Thursday, 19 June 2008

It Is Illegal to Park Next to Double White Lines.

YES IT IS. Click here if you don't believe me.


From the Highway code.
Section 240
You MUST NOT stop or park on
a road marked with double white lines,
except to pick up or set down passengers

That's what the red writing in the photo says, no it isn't written in the road but maybe it should be.

This photo was taken yesterday while I was waiting time on the Newton Road up near Scott's Bridge. Cars and vans have been parking in this section of road for some time now and I have never seen anything done to stop them parking here illegally. The problem I have with parking here is something from the world of chemistry called seeding. Once one crystal forms in a solution the rest follow very quickly. It is the same with parking. Once one car parks in a clear section of road, even illegally like this other cars drivers come along and think, "Oh look, he's parked there. It must be OK to park." The problem with double white lines and parking is it is something that does not require a No Parking notice like yellow lines do. The white lines are NO PARKING 24/7, the yellow lines work at different times and even on different days (a bit like bus drivers). Also double white lines might have been mentioned by your driving instructor in an of hand sort of way and didn't really seem important at the time. And Parking Attendants can not issue tickets for parking here, it is up to the police and most police officers don't know how to issue a parking ticket.
Given that this road is close to Torbay Hospital, which like all hospitals suffers from a lack of parking space it is only a matter of time before cars are parked all the way up to the bend. That's the bend with all the green stuff, I think it is called vegetation and is difficult to see even parked cars through. So one day a bus or other big vehicle is going to come round the bend and BANG!
The third car in the photo has a For Sale sign in the window so it has probably been here for a while.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I highly doubt they are hospital parkers. The hospital doors are a fair 10 minute walk from there.

They don't seem to be causing a problem at the moment, also one could argue they are parked opposite broken lines.

Fortunately, they would have to be parked right ON the bend to cause a visibility issue, and not even the most desperate of parkers could manage.

That said, they could have done with looking for more appropriate areas to park.

Anonymous said...

I drove home early on Wed, past the local church with it's light controlled pedestain crossing.
There were (school) buses on a) the double yellow lines; b) the zig-zags (just after the crossing),
opposite each other so that the traffic was obstructed - and it was darned difficult to see the youngsters running across the road to get to "their" bus, ignoring the crossing.
Just normal school pick-ups....
Not a go at Dave but an indication how no-one takes this seriously.

Colinm

Anonymous said...

Does double white lines mean two solid white lines? In the photo there is one solid and one dotted;does this make a difference?

Ernest Maples

Lord Hutton said...

Marples, surely?

Anonymous said...

I have allways understood that to mean 2 solid lines or a single solid line as traffic should not cross a solid white line to pass another car, but you can cross a dotted line if safe to do so. so the other side of the road woud be an offense that side would be ok if no other rules apply.
Mike

Anonymous said...

You are allowed to go over a solid line to pass an obstruction or to overtake something at less than 10mph

Anonymous said...

That's to overtake something MOVING at less than 10mph...

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