Tech Police

[inudesu]

I shouldn't have to ask a person to move when you shouldn't be there in the first place.

Shouldn't be there, or shouldn't be parked there?

What does the law say?

Obviously you could drive through one - is stopping long enough to open the door and let someone out much worse than driving directly through (something like 10 seconds vs. 45 seconds)? It seems to me like the place to draw the line is at the word "parked." As defined above you are only "parked" when you aren't loading or unloading (which is what we are discussing -mostly-in this thread).

I don't know what the law is on this. I'm mostly just curious. For the record, I don't park in handicapped spots at all.

[Dawgfan71227]

Sorry, DF, but you would be wrong. This was back in 2000, and there was at least one female officer. Now, the officer could have said what she did about the tazer just to try and scare my friend, but he did not check her belt to see if she had one with her.

I'm not wrong on this one. In 2000 Tazers were not in widespread use. I had never heard of a Tazer, much less seen one back in those days. Certainly no police in Lincoln Parish were carrying them. The threat of a Tazer would have been equivalent of saying "XREP" today. It exists, but very few know what it is to make it a verbal threat.

Your friend is full of it.

[marketdawg]

Shouldn't be there, or shouldn't be parked there?

What does the law say?

Obviously you could drive through one - is stopping long enough to open the door and let someone out much worse than driving directly through (something like 10 seconds vs. 45 seconds)? It seems to me like the place to draw the line is at the word "parked." As defined above you are only "parked" when you aren't loading or unloading (which is what we are discussing -mostly-in this thread).

I don't know what the law is on this. I'm mostly just curious. For the record, I don't park in handicapped spots at all.

Shouldn't be in the space at all, bottom line.

[FishingBack]

The solution? Just sit in the lot near the handicap spaces and block everybody.

[Soonerdawg]

Shouldn't be in the space at all, bottom line.

I guess I haven't walked a mile in your shoes, but I have to respectfully disagree. You would easily have been able to park. Had you parked in one of the other spots, Juice would have moved to make the other spot available in case there was another need for the spot. I'm sorry that there are handicapped people, but just because a person is handicapped doesn't mean they have to needlessly inconvienence people who are not handicapped. No handicapped person was denied a spot. The car was occupied and running. The driver was paying attention to the situation.

[Soonerdawg]

Here are the parking regs:

http://www.latech.edu/documents/parking-regulations.pdf

I didn't have time to look at it closely, but a cursory look didn't find a definition of parking.

[GatorDawg]

I have talked to dawgfan through PM and as soon as I am free of worrying about finals I will follow the advice he has given me. Market I understand what you are saying but consider my situation. Baseball parking lot is closed, UP parking lot is full, and gravel lot is generally pretty packed. Meanwhile my girlfriend is bringing down her basket of laundry to take to my house along with her laptop and knowing her a bunch of useless stuff she doesn't need. My choices are sit in the middle of the road, carry all that stuff back to my car (by the time I park she is probably leaving her apartment), or sit out of the way in a handicapped spot with plenty of others around. I am not saying I made the right decision. In fact given the circumstances you can say I made the wrong decision. But a fact I think everyone would agree on is there needs to be 20-30 minute parking spots in that parking lot.

Another scenario happened yesterday when my girlfriend had to buy a new tv. I had to hop out of the car real quick, get her in my driver seat and drive around the block so I can go run and carry her new tv up to her room. 20-30 minute parking spots would solve a lot of problems. Also though a way that might make Tech Police more money is to install a parking meter in a few spots that can serve as that purpose. Let it take coins or Tech Express. That way you get ticket money for those parked without paying and you get the money they pay to park.

[AG_jr]

We learned in my Econ class that the school budgets somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 for parking tickets every year.

[bayouboyz]

We learned in my Econ class that the school budgets somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 for parking tickets every year.

If parking tickets are still $15, then that means 13,333 tickets are being issued. How many students go to Tech :icon_wink: ?

[Poisso3]

parking ticket was $20 when I was at Tech.

[bayouboyz]

Here are the parking regs:

http://www.latech.edu/documents/parking-regulations.pdf

I didn't have time to look at it closely, but a cursory look didn't find a definition of parking.

No definition of parking, here's an exert about handicap zones:

"GREEN – curbs and/or markings denote handicap permit parking
only. Unauthorized vehicles may be towed from handicap parking
spaces/handicap ramps at the owner’s expense. Green areas are
enforced at all times, including quarter break and holidays."

If you don't have a handicap permit, then your vehicle is unauthorized...

I agree with Juice about having loading/unloading zones for UP and dorms.

[bayouboyz]

parking ticket was $20 when I was at Tech.

You sure about that? Hard to believe they would lower their prices...

Penalties for Louisiana Tech parking violations are as follows:
Parking in handicap zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Parking in red zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Other parking violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

[inudesu]

Shouldn't be in the space at all, bottom line.

I guess I haven't walked a mile in your shoes, but I have to respectfully disagree. You would easily have been able to park. Had you parked in one of the other spots, Juice would have moved to make the other spot available in case there was another need for the spot. I'm sorry that there are handicapped people, but just because a person is handicapped doesn't mean they have to needlessly inconvienence people who are not handicapped. No handicapped person was denied a spot. The car was occupied and running. The driver was paying attention to the situation.

I think I have to respectfully disagree, too. We're all free to walk through that space, or ride our bikes through it (when no one is there). You could drive through it without stopping. The reason you can't park there when the spaces are empty is that you can never know when one would be needed - so you just can't ever park there (which is fine).

In a perfect scenerio, there would be a way of knowing when/if the spots would be actually needed for use by a handicapped individual and anyone could park there otherwise. Obviously there is no way to know that - so they have to be reserved at all times.

As it is, I don't see why sitting in your car with the motor running is any worse than, say, a guy walking across one who stops to answer his cell phone while he happens to be standing in that spot - if a car drives up who needs the spot he takes a few steps out of the way. If he refuses to move, or takes too long then there is reason to get angry (or call the cops, or give him a ticket, or whatever) but if he looks up then moves out of your way it is no big deal.

How is that different from a running car?

[inudesu]

It doesn't matter what the law says. His ticket is for a TECH parking rule violation not a state law. The parking rules are published by the university.

I should have been more clear -

Out in the world, what does the law say?

In the case we are discussing specifically, what do the parking regulations of Tech say?

I guess they can be/will be different, but my point is the same: if the ticket is for "parking in a handicapped zone," then the question seems to me is "what is the definition of 'parking?'"

If loading/unloading is not considered parking - then he wasn't necessarily (depending of the definition of loading/unloading I guess) "parked in a handicapped zone" and was ticketed unfairly.

[Poisso3]

You sure about that? Hard to believe they would lower their prices...

Penalties for Louisiana Tech parking violations are as follows:
Parking in handicap zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Parking in red zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Other parking violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

yeah, i wouldn't think they would lower prices either, but I could have sworn it was $20 when I was there.