21755 Passing Safely on Shoulder

[toddao]

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California

I was driving to a hardware store. When I was nearly there, a traffic jam developed and the traffic stopped. There was a white line to my right, and beyond the white line was a parking lot. The paving is continuous with no break from the road way to the parking lot.

I pulled around the stopped traffic and into what I thought was a parking lot. Then I got closer to the hardware store by passing about 4 cars in the traffic jam before pulling into a space. The cop said I was driving on the shoulder, so gave me a ticket for passing on the right.

The cop agreed that I was not passing unsafely. Can I win this fight? Any comments will be appreciated.

[That Guy]

The cop agreed that I was not passing unsafely.

21755.
(a) The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass another vehicle upon the right only under conditions permitting that movement in safety. In no event shall that movement be made by driving off the paved or main-traveled portion of the roadway.
(b) This section does not prohibit the use of a bicycle in a bicycle lane or on a shoulder.

That "in no event (meaning NEVER) are you to drive off the main traveled portion of the roadway" (meaning the area to the right of the white line) is going to kill your argument about "I did it safely and the cop agreed"!