Hi, i got a ticket during winter for leaving the car key unattended infront of my driveway to warm up the car for school in the morning and i got court for this tomorrow. Is this even possible for the cop to give me a citation on private parking spot? I got one of those townhouse with no garage? help me fight and win guys, help.
thanks,
John.

 

Sounds suspect. YOu should see if there is even a law against that.

maryland law

Here's what I could find. Do an internet search. It seems you broke no law from what you are telling.

 

In California it is illegal to leave your keys in the car with the engine running. Further, it is within the law to get tickets in any place that the ticket writer has jurisdiction and futher depending on the suspected crime. Sorry, I know that's not what you want to hear, but that's how it is here in CA.

Do you know anyone near you that is a lawyer or who would know the vehicle code in your locale?

 

In NY, you cannot get a ticket for anything on private property. (vehicle wise)

 

In CA, people are ticketed on private property more often than we like. For example, if you park in a handicap space (on a private parking lot) without a valid handicap sign, you WILL get an expensive ticket if you are caught. In fact, you cannot even use the handicap space (still on private property in CA) to make a U-turn. This happened to someone we know, he was making a U-turn (on a private parking lot) and a passing police stopped him and gave him a ticket for using the handicap space to make the turn.

 

Parking lots are legal loopholes. They are not private, they are public.

 

i believe over here the property owner has to approve of the cop issuing citations. in the parking lot at my work place the cops watch people blow through all the stop signs but don't do anything unless they blow by the one on the main road coming from the parking lot.

 

just go to court and tell the judge that you had not intentionally broken any laws because you are not aware that leaving a vehicle running and unattended on private property was illegal. furthermore, tell him/her that you are only aware of the rules and laws explicitly written out or taught in the DMV's driver's handbook and/or driver's ed classes (which are the required sources of traffic rules and laws when studying to earn a driver's liscense), and such a rule was never mentioned in either of those sources. lastly, conclude to the judge that you feel that you should had been given a warning by the officer so that you could had been informed of a law that you were not aware of, so that you would know to not repeat that "offense" in the future, instead of actually having been cited for a violation that you did not know existed.

hopefully the judge would be understanding and sypathetic and throw the case out.