Last Updated on January 7, 2018 by Lawrence Berezin

How much is enough knowledge about NYC parking tickets?

How does a driver avoid getting NYC parking tickets?

I wish I knew. But I can tell you this, there is a veritable plethora of parking rules, laws, and procedures to follow to dodge the old parking ticket bullet. So, here’s some stuff you may want to know before you drive in NYC.

I didn’t know that about NYC parking tickets

• All of New York City is a tow away zone, no notice required
• If your car is issued a parking ticket, and you have $101 in outstanding parking ticket judgments, your car can be towed
• You can only drop off or pick up people, but not their personal property in a bus stop zone (A client once dropped off a passenger with her briefcase in a bus stop zone and got a parking ticket)
• Whenever any words or phrases are used in the NYC DOT Traffic Rules but are defined in Article one of the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law (“VTL”), the definitions contained in the VTL apply
• If you register your van as a passenger vehicle and park it in a residential neighborhood after 9 pm, you’ll probably get 2 parking tickets: (1) improper registration (2) parking a commercial vehicle in a residential neighborhood between 9 pm- 5 am
• Your commercial vehicle is required to have the name and address of the registered owner of the vehicle in lettering 3 inches high, permanently affixed on both sides of the vehicle (approximately midway). The name on the registration should match the name on the sides of the commercial vehicle
• despite the length of an NYC block, only one parking sign is required on the entire block.
• The following holidays are MAJOR LEGAL HOLIDAYS in NYC parking ticket land:
  • New Year’s Day
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Christmas Day
• if New Year’s Day, Independence Day or Christmas Day is officially observed on a day other than January 1, July 4 or December 25, respectively, then major legal holiday rules shall be in effect both on the official day of observance and on the traditional day of observance
• The rule covering the immobilization of vehicles is contained in 34 RCNY 4-08 (a)(9), which is found on page 30
• The 5-minute grace period applies to:
  • The beginning of alternate side parking rules
  • The beginning of the time a parking rule changes
  • The time the parking ticket was issued and the start time on your muni-meter receipt. The start time must be within 5 minutes of the issuance time
  • The end of the expiration time of your muni-meter receipt
• Parking ticket penalties are added to your base fine on days number 31, 61, and 81
• Judgment is entered any time on or after 100 days from the issuance of your parking ticket
• In the Garment District, no vehicles except trucks and vans bearing commercial plates are permitted to stand at the curb for the purpose of expeditiously loading and unloading between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily, including Sundays, from 35th Street to 41st Street, between Avenue of the Americas and 8th Avenue, all-inclusive, in the Borough of Manhattan. For the purpose of this paragraph (4), passenger vehicles, or station wagons bearing commercial plates shall not be deemed trucks or vans. [34 RCNY 4-08(l)(4)]
• It is the custom in the Evil Empire to limit commercial vehicles to 30 minutes to expeditiously load and unload their vehicles in parking zones restricted to commercial vehicles unloading and unloading, NOT 3 hours. But, if you can a parking ticket for taking longer than 30 minutes, fight it! I would explain why that particular delivery required more than 30 minutes.
• In NYC parking rule parlance, “Daily” means Monday through Saturday, not Monday through Friday
  

Commentary

Whew…I’m ready to stop. How about you?