Over-staying one-hour parking limit: $13
Prohibited stopping or standing: $18
Parking facing the wrong direction on a two-way street: $44

Reference: Title 39 of Part I of the State of New Jersey Statewide Violations Bureau Schedule (PDF).

I was hanging out with some friends yesterday down in Rutherford, NJ (near Giants Stadium). One friend lives on a two-way street (without a divider line), and I parked in front of his street, facing the wrong direction. Rationale: I'm a Perl programmer (laziness!) his street isn't terribly wide, so turning around isn't easy, and the space was directly in front of his house.

The way I see it, the only rationale for why this can be considered illegal is because I had to "drive on the wrong side of the road" to get to the space, and I'll have to "drive on the wrong side of the road" to get out of it. The way the Police Dept. sees it... well... you can see how much the fine is, although you can't see their paragraph about it. Basically, it says, "no car shall be parked in a direction other than that facing traffic" unless there are those diagonal parking spaces, etc.

There's no explanation why in the statute. And I'm curious if there's a good "why" other than the "wrong side of the street" business, because honestly, I don't buy that. There has to be a better reason to fine someone $44 for parking facing the wrong direction. All I did was cross the other lane, which is not illegal.

So I got a ticket for violating 39:4-135, which means I parked improperly (facing the wrong way).

My biggest problem with said ticket, though, is the cost. As a comparison, I have included the fines for extending an hour-long parking limit and for stopping or standing where prohibited. Now, in all fairness, I would have to say that those two offense create more unrest than mine. If I had committed one of those other two, I would be taking up a space for use by another motorist, or possibly obstructing the flow of traffic or blocking a crosswalk or something.

I'm being charged $44 for facing the wrong way. Who's causing whom the inconvenience here? Where's the danger? s/d//, if you know what I mean. Grumble.

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Jeff[japhy]Pinyan: Perl, regex, and perl hacker.
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