Parking on the wrong side of the street

Just a pet peeve - I've seen it more and more lately.  I was happy to see someone get a ticket for it today - I hope the police enforces this a bit more.

Here's the state statute:

The operator of a vehicle shall not stop, stand or park the vehicle in a roadway other than parallel with the edge of the roadway headed in the direction of traffic, on the right-hand side of the road and with the curb side of the vehicle within six inches of the edge of the roadway, except as follows:

a. Upon those streets which have been designated by ordinance and have been marked or signed for angle parking, vehicles shall be parked at the angle to the curb designated and indicated by the ordinance and marks or signs.

b. Upon one-way streets, local authorities may permit parking of vehicles parallel with the left-hand edge of the roadway headed in the direction of traffic, on the left-hand side of the road and with the curb side of the vehicle within six inches of the edge of the roadway.


How have you seen cars violating the statute?  Parking on the wrong side meaning against traffic?


Another pet peeve is blocking driveways. Just saw a truck this morning parked the wrong way and blocking a driveway  across the street from my house.My neighbors couldn't get out of their drive.


yahooyahoo said:

How have you seen cars violating the statute?  Parking on the wrong side meaning against traffic?

yes. Unless it’s a one way street whereby you can park on either side of the street in the direction of the one way traffic. I noticed it happening more and more up here, but in south jersey it’s like normal behavior. Glad they’re finally ticketing them. 
Next are the red light runners!!!


Parking on the wrong side is weird.  One friend of ours often pulls up in front of our house and parks in the wrong direction.  What bothers me is the immense number of people who don't use their signal lights even when you're close behind.  


yahooyahoo said:

How have you seen cars violating the statute? 

With my eyes.  I've seen it 3 times this past week alone.  I think some people don't know the law - and they'll probably keep doing it until they get a ticket.

yahooyahoo said:

 Parking on the wrong side meaning against traffic?

They park on the left side of a 2 way street.  It makes you think you're on a one way street.


Jaytee said:

yahooyahoo said:

How have you seen cars violating the statute?  Parking on the wrong side meaning against traffic?

yes. Unless it’s a one way street whereby you can park on either side of the street in the direction of the one way traffic. I noticed it happening more and more up here, but in south jersey it’s like normal behavior. Glad they’re finally ticketing them. 
Next are the red light runners!!!

I once got a flat tire leaving my house and had to pull over on the wrong side of the street a couple of houses down to fix it--there is only parking on one side. Within ten minutes a police officer stopped to give me the business for parking on the wrong side. He left when he found out why I was parked like that. 


KarenMarlowe said:

I once got a flat tire leaving my house and had to pull over on the wrong side of the street a couple of houses down to fix it--there is only parking on one side. Within ten minutes a police officer stopped to give me the business for parking on the wrong side. He left when he found out why I was parked like that. 

you’re in south orange right? 
south orange cops are the job like white on rice. I was on academy st yesterday and a Uber eats delivery driver did park on the wrong side, with seconds the cop was on him. I see them sometimes parked by the flashing lights at 3 rd street also because people just blow right through. 


Jaytee said:

you’re in south orange right? 
south orange cops are the job like white on rice. I was on academy st yesterday and a Uber eats delivery driver did park on the wrong side, with seconds the cop was on him. I see them sometimes parked by the flashing lights at 3 rd street also because people just blow right through. 

The landscapers who park facing the wrong direction never seem to have a problem in front of my house.


My biggest peeve are drivers who park on the sidewalk when there is insufficient room in the driveway.  This is a chronic problem on Summit Avenue.  Parking in a crosswalk is another problem especially when the curb cut is completely blocked.  


Jaytee said:

KarenMarlowe said:

I once got a flat tire leaving my house and had to pull over on the wrong side of the street a couple of houses down to fix it--there is only parking on one side. Within ten minutes a police officer stopped to give me the business for parking on the wrong side. He left when he found out why I was parked like that. 

you’re in south orange right? 
south orange cops are the job like white on rice. I was on academy st yesterday and a Uber eats delivery driver did park on the wrong side, with seconds the cop was on him. I see them sometimes parked by the flashing lights at 3 rd street also because people just blow right through. 

I was in South Orange, on Academy. Relocated about 1/4 mile away in West Orange...


jamie said:

yahooyahoo said:

How have you seen cars violating the statute? 

With my eyes.  I've seen it 3 times this past week alone.  I think some people don't know the law - and they'll probably keep doing it until they get a ticket.

yahooyahoo said:

 Parking on the wrong side meaning against traffic?

They park on the left side of a 2 way street.  It makes you think you're on a one way street.

I meant what were the drivers doing to violate the statute, not how did you witness the event.

Anyway, I agree its weird and can create some confusion for other drivers.


yahooyahoo said:

I meant what were the drivers doing to violate the statute, not how did you witness the event.

Anyway, I agree its weird and can create some confusion for other drivers.

parking on the wrong side of traffic flow (wrong side of the street) is a violation of the statute. 


My son was just stressing out having to take his written driving test last week. I said that everyone takes the test, and apparently passes but you'd never know it by watching people drive and park. 


jamie said:

Just a pet peeve - I've seen it more and more lately.  I was happy to see someone get a ticket for it today - I hope the police enforces this a bit more.

Here's the state statute:

The operator of a vehicle shall not stop, stand or park the vehicle in a roadway other than parallel with the edge of the roadway headed in the direction of traffic, on the right-hand side of the road and with the curb side of the vehicle within six inches of the edge of the roadway, except as follows:

a. Upon those streets which have been designated by ordinance and have been marked or signed for angle parking, vehicles shall be parked at the angle to the curb designated and indicated by the ordinance and marks or signs.

b. Upon one-way streets, local authorities may permit parking of vehicles parallel with the left-hand edge of the roadway headed in the direction of traffic, on the left-hand side of the road and with the curb side of the vehicle within six inches of the edge of the roadway.

maybe they're from Pittsburgh 


Parking the wrong way is evidence of driving on the wrong side of the street.


People need to stop parking in front of Trattoria on Inwood. It's a no parking zone, and the street is too narrow for parked cars on both sides.  Did people think the removal of the outdoor tables means it's now a free-for all with parking? It's time for tickets IMHO.


I don't know if it's that I'm almost 50 and don't have the same patience I used to, but it seems like just in general a lot of people just don't give a bleep if they're doing something illegal. It's virtually impossible for me to go to Able Baker or the post office and not see somebody make an illegal left into a parking spot. I sometimes wonder if people should have to take driving tests every 10 to 15 years to see if they remember the rules. A British friend of mine said the one thing he doubts breaks on any cars in the U.S. are the left and right turn signals. 


ml1 said:

People need to stop parking in front of Trattoria on Inwood. It's a no parking zone, and the street is too narrow for parked cars on both sides.  Did people think the removal of the outdoor tables means it's now a free-for all with parking? It's time for tickets IMHO.

There is little to no enforcement in Maplewood village. I don't know why we bother paying for the parking enforcement vehicles I see once in a while sitting in the Profeta Building parking lot (a private lot).  There is also a cop I've seen several times double-parked on Maplewood Ave. He likes to chat with the guys that run the Village Wine Shop.  In the meantime, around the corner Trattoria customers are illegally parking and idling.


Everybody is commenting about the non-union labor at the library and ignoring the 15 to 20 cars idling every morning between 6:30 and 7. And some of them appear to be illegally parked.


jfinnegan said:

I don't know if it's that I'm almost 50 and don't have the same patience I used to, but it seems like just in general a lot of people just don't give a bleep if they're doing something illegal. It's virtually impossible for me to go to Able Baker or the post office and not see somebody make an illegal left into a parking spot. I sometimes wonder if people should have to take driving tests every 10 to 15 years to see if they remember the rules. A British friend of mine said the one thing he doubts breaks on any cars in the U.S. are the left and right turn signals. 

I don't like to be that guy who says things were better in the good old days. And generally they weren't. But we've been here 27 years, and the disregard for traffic and parking regulations is definitely worse over the past 6-7 years.  People driving the wrong way in and out of parking lots, parking in the crosswalks, turning left into parking spaces. I don't think I ever walk in the village without seeing at least one or two really obvious violations. I understand that maybe the shop owners wouldn't like a blitz of tickets handed out in the village.  It might be bad for business if there's a reputation for ticketing a lot. But it's also not great for business if people find driving in the village to be a hassle. 

Last week I watched a person turn left into a space near Freeman's. And of course needed to make a few maneuvers to get into the marked space. But when the person tried to leave, they had to wait a couple of minutes because they were blocked by a car turning left into a space, and making a few maneuvers to straighten out. 

Karma grin


I have been here 12 years now. This isn't necessarily an illegal thing to do, but I remember when I would need to make a left hand turn the oncoming traffic would slow down and let me turn. Now they tend to block the intersection so you can't even make the turn. A woman did that to me last week and was either intentionally ignoring me or very focused on staring at her phone while she was waiting for the light to change and causing the traffic behind me to get backed up. 

The driving the wrong way out of the parking lots is really bad. And if you try pointing out that they're going the wrong way they act like you're the one doing something wrong. 


jfinnegan said:

The driving the wrong way out of the parking lots is really bad. And if you try pointing out that they're going the wrong way they act like you're the one doing something wrong. 

Speaking of acting like you're the one doing something wrong... I was walking to my car in the Ashley parking deck carrying my shopping bags. As I'm passing directly behind an SUV, that vehicle quickly turns on, the reverse lights go on, and the guy starts backing up (all in the 2 seconds I'm walking behind the vehicle). I jump out of the way with a yelp (I was far enough behind it, and was almost passed it, so I wasn't hit). He pulls out the rest of the way and instead of apologizing for not seeing me, he asks "Weren't my reverse lights on?"  downer


joan_crystal said:

My biggest peeve are drivers who park on the sidewalk when there is insufficient room in the driveway.  This is a chronic problem on Summit Avenue.  Parking in a crosswalk is another problem especially when the curb cut is completely blocked.  

That is my biggest pet peeve too.  It's done all the time on my street.  People have to walk in the street to go around the car.  Ridiculous and WRONG !!


I believe it is illegal to block a sidewalk. It happens in my area and is about three or four car owners living in a space with fewer cars than parking spots. I thought about calling in but the result would be someone  getting repetitive summons or trying to find places to park their car, away from their home.

The problem is, there are not enough spaces available if these people had to find an overnight parking space.


there are a lot of nuisance behaviors that are ridiculously common....walking your dog on other people's lawns, driving with high beams on (not just these modern too bright light), driving without  lights on......tonight I was trying to make a left onto a major road.  the oncoming traffic backed up across the intersection and 2 cars blocked my turn.  1st car pulled up, i started to pull forward to make the turn and entitled person insisted on pulling up and blocking the turn as did the one behind them. taking up 2 parking spaces on a street (without marked spaces, but in a parking in the middle of a space meant for 2 cars)...not signalling when making a left and causing the people behind you to  be stuck....and it always seems that the offender is enabled and encouraged to keep it up.



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