Q&A - Too Close to a Stop Sign?

Question: My husband was parked on the street and was 8 metres and a bit away from the stop sign, just to the right of the gravel patch shown below. A tow truck was about to tow the car when my husband went to rectify the situation.

There was still 2 feet between the car and the 8 meter mark. So he moved his car back a little more just that everyone is happy.

Too Close to Stop Sign Ticket

After everyone left the scene, The city people came back and gave him a $50 which was totally unnecessary and could have been issued the first time around instead of giving people a false sense of security. This is very sneaky. My husband has taken a photo for evidence.

Municipal Parking Bylaw

New Westminster bylaw 6133, 1993 requires that you do not:

400.21 stop or park a vehicle within 6 meters (20 feet) on the approach to a stop sign;

It certainly appears from the picture of the location that the vehicle was parked outside of that limit, though I am only relying on a visual estimate.

Your Options

Like any other ticket, you have a number of options:

1) Take the ticket and the photo to the head of bylaw enforcement, explain the situation and ask that the ticket be cancelled.

2) Dispute the ticket using the city's on line dispute form.

3) Pay the ticket.

Two points come to mind for the dispute. The first you have covered with the photo and measurement. The second is to insure that the location is correct and the location is really part of the 300 block. I couldn't tell by looking at the street view.

Request Disclosure

You could also try requesting disclosure to see what the bylaw officer's side of the issue is. That may raise points for a defence, such as the distance being estimated instead of measured with an accurate measuring device.

I'm sure that everyone would be interested in the outcome of your dispute. Please consider sending an update after your hearing.

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