You’re meant to park at least one metre away from other cars, I guess so they have a chance of getting out of their parking spot:
If parking bays are not marked, you must leave at least one metre between your vehicle and those in front and behind.
— VicRoads
But how does anybody get booked for breaking that rule? How would a parking inspector know who had done the wrong thing?
That’s my car on the left. Nobody else was there when I parked; I came back to find the other car behind me. There was plenty of space — a driveway if I recall correctly — in front. So it wasn’t a problem.
13 replies on “Parking too close”
Daniel
you obviously haven’t been to Rome!
What was behind the offending car on the right? I’ve been known to snug up close to the bumper of the car in front when I know he cannot be blocked in front (driveway, etc.) if leaving a normal amount of space would leave my back end hanging into a “No Parking” area.
They needed that exemption about parking bays being marked so that parking revenues didn’t suffer in places like Linlithgow Avenue, where spaces are so tight that you can never achieve a metre of space at any end of your car, let alone both ends.
That’s a generous amount of space compared to what I’ve seen around Carlton. Some of the residents will touch park, I’ve been completely sandwiched in at both ends once before!
Brett, from memory I think there was a driveway behind the other car, as well as in front of mine. So as I say, in this case it wasn’t a problem for either of us that the cars were parked so close together.
Roger, Not sure why it’s relevant, but yes I have been to Rome.
Rome or Paris, touchparking is the rule! That’s a generous gap by their standards!
Thanks for linking to your Rome Post in 99 Daniel… brought back memories of my 2005 trip. Can’t wait to go back :)
Yeah, I forgot you visited Rome on your Europe 99 trip. You did comment at the time that Romans are woeful at parking compared to Melburnians.
“And there are obviously no parking spaces at all left near the centre of the city, because people park all over the place… over zebra crossings, at weird angles, double parked…” (15 Sep 1999)
And they also leave no gap between parked cars!
Parkings at Broadmeadows Shopping Centre. The Shopping Centre I hate the most. Has only up to 4 hour parking spaces and they are very little room.
Here’s a parking shot my friend took when we were in Milan last October….. There wasn’t a driveway or any sort of gap on either side of these cars.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/violettesaunty/4017162372/in/set-72157622597770416/
Parking can be tight in many US cities too. I have left even less of a gap than in your photo when trying to fit into a tight space. I have never heard of any law that states a minimum parking distance until you mentioned it.
One metre minimum?
Back in pre-metric it was six foot.
Did you get booked? That’s plenty of room to get out, even with a big car.