Can you get in trouble for obstructing car windows while parked?

Gotham

So this picture has popped up on the internet. It's a scenario I theorycrafted before but never executed.
I mentioned this to a friend but I suggested that the window should be fully covered in tickets. He rebutted by saying "You'd be fined on the grounds that it's obstructing your window and have to appeal".

Surely those kind of rules wouldn't apply to a parked vehicle, but this is just my opinion on it. Do you guys have an answer?
I also assume it probably depends on where the car is parked, lets say private driveway vs public carpark vs roadside.

Anyone know where I find this info on www.irishstatutebook.ie?
It's hard to navigate without guessing legalese.

This leads me on to other imaginary scenarios, like drinking in a parked car and having broken foglights on a parked car. Anyone know the deal with this stuff?

Slyderx1

hahaha very good..wouldnt do to try and drive with the main poster though.....

SB2013

Don't know the statute off hand but it's the same one people with ****ty window tints use to be prosecuted for. It doesn't distinguish between driving or not as far as I remember. Having said that, I don't think a traffic warden can use it.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Kevin3

SB2013 wrote: »

Don't know the statute off hand but it's the same one people with ****ty window tints use to be prosecuted for. It doesn't distinguish between driving or not as far as I remember. Having said that, I don't think a traffic warden can use it.

I assume you are thinking of Article 34 of the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963:

(2) (b) all glass and all safety glass fitted to a vehicle shall be maintained in such a condition that it does not obscure the vision of the driver while the vehicle is being driven and shall be kept free of inessential objects or inessential stickers

It wouldn't apply in this case.

It's up to the individual road authority/local authority to make bye-laws in relation to pay and display facilities as set out by section 36 of The Road Traffic Act 1994.

Some bye-laws include a clause that only one parking disc is displayed, for example in the Cork City Parking Bye-Laws 2005 Article 8 states:

8. (1) Where a vehicle is parked in a disc parking area on a day and during the
hours specified on an information plate accompanying traffic sign or signs
No RRM 016 and/or No RUS 018 authorised by the Signs Regulations
and the motorist has chosen to utilise the parking disc payment method for
on street parking,
(a) separate distinct markings in accordance with the instructions
printed on the parking disc, indicating clearly and indelibly the
year, month, day in the month, hour of the day and (to the nearest
following five minute period) minute of the hour when the
parking commences shall be made on a parking disc at the
commencement of parking;
(b) the valid parking disc shall be so exhibited in the interior of the
vehicle that a person outside can ascertain by reference to the
markings when the parking commenced; and
(c) one valid parking disc only shall be exhibited in accordance with
paragraph (b) of this article for so long as the vehicle is parked in
that disc parking area.

It all depends if the local bye-laws contain this clause. Interestingly the Dublin City Council Parking Control Bye-Laws 2012 doesn't seem to have it.

One valid parking disc only and several invalid ones?

Kevin3

bluewolf wrote: »

One valid parking disc only and several invalid ones?

Yea, I'll agree it's bad wording but these bye-laws are usually drafted by council civil-servants with minimal to no legal training.

Another example of a better worded bye-law is Tramore West Tramore Car Park Bye-Laws where Section 5 states:

(5) Where a vehicle is parked in a car park and a disc is exhibited in accordance with bye-law 4 of these bye-laws no further disc or discs shall be exhibited on that vehicle during that period of parking.

coylemj

Don't most traffic wardens have digital cameras? They certainly do in Dun Laoghaire and you can acess the photos of your illegally parked car when you go online to pay the parking fine.

If I was on the council staff I'd tell the wardens to give a parking ticket, take a photograph of the window with all the old tickets and let the motorist tell them which one was current, a fact or fib which can be validated or debunked later from the photographic evidence in the hands of the council. A hi-res photo could easily pick up the details on all of those tickets.

I don't like paying for parking but I do like the fact that if I drive into Blackrock or Dun Laoghaire, I know I will get parking easily because you have to pay. If parking was free then every parking spot would be taken up by people who work in the area. That said, €2.90 an hour is a gross rip-off in Dublin city centre's yellow zones.