Why is it that making three-point turns on a busy narrow street is considered safer and better than parking, er, "left side of curb"? The statement in the linked article is bogus, as one has to cross the yellow line both to make a 3-point turn and to park on the left of the street.
[N.b. -- it took me longer to find the above link than it took for me to get the parking ticket in question. :( I gave up on finding a statute, but I guess that's county or state, not city.]
who said anything about 3-point turns? In most parts of downtown it's a matter of minutes to either drive down to another space, or either navigate a block or turn in to a driveway to turn around.
Those of us who live & walk downtown appreciate your willingness to not perform weird & unexpected maneuvers!
Posted by: Ross Grady | 07 January 2011 at 13:53
Ross -- Is the weird maneuver the three-point turn or the parking with one's left front wheel to the curb? I had actually navigated several blocks and circled a few times, and didn't find another parking space. If it's ok to make a 3-point turn to park somewhere, it ought to be ok to park "backwards," especially if the backwards parking is safer than the 3-point turn. But you're right, I'm not required to make a 3-point turn to park somewhere, except as a matter of practicality. So my comparison with a 3-point turn could be construed as invalid. But pretty much every time I've ever hit anything with my car was when backing and turning. Parking "left of curb" or whatever can obviate that.
FWIW, I didn't drive until about a decade ago; I know what it's like to have to walk, bike, or take public transit everywhere. I don't think I was harming anyone by violating this selectively enforced statute.
Posted by: Joe Eater | 07 January 2011 at 14:22
http://www.ci.durham.nc.us/departments/transportation/parking.cfm
which cites municode.com:
Article IV, Division I, Section 20-95. This section discusses general parking. “No person shall stand or park a vehicle in a roadway other than parallel with the edge of the roadway headed in the direction of traffic and with the curbside wheels of the vehicle within 12” of the edge of the roadway, and with such vehicle
entirely within the lines marking the space, except that upon those streets which have been marked or signed for angle parking vehicles…”
Posted by: Bobby Harris | 07 January 2011 at 14:39
Bobby: Thanks -- I've never used Municode before. However, the part you site says "in a roadway" which seems to exclude parking spaces: "Roadway is the portion of the street right-of-way that is improved for motor vehicle traffic or ordinarily used for motor vehicle traffic. Roadway excludes any area on which parking motor vehicles is lawful" is the closest thing I can find; it's in a section having to do with sales. Municode doesn't seem to like direct links :( , but it's in Article II, Division 1, § 54-25.
Posted by: Joe Eater | 07 January 2011 at 15:11
Here's what gets me about the US: in a federal republic with no interior border checkpoints, how can it make any sense not to have transport laws harmonized at federal level? Much less how can individual cities have their own weird-ass bylaws? How are you supposed to guess, on your week-long coast to coast road trip, that in Phoenix it's illegal to turn left unless you have a pig on the passenger seat?
Posted by: Richard | 08 January 2011 at 05:33
My understanding of the whole parking-the-wrong-way thing was that it was due to visibility. Specifically, at night, your rear lights reflect back red when someone's headlights hit them. This doesn't happen with headlights, because they have a different mirror design to focus the light ahead.
That's what we were taught in driver's ed, at least... YMMV
Posted by: Rob | 11 January 2011 at 17:55