HONOLULU -- As our cars get bigger and parking spaces smaller -- parking safely and legally -- is harder than ever. Perhaps the answer -- is already in your pocket. Some people have begun using their cell phone cameras to deal with parking conflicts.

Almost all cell phones now have built in cameras. That gives individuals the ability to immediately record the evidence they might need to defend themselves in court.

It’s also being used to help protect cars in congested parking lots and even to publicly shame inconsiderate parkers.

Porsche owner Hudson Hott documents cars that encroach on her parking spaces with her Blackberry, in case she gets a ticket. “I would have parked right if the person behind me would have stayed inside their line,” she argues.

She also takes pictures of other cars and their license plates in parking lots when they are close enough that an opening door might damage her car.

Hott is a morning host on Star 101.9 Radio in Honolulu, where she encourages using cell phone photos to shame piggy parkers on Facebook. “And people were like, yeah, OK. And we started posting pictures and taking em.”

But Hott wonders if the photos will make a real difference if people challenge their parking tickets in court. Hawaii drivers can send a written statement with pictures to answer any citation. The evidence is reviewed by a judge in District Court. Court managers said they have no way of tracking whether more drivers are sending in photos to challenge their tickets, or whether having photographic evidence increases a driver’s chances of beating the ticket.

At traffic court, KITV was shown photos sent to judges in 13 randomly chosen cases.

Quality and neatness widely varied in the submissions. There were glossy photos with computer graphics and some pleas hand-written on the photo prints. Some offered Google satellite and street views.

The photos did seem to help in most of the parking ticket challenges. Five out of 7 were dismissed after judges reviewed the photos and letters. But for moving violations, the pictures didn't help. The photos alone were not enough to overturn a single one.