May 11, 2009
Smart Cars Parked Sideways on Newbury St
I love this picture of ticketed Smart Cars parked on Newbury St perpendicular to the street instead of parallel. Since I first saw Smart Cars in Berlin, I had been wondering how parking authorities would address the innovative parking possibilities offered by tiny cars. So far, Boston isn’t reacting too well.
I guess it comes down to the question of whether, when parking at a meter, you are paying for a right to park, or for the use of the space. If it’s for the use of space, then you should be able to fit as many cars as you can into the space. If it’s for the right to park on the street, well, then you’re just going to keep getting tickets if you try to double up.
Via URwingman.
This is funny because I saw these on the other side of Newbury St a couple of weeks ago, parked just like that and all with tickets.
The Smart Car people didn’t do their homework. Most jurisdictions in the USA require your front and back tires to be a certain distance from the curb to be considered legally parked. That means you can’t park with just your back wheels or just your front wheels at the curb.
At this point I think the smart car market share is too low for anyone to even think about changing the laws. A lot of work for little demand. It’s a lot of work because you have to rewrite the parking laws in such a way that you don’t create loopholes or paradoxes for traditional cars.
From my friend Frank:
Frank Van Overbeeke at 8:30pm May 11
They were not ticketed for ‘how’ they parked. There are no more conventional meters on Newbury St., nor are there conventional ’spaces’; you buy a sticker ticket at a machine and stick it to your window, which the smart-car guy failed to do. I only know this because in the background of this photo is my restaurant and I enjoyed their shenanigans all weekend.
And yet in Boston in many places you can park smack in the middle of the street.
This is nice to see. This should be allowed if they don’t take up more than a car length of space and each pay for their own parking with the new meter system.