How Far Away do I Park?

When you quote the law on locations at which it is illegal to park, you referred to the Motor Vehicle Act.  Don't forget that many municipalities have further laws restricting parking.

If the violation results in your car being towed away, it's little comfort that it was towed under the authority of a city by-law verses the Motor Vehicle Act.

For example Vancouver has a by-law, making it illegal to park on a street in front of property used for residential or commercial purposes between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM for more than three hours, except for the resident or employee of the resident.  (by complaint only)

The Street and Traffic By-Law (By-Law 2849) is quite extensive and is the "tool" mostly used by authorities to enforce parking violations inside the city of Vancouver (the fines go straight to the city :) )

Contained in that legislation in addition to parking restrictions are many laws restricting vehicle movement in Vancouver.

U-Turns are restricted with additional prohibited maneuvers to those contained in the MVA.  Between the By-Law and the MVA, the only place you can execute a U-Turn in Vancouver is at a completely uncontrolled intersection not obstructed by a hill, in a residential area, without backing or affecting other traffic.

On the other side, "double parking", covered very nicely in the MVA, as you've outlined, "parked on the road side of a parked or stopped vehicle", is not covered in Vancouver's By-Law, the only offence being "parked more than 30 cm from the curb".

Some cities need work on their by-laws.  The City of Kelowna does not have a by-law prohibiting "Jay Walking".  (Jay walking is crossing the roadway, not at an intersection within one block of a traffic control device)  It removes the loop hole of, instead of waiting at the intersection for the red traffic light to walk 10 feet from the intersection and cross there.

You can in Kelowna !

Did you know...

- It's illegal to park a bus in a bus zone.

- It's obviously illegal for someone to park in front of your driveway.  It's also illegal for you to do so.

Having driven a variety of buses and other large vehicles for years, I recommend to my students that they look for the space that's closest, legally, to the nearest driveway, fire hydrant, intersection, crosswalk, or sign that prohibits anyone else from boxing you in.

It's safer and easier. Oftentimes, it also makes reversing to get out of the box unnecessary, which is ideal. And if a neighbour still parks illegally, use your cell phone to take a picture of his vehicle and license plate in place, then phone the local bylaws people to report it. Best to do this before you're in a hurry to leave, although once you're gone and the bylaw officer shows up, the miscreant's vehicle will hopefully still be where they left it.

This time ... they won't do it again.

It has recently come to my attention that Burnaby bylaw officers are enforcing paragraph 13(3)(d) of the street and traffic bylaw (1961) which states that all street parking anywhere in the city is limited to 24 consecutive hours. This applies to you parking your car on the street directly in front of your own house! People who could be especially impactedby this are vacationers, people working at home due to covid, retirees or other seniors, people who walk instead of drive on weekends to name a few. This enforcement seems nonsensical, especially in a climate disaster and a pandemic, but to avoid potential action a street parker must move their car every day. If you think this nonsense can’t possibly be true, read the bylaw (on page 9).

Long ago I went to Argentina to ski race and train. I got a firsthand example of driving down from the mountains after sundown, and at dusk with headlights purposely turned off. Yes, it was in a full Mercedes bus too, Negro, our driver  singing all the way. When the light got significantly less the, the headlights would come back on. This seemed to be de rigueur. Not a lot cars coming up to the mountains.

One appreciates small things when touring unfamiliar places, San Carlos de Bariloche was picture perfect town on a large lake(kinda like home), and downtown the Police drove unmarked Ford Falcons(circa 1976 during the Junta), as did a lot of other citizens. And most ran straight pipes; not an ego thing, I reckon it was an economical thing.

 The Argentines were frugal in their use of parking space; none was wasted; that meant to get as close as possible to the car parked ahead or behind. Usually the space was unusually small, way too small, for North American standards.

 But being ingenious and getting things done was a speciality of Argentine drivers, I could tell. Back then, car bumpers were built of strong stuff, like steel, unlike now, so it made a perfectly good prod; just inch in and start pushing either the front car or the rear one. It worked like a charm, and to watch was a favourite pastime of ours. I realized that I was witnessing a norm, and that people would park their cars, not in gear, set the handbrake just enough to prevent a roll away; this gave everybody else a shoe horn chance of making a small space work. One simply opened the space a little more; nobody got hurt nor agitated. When a driver needed to get out of the space, so thoroughly boxed in, the same application of efficient and slow back and forth got the job done, and away they roared. Six cylinders to the wind.

What does someone do if a car is parked on the street blocking your driveway that you can't exit? When & how can I have this vehicle towed?  I've tried to talk with this person & it doesn't matter to them. They could not care less.