My question involves a traffic citation from the state of: Texas
I live in McKinney, TX, zip code 75069.
I got a ticket on 4/18/09 at 0622 for "PARKED ON SIDEWALK".
It is illegal to block the sidewalk according to City of McKinney ordinances. I was indeed blocking the sidewalk... in my own driveway.
=== Completely irrelevant reason I was blocking the sidewalk ===
I had backed up some because the night before I had changed my oil and had driven the car up on some ramps in my driveway, then backed up. I didn't pull back up in the driveway to unblock the sidewalk because my girlfriend called me to tell me she and her family were on their way over to pick me up to go out. She was supposed to call me before that to tell me when we were planning on leaving so I could be sure to have enough time. Anyway, I just forgot to pull the car back up.
=== End completely irrelevant reason I was blocking the sidewalk ===
My question is, are either of these arguments going to hold up and spare me the $80 fine?
1. The intent of the ordinance (I believe) is to insure sidewalks are not blocked for sidewalk traffic. My home is in a new neighborhood and I have six empty lots to the side of my house; the sidewalk literally extends no more than eight feet past my driveway. It ends where my property ends, the sidewalk does not extend to the empty lots next to me. Thus, it is almost inconceivable that I was blocking any sidewalk traffic (they would be able to travel eight feet farther and then do a u-turn or venture off the sidewalk, as opposed to doing a u-turn or venturing off the sidewalk where it ends).
2. The address on the ticket does not exist. As I stated above, I live in McKinney, TX 75069. The officer wrote the wrong city and zip code, as Allen, TX 75002. The street number and name werre correct, as was the rest of the information on the ticket.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks,
JT Miller

