Private property vs. public property
We get a lot of calls from drivers who receive traffic tickets while operating their commercial or personal vehicle on private property, rather than on a public roadway or area.
The question we get is, “I got a ticket on private property. Is that legal?”
The simple answer is no, if the roadway or parking lot you were using weren’t truly open to the public. Of course, as with most areas of the law, there are exceptions to the rule – and in some cases, receiving a ticket on private property may be justified.
Here’s a question from a recent caller and our answer. As always, we hope this information is helpful to you.
Q. I got a ticket in Oklahoma for “reckless driving” while I was driving through a shopping center parking lot and pulled into a parking space. The officer came over to my car and said that he saw me speeding through the parking lot. I told the officer that I didn’t speed at all, but he gave me the ticket anyway. Can an officer give a ticket on private property? Also, I called the court and asked if I could just pay the ticket, and I was told that no, I had to come to court because my charge is a criminal misdemeanor. Is that true? Do I really have to go to court?
A. First, do you have a private property argument to invalidate your ticket? To answer that question, you have to ask whether the officer had the right or the proper jurisdiction to stop you on private property.
If the officer didn’t, then no, the ticket wasn’t issued properly, and you may be able to have it invalidated or dismissed. But if the officer did, you may be out of luck.
Most courts hold that local police forces do not have jurisdiction over truly private roads and truly private parking lots and, therefore, cannot issue tickets for violations allegedly committed in these private areas. This is the case because these areas usually are not considered to be open to the public for vehicular traffic use.
For example, if you were stopped on a non-public, private roadway or in a parking lot where public parking isn’t allowed without permit or permission, you’d have a pretty good argument that the area you were stopped in wasn’t truly open to the public, and the officer thus didn’t have the right or proper jurisdiction to issue the ticket.
But if you were stopped in a private parking lot that is usually open to the public, you probably wouldn’t succeed with a private property argument.
In your case, you were stopped and given a ticket for an offense you allegedly committed while driving in a private shopping center parking lot, and said parking lot is usually open for public parking.
So unfortunately, you probably don’t have a valid private property argument to have your ticket invalidated.
Second, yes, you usually have to personally appear in court on a reckless driving charge, as most states consider this charge to be a criminal misdemeanor. However, even though you may not have a good private property argument to have your ticket invalidated, you may have a very good argument to be found not guilty of your reckless driving charge, because most courts have long held that speeding by itself is usually not enough to find someone guilty of reckless driving.
In fact, in a very similar case that involved a defendant who also was charged with reckless driving when he received a ticket for speeding, the State of Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals held that “… the defendant was not (driving recklessly). The traffic was light. The defendant was not driving his car in a reckless manner. The (officer) contended that (the defendant) was driving 50 to 55 mph, but in the absence of any weaving … or other actions (that) would denote reckless driving, the fact that the defendant was driving at this rate of speed … would not constitute reckless driving.” LL
We invite you to send any questions or comments regarding transportation law to: ROAD LAW, 3441 W. Memorial Road, Suite 4, Oklahoma City, OK 73134; to contact us through our website at www.roadlaw.net; or to call us at (405) 242-2030. We look forward to hearing from you.