Parking

"Are there specific rules of the road for parking lots?" asks a reader. "If so please clarify them." Parking lots often seem to be a free for all to me. This observation might be confirmed by the fact that ICBC reports that in 2018 there were about 96,000 crashes in parking lots that resulted in a claim being filed. 4,300 of those claims included someone being injured, 480 of those people were pedestrians.

I received a request from a gentleman who wanted others to know how far away drivers have to park from different roadside features. He has a problem with people parking across the end of his driveway rather than keeping their distance and is hoping that a reminder to other drivers might solve it. Is your measuring tape ready?

Imagine the surprise of the motorist at a collision I once investigated. He parked at the side of the road, opened his door, and a passing car tried to tear it off! It's a good thing he didn't step out while he opened the door.

What went wrong here? The motorist didn't look first, or didn't see what was overtaking him. He probably felt safe in the fact that he had stopped close to the curb and was out of harm's way.

I pick up my grand daughters one afternoon a week at their rural elementary school. The kindergarten classes march out in line and wait patiently while their teacher identifies each child's caregiver and dismisses them individually. They now join the free for all to walk to the vehicles parked in the area and go home.

In the MVA under section 189 it states that: (1) Except when necessary to avoid conflict with traffic or to comply with the law or the directions of a peace officer or traffic control device, a person must not stop, stand or park a vehicle as follows: (k) alongside or opposite a street excavation or obstruction when stopping, standing or parking obstructs traffic;

Is it legal to pull into a head-in angled parking spot on the opposite side of the street (crossing a solid yellow line)?

Q: I will be visiting your beautiful country in Sep 2018 and intend to do a lot of driving. We have an Australian disability parking permit for my son with autism. I wonder if I can bring it and use it in Canada?

I've started to take my own advice and back into parking stalls more often. There have been some unique experiences, mostly pedestrians that blithely march past the back of my vehicle ignoring the signal and backup lights, but there are drivers who want to go first and think second. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to include myself in that category this time around.

I was just wondering about parking rules, as my family and any visitors to my home have been hassled by city parking enforcement about parking too close to an intersection. A family member and a caretaker of my grandmother would have been ticketed so far if they had not run out to speak to the officers.

According to Reinventing Parking, our cars sit idle for 95% of their lives. This means that we need a proper place to store them when they are not being used. The nature of the demand for parking spaces has created a collection of rules and defines the urgency for their enforcement.