I think that I agree more with your alternate solution. The penalty being more a flexible thing. For instance, for your one way street example, I would say, technically yes, you broke the law regardless... however, in that case (probably there would have been a cop there to book you), you could argue a waiver of the penalty or the infraction itself due to extreme circumstance...
Ahahaha!!!! Is that still on the books... as I've mentioned in other comments, it is so strange that these laws aren't just removed... surely there would be little to no opposition to having sex on Sunday mornings?