3 Parking Ticket Laws and Rules Everybody Ought to know about

Last Updated on March 15, 2015 by Lawrence Berezin

Parking ticket laws and rules can be your friend or foe

The extraordinary number of parking ticket laws and rules that regulate curb space can make even the most experienced New Yorker’s queasy about parking their chariots. When you return to your car or truck, do you breathe a sigh of relief when there isn’t an orange parking ticket under your wiper? I do.

Parking ticket laws and rules can alert you to a winning defense. Or, they can ambush you when you don’t know about a specific law or rule. What you don’t know about the laws and rules will bite you in your pocketbook.

Without further adieu, let’s fill up our think tanks with some parking ticket knowledge.

1.  How many parking signs can fit on the head of a pin?

I’m always asked whether there can be just one parking sign on an entire NYC block? Our readers are shocked when they learn that one parking sign located at the opposite end of a block may regulate their parking space. “What am I supposed to do, walk the entire block to search for a parking sign?” Yup! (Sadly)

Here’s where the evil rule lives and states:

Traffic Rules, 4-08(a)(1)

(i) Sign placement. For purposes of this §4-08, one authorized regulatory sign anywhere on a block, which is the area of sidewalk between one intersection and the next, shall be sufficient notice of the restriction(s) in effect on that block

2.  Was your chariot ever relocated due to temporary construction?

Now I know why NYC is the city that never sleeps. It’s because they’re up all night relocating our cars and trucks.

“Relocation” pertains to moving a vehicle that was parked legally but later the legal parking space became embedded in a temporary construction zone.

How are we supposed to locate our “relocated” car?

There is a law pending before the NYC Council that requires notice of this involuntary relocation to be placed on the 311 website.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the department of transportation to notify 311 and place information on its website regarding the location of motor vehicles towed due to a temporary parking restriction change.  

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

      Section 1.  Section 19-175.1 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision e to read as follows:

      e. The commissioner shall make available on a website and by calling 311, information regarding the location of motor vehicles towed due to a temporary parking restriction change.  Such website shall be searchable by license plate number.

      §2.  Subdivision b of section 19-175.2 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:

      b. Before the department makes temporary parking restriction changes to conduct road repairs, it shall post notice of the effective date of such restrictions as soon as practicable. Such notice shall state that no notice of violations shall be issued for violations of such temporary parking restrictions and that if an owner’s  motor  vehicle  is  missing from the affected streets, the motor vehicle may have been towed and the motor  vehicle  owner  should  contact  the  local  police  precinct for information about the location of such motor vehicle.  The notice shall also state that the motor vehicle owner may contact 311 or visit the department’s website for information about the location of such motor vehicle.  

      §3.      This local law shall take effect ninety days after its enactment into law.

[Larry’s note – the underlined words are the language included in the new, amended, rule]

Here’s a link to the NYC Administrative Code, Section 19 et al.

3.  I was sitting behind the wheel of my car in a no standing zone and still got a parking ticket

A common malady suffered by many members of the NYC driving public.

It matters not that you’re sitting behind the wheel, with your motor running, your lights flashing, soon to be heading down the highway, it’s not a defense to a no stopping, no standing, or no parking ticket. This is worth repeating. “Sitting behind the wheel” is not a defense to a no stopping, no standing, or no parking ticket, unless;

• You stopped temporarily to drop off or pick up a passenger, and left a no standing or no parking zone immediately
• You were sitting behind the wheel of a passenger vehicle, with the keys, ready to move upon request, between sunrise and sunset, within 15 feet from a fire hydrant

Here’s where this devil of a rule lives:

Traffic Rules 4-08(a)

(2) Stopping prohibited. When stopping is prohibited by signs or rules, no person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle, whether attended or unattended.

(3) Standing prohibited. When standing is prohibited by signs or rules, no person shall stop a vehicle, attended or unattended, except temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in expeditiously receiving or discharging passengers.

(4) Parking prohibited. When parking is prohibited by signs or rules, no person shall stop a vehicle, attended or unattended, except temporarily for the purpose of and while expeditiously receiving or discharging passengers or loading or unloading property to or from the curb.

Commentary

Miles to go before we sleep…Safe and secure in the knowledge that our car is parked in a legal parking space and won’t be towed.