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

[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!