a town you cannot reach.

This is the kind of thing that makes life not actually work.

I'm offended (as an ex high ranking fed officer) think how a "fed" could or WANT to deal with this!

Not in the mood to navigate your breaking traffic rules. We feds have enough to deal with!

-Crappy commutes
-Mice infested office buildings
-Expensive but terrible cafeterias
-Incompetent coworkers who will not leave because they will not be able to get away with they do anywhere else
-Crowded cubicles or even worse open concept offices
-Filling out timesheets every two weeks
-Required online training

But you as a fed are OK answering a traffic dispute!?????????

Ok, I get it you don't know what a "fed" is.
In any event, the people who gave you a ticket very most likely do not work for the federal government. Probably local government (unless they were Park Police or Capitol Police but that is an esoteric example). Doesn't everyone know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've posted a couple responses already. But I took a beat and thought I might offer something more helpful-

OP, I get that this is frustrating. It is a real headache to deal with. You have to track down what happened, which will likely mean a bunch of time corresponding with this "random town." That is annoying. Some venting would be warranted.

But I do suggest you take a little ownership here, rather than questioning the legality of......enforcing public safety laws. Many of the details you include are really not relevant. You DID do something illegal by parking in front of the hydrant. You (most likely) DID do something illegal to incur the ticket and then again by not responding to it. Rain, the need for bagels, and the fact that you were outside NYC is irrelevant.

You say this is the type of thing that "makes life not actually work." But what would REALLY not make life work is if everybody ignored tickets and blocked hydrants when it is more convenient for them.

op - i am not questioning blocking a hydrant. as i said i was in the car so could easily have moved the car if anyone needed the hydrant.
and the second thing - we could have done something terrible or nothing at all and the point is i have ZERO idea and could have lived my whole life not knowing because no one told us at any point that we had incurred a ticket. that is what i think is weird.

So let's play this out. There is a fire and the truck needs to get to the hydrant. Your car with you in it is blocking them. You think that is a practice our society should tolerate? Or only when it is raining? Or only when somebody needs bagels?

And as for the bolded, there are three viable scenarios:
1. You did receive notice of the ticket and forgot/neglected it.
2. Somebody else (your partner) absolutely got the ticket and didn't tell you and is now dug in.
3. There is a mistake and the wrong license plate was recorded.

If it is the last, that sucks. But the only thing that is wrong in that scenario is the person who may have messed up data entry. Oh, and you for blocking the hydrant.

[Anonymous]

OP please keep us posted on developments. I'm enjoying this thread.

[Anonymous]

You sound so entitled OP. Tell us the real story. Why did the cop run your plates?

[Anonymous]

The system worked exactly as it should. You are the problem, op, not the system.

1. Don't block hydrants. That is like the ultimate entitled a-hole move. If you were IN THE CAR, then just drive around the block while DH gets the bagels (or vice versa). And like the recent post about a ticket at National Airport, I seriously doubt it was really only 5 minutes.

2. The other ticket. OK, you don't remember getting one. Maybe they had trouble tracking you down - rental car? Old address? Recent move? Mail delivered to the wrong address? Could be any number of things. For whatever reason, you didn't get the notice. That doesn't mean the ticket just goes away. It goes into the system, and the next person who finds you tells you about it. Now you know, and can address it. Be thankful it didn't go to collections, and only show up when you get denied for a mortgage loan (happened to someone I know, who is now a lot smarter about monitoring credit reports).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A cop ran our plates this last week because we were parked in front of a fire hydrant for 5 mins (bagel run, rain). And told us that dh's license was suspended for failure to answer a ticket that we don't remember receiving from a town that we have not driven through in 2 years. We can't reach the town. How is this a thing? We are in 2023 - how is it possible to have your license suspended over a ticket you never even knew you had and a town you cannot reach.

This is the kind of thing that makes life not actually work.

yall need to start following traffic laws in your immediate family!

sure but no idea what traffic law we even broke in this random town!
also i should add that i was iN THE CAR during the bagel run. I could have easily moved the car. cop just gave me a ticket anyway. i guess bored.

The cop did you a huge favor. If your husband were out speeding and got pulled over and they discovered the suspended license, he likely would have been arrested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds deserving. Just because it's raining doesn't excuse you from parking at a hydrant for a non-emergency.

+1 you sound very entitled OP. A bagel run is not an emergenc. If you don't want to park legally and get wet, stay home.

No idea what "feds" has to do with any of this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can you "not reach the town?" Yiu can call their police dept or the state trooper office in the area. One of them issued the tickets. How do you think the "town" would have a record of this?

the police gave us a number to call which is 'the town' and they are just ignoring and not answering. no idea.

More details needed.

So presumably the police told you your license was suspended due to a parking ticket in, let's just say....Greenwich Connecticut. They gave you a general number for the desk in Greenwich. You have called exactly how many times? How long ago? Did you look up their website? Did you leave a message?

You know the name of the town. Presumably they have a website? With an email form and many phone numbers?

[Anonymous]

Unbeknownst to us, my DH got a ticket for driving in a permitted HOA while were in LA driving a rental car. The car was flagged (we had never driven in LA and really had no idea we were in a permitted lane) and we had no idea we got ticketed. It took time, but eventually we received notice of the ticket many months later after the highway department tracked down the rental car, then us and our address.

I am guessing you were ticketed with some sort of camera and it hasn't yet gotten to you, or you aren't that easy to find.

[Anonymous]

Two years ago was 2021. At that time our mail wasn't arriving reliably -- I had to check Web sites for PEPCO and WSSC, and so on just to make sure we didn't miss a payment. Could something like that have happened to you?