A bit more on the parking

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but just for clarity, I wanted to start a new post.

I wasn't aware of the Magoun Sq fire the other night. That would explain the renewed emphasis on these parking regs. Let me be clear in saying what a horrible thing to happen and my hearts go out to the folks who lost their homes and belongings in the fire and to the firemen who had to deal with this situation.

Having said that......

The city does a piss-poor job of letting people know about these parking regulations. Their approach is to punish, rather than to inform, and I'm sorry, but that's just fucking wrong and it sucks and they forget the meaning of the term "public servants". This is precisely why people hate government and the cops. There are 2 possible paths they could have taken, and they took the one designed to aggravate and enrage the most, one more of greed than of public safety.

Why not just have officers place warnings on cars? And why bother painting the yellow zones only 5' from curbs? What, is somebody'd brother-in-law have the contract. Or did they run out of paint? Or was it some sort of intentional entrapment, designed to lure unsuspecting motorist into thinking that if they park beyond the painted zone, they're legally parked?


And while I'm on a right-proper rant, I can tell you that as someone who drives a 35' truck cross-country, this regulation makes no sense and I will explain why.

Large vehicles- fire engines, for instance- have their turn pivot points at the rear tires. This means that in order to turn a corner, your rear wheels have to clear the curb. Now, the longer the vehicle, the more you have to put the nose of that vehicle into an intersection before you can fully turn the corner. The nose of the vehicle then describes an arc.

Think of it like this. Take a drafting compass and spread it wide apart. The point is the rear wheels. Sweep it and look what happens. You take out anything in front of you.

Now ok, this makes sense in not having parking within 20' of an intersection. You have a little more wiggle room to set up your turn. But the problem is this.....

When a street terminates at another street and you have to take a corner, what is important is that you have clearance at the nose of the vehicle so it can describe the arc. Yet there are no regulations about that and here in my neighborhood, the Spring Hill bus is always having a hard time turning from Avon onto School St for precisely this reason- there's usually a car parked on School. And god help if a fire engine, for whatever reason, finds itself there.


So that's my bitch. The law itself makes no sense, and the way the city has chosen to enforce it makes them out to be a bunch of money-hungry douchebags more concerned about filling the city's coffers, rather than public safety.

Comments

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I really think that fire engines should have the right to bash into any car that is in the way and that a person who parks too close to a fire hydrant or an intersection or in a fire lane should know that risk.

[jadelennox]

I was surprised by the fire news because I thought they *did* have that right, and I thought they could just shove the other cars out of the way.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I'm just imagining the nightmare of dealing with the insurance company after this would happen. Those lousy pack of weasels once tried to fob off 25% responsibility of an accident on me because some asshat blew through a stopsign at 35mph and hit the front end of my car. Told me "you should have taken evasive action", to which my response was that I did and if I hadn't, they'd be processing a death claim on my behalf by my relatives instead of haggling over $1000 to fix the fender and bumper on my car.

Gah!

[geoffroi.livejournal.com]

This picture is priceless:

http://www.nearlygood.com/pictures/img/idiotscar.jpg

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

All well and good, but what about poor visibility caused by cars parked too close to an intersection? It makes passing through an intersection difficult at best and dangerous at worst, and it's something I see pretty regularly around Somerville and Medford.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Excellent point and a damn good one. This is something I see all over the Boston area, especially in Allston. It's nerve-wracking to have to slowly stick your nose into an intersection so you can see and hope you don't get creamed by a taxi. So this is a reason to keep the 20', at least on those streets where it's an issue. I think on the side streets it's not so much of an issue.

But I still stand by my original point that if the reason for these regs is so that large firetrucks can swing these corners, they really need to take other currently-legal spots out of commission.

[flashman78.livejournal.com]

Gah! The answer is simple: Smaller firetrucks! Then there is more parking for everyone!

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

If anything, it's more of a problem on side streets, especially when you're trying to make a turn out of a side street. The side streets off Beacon Street and Somerville Ave. can be difficult, and I've seen people park IN intersections on Boston Ave. in Medford, to name just a few examples. If they're going to start enforcing this particular parking regulation, it should be enforced on all streets, because I really can't think of an instance where it would be safe to park within five feet of an intersection.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a bad intersection, and most of that neighborhood is bad. I take Willow a lot and get very frustrated with the poor visibility at the stop signs and lights. Not to mention the people who don't know proper stop-sign etiquette--you take turns!