Drivers contesting $63 tickets for not parking properly on a slope

An often overlooked part of the Highway Safety Code has cost some Cte-des-Neiges drivers $63 each as police crackdown on cars that risk going for a slide.

Montreal police are ticketing drivers for not aligning their wheels properly with the sidewalk when parked on a hill.

Leslie Delman has lived on Lacombe Avenue in Cte-des-Neiges for 25 years and has never seen anything like the recent wave of tickets.

He said he was one of a dozen people who were fined.

"My initial reaction was that I was quite angry," Delman said.

According to article 383 of the Highway Safety Code, when a vehicle is parked on a slope, "the front wheels must be turned so that if such vehicle moves ahead of its own momentum, it will do so toward the near edge of the roadway."

He wished residents had gotten a warning about the parking rule before policehandedout tickets.

"The proper way to do that, is to sensitize, to educate the people that this is what we're going to do. And it's a question of application. Give people a notice, put a sign," Delman said.

Little chance of winning in court

His neighbour, Jean-Franois Leroux, was surprised to see a ticket on his car, especially since he said he didn't see tickets on cars parked on steeper parts of the street.

"It's almost flat, first, and they could have given us a warning," Leroux said.

They plan on contesting their tickets, but a lawyer specializing in the Highway Safety Code said they don't have much of a chance of winning.

"The law says the wheels, the front wheels have to be turned toward the sidewalk," said Thierry Rassamfrom S.O.S. Tickets.

"It is what it is. There's no interpretation. There's nothing to be negotiated."

Delman hopes the city puts up signs, like in Westmount, that show the right way to park on a slope.