All around the civilized world you can grab a parking spot on the other side of the street without performing the time-consuming and disruptive ritual of turning your car around. But here in Quebec somewhere in the highway code - and yes I checked - it is written that parking your car counter to the direction of the traffic is a fineable offence. Why? No good reason. Let's push to change this. Somebody take this issue up!
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Why is this illegal?
All around the civilized world you can grab a parking spot on the other side of the street without performing the time-consuming and disruptive ritual of turning your car around. But here in Quebec somewhere in the highway code - and yes I checked - it is written that parking your car counter to the direction of the traffic is a fineable offence. Why? No good reason. Let's push to change this. Somebody take this issue up!
Yes, I once got a ticket for doing just this. Trying to use the last parking spot at the very end of a dead-end street. And the only way was to reverse into it. It made sense to me at the time.
ReplyDeleteAs a service tech who drives and parks all day, I have a possible good reason: To enter or leave the parking spot you are pointing and driving against the actual flow of traffic in that lane. PS, it may be fineable in other areas, your investigators may just be noticing those who do it anyway.
ReplyDeleteI agree with John. I lived for 3 years in a country where you can park anywhere you want, sidewalks included, and getting out of these spaces facing traffic is not easy or orderly.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I'm with John here too. I don't mean to not show hope for Montreal drivers but I just think it would be a bad, bad idea. Someone's liable to get confused and/or hurt - like a pedestrian or biker. Then again, I've always been very much against the right on red too and was sooooooooo thankful that they didn't let it go through on the island. With the absolute unique way pedestrians work in Montreal, right on red would be killer.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, if I were you, I would have contested the ticket. I would have told the judge that my car only runs in reverse, so in fact I wasn't parked the wrong way at all.
ReplyDeleteThis is also illegal in the UK, Australia and New Zealand...
ReplyDelete