Comments on: Smart Cars Parked Sideways on Newbury St

By: Mirak

Mirak — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:16:52 +0000

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.

By: K

Tue, 12 May 2009 19:17:17 +0000

And yet in Boston in many places you can park smack in the middle of the street.

By: Jen Deaderick

Jen Deaderick — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:41:39 +0000

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.

By: Eric in SF

Eric in SF — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:05:35 +0000

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.

By: karmen

karmen — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:15:22 +0000

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.