Parking tickets in maryland?

Yesterday, I was in Baltimore, Maryland. When I got there, my friend told me I could park anywhere, its free parking on the whole street and no permit was required. I parked on the side of the street. I got out of my car and looked at the sign, studying it for a minute or two, trying to find out what it was trying to get across to people. It was a picture of what seemed to be a round vehicle maybe a bus with a person standing outside of it, and under it read, "No stopping any time" pretty bad English first of all, and the sign was nearly bent in half. I found the sign very vague and not concise, so interpreted it to mean that I could park there and it meant that buses could not stop there at any time due to some danger unseen to me..If it were meant for people parking their cars there, I assumed it would have said "no stopping standing or parking at any time" which I am accustomed to seeing on a road where you can not park. Any one have any advice or insight into what I should do? I work at a restaurant and can not really afford to pay these two tickets at over $50 each. Also I live out of state. Thank you for any advice or information.Parking tickets in maryland?
First, realize that many jurisdictions have converted parking violations from being part of the traffic code (enforced by the police) to being a civil matter (enforced by non-police "parking control agents"). It's basically a scam to deprive you of any rights you might have if the tickets were still a violation of the criminal laws. I don't know if Baltimore has made that change but it is likely.



You can try to contest the parking tickets by photographing the bent sign and claiming it was unreadable. It probably won't work.



Many jurisdictions have started reporting unpaid parking tockets to the credit bureaus as a "bad debt". There is a good chance Baltimore is dfoing that but you need to check so you know.



Read the information on the ticket carefully. Many jurisdictions drastically increase the amount if the ticket goes unpaid. For example, the $50 tickets probebaly will each turn in to $150 if they are late. Note that many jurisdictions consider a tickets "unpaid" even if you contest it, and you have to pay the extra cost unless you win.



Jurisdictions also typically boot cars with unpaid tickets when they later find them illegally parked.



Good luck!