Last Updated on October 21, 2021 by Lawrence Berezin
A yellow painted curb means nothing at all in NYC parking ticket land
Football is back, and yellow penalty flags will be flying. A soccer referee raises a yellow card to cite a player for bad behavior. A yellow traffic light means caution. But in the wacky world of NYC parking tickets, a yellow curb means absolutely, positively nothing, nada, zip, zilch, zero.
Your failure to memorize this mantra will cost you the price of an NYC parking ticket.
Where does the driving public look for meaningful yellow painted curbs?
I receive emails, calls, and comments from our beautiful friends complaining there was no yellow curb to designate 15 feet from a fire hydrant (There will never, ever be 15 feet of yellow curb to indicate 15 feet from the pump).
How about a bus stop zone? A bus stop zone starts from the bus stop sign and extends in the arrow(s) direction until the next parking sign or the end of the block. (There will never, ever be a yellow painted curb to designate the length of a bus stop zone).
All other parking signs. There will never, ever be a yellow curb to tell you the length or direction of a no standing, no parking, or no anything zone.
Commentary
NYC Councipeople has presented bills that would paint the curb to show the length of the bus stop. However, that bill never made it out of committee.
What do you think about yellow curbs? Would the help it gives drivers match the expense for the Evil Empire to purchase and paint all the bus stops in NYC?
Then why bother using the taxpayers’ money to put yellow makings in at all if not for the purpose of deceiving the public.
Lena,
Good morning.
I hear you and I’m wit chu.
Let’s debunk a myth about yellow markings on the curb. They mean nothing, nada, zero when it comes to parking rules. If you find yellow paint on a curb, it wasn’t put there by the Evil Empire or DOT for parking purposes.
Best
Larry
What do yellow diagonal lines mean? There is signs that state “No parking Student Drop off and Pick Up Only 7am – 3:30pm but the police Department keeps telling us yellow barred lines is what they call them, means absolutely no parking ever. Very confusing
Hi, Stephanie,
Good morning.
Those school days drop off and pick up are still fresh in my mind. Scary!
I reaction is that the diagonal lines designate the area restricted to drop off and pick up.
But, I’m happy to take a look at some photos. If you’d like, you can email ’em to
[email protected]
Regards,
Larry
The paint is often applied by home or building owners who are trying (illegally) to discourage people from parking in front of their places.