Ask the Parking Guru: SFO Parking Whistle Blower, or Just Hot Air ...

Hi David,   I enjoy your 7x7 posts and your website. I pulled up at SFO this morning and stopped just for 20 seconds partially on a pedestrian crossing, just to let my son get his stuff out. Saw a meter maid writing me up. She said she was writing me a $332 ticket, and then had me move back out of the crossing. Then she walked away, without any effort to give me the ticket. No idea if she was just staging the ticket-writing process to make sure that I was obedient, or whether I can expect a ticket in the mail. Are tickets enforceable if the meter maid made no effort to actually deliver it in person?   Your book looks great, and I read a rumor that you're making an app, I will be looking for them.   Best, LS   Good Morning LS, I've had very similar experiences to the one you described.  If I were a betting man...and I am, I would bet the farm (and borrow some land from my neighbor's farm to wager) that this was just a scare tactic on her part. $332 seems like a fictitious number to me. Parking in a crosswalk is only a $90 fine. If a parking officer is writing a ticket up, say for a meter violation, and you get in and drive away before they can hand it to you, the citation is still valid, and you will receive it in the mail. However, you weren't even parked, and she didn't even attempt to get your VIN from your dashboard, so I really think that you are okay.   In their defense, airport parking officers have the ridiculous job of keeping an enormous amount of traffic stopping in an organized fashion, and of getting it moving again quickly, all day long.  And, 99% of the drivers that they are trying to corral are not thinking clearly and are driving under the influence of co-occurring levels of emotional stress: seeing a relative after 30 years, someone dear is moving away, someone is moving here, they're picking up their mail order bride, holiday stress, generalized airport parking anxiety, etc.   I think the airport parking managers have learned that kind and gentle reminders of the rules of the road don't resonate quickly with most drivers at the airport, so, they resort to a threat of a several hundred-dollar fine to get their attention. Whistles work too. There is a parking officer at the Oakland airport who has been there for years with whom many of you may have had a run in, who loves to blow his whistle. He must blow his whistle literally 100 times a minute.  He has cheek muscles larger than Dizzy Gillespie's. He never says anything, he just comes right up to your window, repeatedly blows his whistle in your face, and simultaneously pretends to write you up, until you move.   I wonder how Miss Manners would advise us to handle the situation?  I think she'd actually wind up receiving a ticket, while she was firmly but courteously informing the officer that the message could have been delivered much less rudely.  But you, my friend, I believe are in the clear and will not be receiving a ticket. They just want to keep the traffic moving.  Don't worry about it.   Thanks for the kind words LS,  I think you'll find the book enjoyable and informative, and yes, you are right I have an app coming out in a couple of weeks that can actually be called the most technologically advanced parking app on the planet, and it has some humor built into it too.  It's going to make finding a parking space so much faster and easier, help reduce circling traffic, reduce accidents, and it will make you smile.  Stay tuned.   For more parking tips, tricks, and answers click here. If you'd like to be alerted when the app is available, click here.   Take Care, David Dear Anonymous, You are mistaken. Check your facts before making such pointed comments. By Anonymous (not verified) on January 13, 2012 The $300+ fine is for blocking a disabled ramp. Similar to a blue zone. Anytime your vehicle is stopped too close to a sidewalk ramp, you can be cited for that regardless if there's a crosswalk there. A driveway does not qualify. However, blocking a driveway technically (even your own) is still a violation. Those are Police Service Aides at SFO by the way, enforcing parking at the white zone. They do not need to hand you the citation, nor do they need to verify your VIN. My advice: don't unload in the crosswalk. Double parking is probably cheaper. By Anonymous (not verified) on January 13, 2012 I know that whistle blowing guy at the Oakland airport!!!! Lmao By Izzi (not verified) on January 13, 2012 Don't park on a crosswalk, especially somewhere with a million pedestrians. Isn't that obvious enough? You deserve a $332 ticket if you do it anyway. By pedestrian (not verified) on January 13, 2012

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