Parking Q

exactly13

With parking at such a premium, the DOT has made it far worse and painted thick white lines behind the crosswalks on the ends of blocks to mark the STOP line for traffic @ red lights. These are not parking markers and yet they are being treated as such, effectively eliminating spaces all over. WTF? I just need a spot, man.

ringrunner

I think what you are talking about is there to help turning drivers and pedestrians see each other.

brooklynjack

The law is that you can't stick out past the lot line

vidro3

they are stop lines, they indicate where you are supposed to stop when at a light or a stop sign.
they have no significance for parking whatsoever.
unfortunately, lots of people are confused by this. maybe write a note and put it on a few windshields to spread the word?

ringrunner

Subject: Re: Parking Q

exactly13 wrote: With parking at such a premium, the DOT has made it far worse and painted thick white lines behind the crosswalks on the ends of blocks to mark the STOP line for traffic @ red lights. These are not parking markers and yet they are being treated as such, effectively eliminating spaces all over. WTF? I just need a spot, man.

Could you post the intersection? I would like to see what you are taking about.

Thanks

opossumqueen

I didn't think this was new, that cars must be a certain number of feet away from crosswalks (don't know the # since I don't own a car anymore). They need more of those thick lines--I get tired of jackasses that pull right into the crosswalk at stop lights (not so much at stop signs with poor visibility).

I've seen cars getting towed for parking too close to the crosswalk near 6th Ave and 14th St or there abouts. Within 20 minutes of the city towing such a car, there is always another parked there.

toadette

That line is considered part of the crosswalk, and you're not allowed to park in crosswalks ($115 fine if ticketed).

vidro3

Toadette wrote: That line is considered part of the crosswalk, and you're not allowed to park in crosswalks ($115 fine if ticketed).

no, it isn't.

toadette

Maybe I'm wrong, I'm no DOT official. But crosswalk is defined in the NYC traffic rules as "That part of a roadway defined by two parallel lines or highlighted by a pattern of lines (perpendicular, parallel or diagonal used either separately or in combination) that is intended to guide pedestrians into proper crossing paths."

So it seems perfectly feasible that the first line could be, from the perspective of a ticketing agent, one of the pattern of parallel lines included in the definition of crosswalk. I always think of the line as showing you where to stop just like you seem to, but it seems a good argument could be made that that is technically included as part of the crosswalk. Especially since the traffic rules make no reference to that "stop line" elsewhere, and all the explanations of how to stop at intersections just say to stop outside the crosswalk. Sure, it could just be a "helper" line, but how many other lines on the street are painted as just a helpful tip and not law?

exactly13

They are NOT part of the crosswalk!
-The newer white lines are only at the end of the block where the traffic is pointing and not at the other end of a one way block
-these stop lines are not painted all the way to the sidewalk, they generally stop a couple of feet away
-why would the DOT extend the crosswalk toward the stopping traffic if the crosswalk is a safety zone?
-there are no further perpendicular lines painted as in a standard crosswalk

Essentially it is this:

---------------------------------------------
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII <Crosswalk
---------------------------------------------

___________________________ <White painted line


^^^^ - Direction of traffic

ringrunner

This might explain what that line is about

It is called daylighting. If cars park right up to the edge of the crosswalk, pedestrians have to step into the (potential) oncoming traffic to see if there is any oncoming traffic.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/01/12/streetfilms-introducing-the-pedestrian-peek-a-boo/

Is there a bike lane on that street? It could be a bike box:

http://www.portlandonline.com/TRANSPORTATION/index.cfm?c=46717

http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/how-to-use-a-bike-box/