Smarts Breaking The Law??

[widdle car]

Check out today's SF Chronicle/Bay Area Section front page. They say Smarts are breaking the law at the curb. Anyone get a ticket yet?

[SmartPassion]

How about a link to the article please.

[jwight]

That would have been nice.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../BA2CVNEHD.DTL

[spdickey]

Originally Posted by widdle car

Check out today's SF Chronicle/Bay Area Section front page. They say Smarts are breaking the law at the curb. Anyone get a ticket yet?

It doesn't appear that the smarts are breaking the law. Its the driver's who park them illegally. More driver's education is needed to prevent unnecessary tickets.

[SmartAzz]

I'm glad to see that at change is at least being thought about. As for doing it and breaking the law, as I've said before I think it is all about the circumstances of where you park - just like any other car parked in a non legal fashion (blocking the sidewalk, etc) where and how it is done can determine the likelihood of getting unwanted attention.

[DavidV]

Originally Posted by spdickey

It doesn't appear that the smarts are breaking the law. Its the driver's who park them illegally. More driver's education is needed to prevent unnecessary tickets.

Driver's education? Seriously?

The law itself needs to be looked at and modified - we are already fighting one such ticket in San Jose.

The car is designed to be parked in this way and any law that doesn't allow it needs to be reconsidered. Urban areas suffer from congestion and lack of available parking. Our cars are part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Why take up more space than you need parking parallel when you can maximize available space by parking the way the car was designed to be parked - perpendicular. In addition, urban planners and legislatures should be encouraging the use of small, efficient and ultra low emissions cars like ours. Sure, my wife and I could just as easily drive our 10 MPG Land Rover into SF, but why not encourage us to take the Smart instead by providing the incentive of perpendicular parking?

Think about it - everyone wins. We get to park in those space between driveways that would otherwise be unusable by other cars, SF benefits because we left a parking space open to residents, and everyone benefits because we drove the smallest, most efficient car possible into the city.

** DavidV

[Old smart]

Originally Posted by DavidV

... The car is designed to be parked in this way ...

OK, sez who?

[DavidV]

Originally Posted by Old smart

OK, sez who?

Smart Car of America:

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/sma...f_america.html

"Smart Car makes parallel parking obsolete - no more craning your neck to wedge your way into a parking spot that’s just too tight to fit your car.Now, you can simply perpendicular park and walk away."

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_fortwo

"As free parking spots are hard to find in many European cities, official parking is expensive, and illegally parked cars are fined, immobilized or towed, the original idea behind the very short "smart car" is that the vehicle may be parked back-in in parallel parking zones. Its length of 250 cm (98.4 in) equals the width of a truck or a regular parking slot, allowing two or three Smarts to park in the same space as one normal car if parked side-on to the usual parking direction."

Edmunds:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=124870

"Thanks to the Smart, finding a place to park went from being a necessary evil to a unique challenge. We parked the Fortwo perpendicular to the curb in areas where curb-parallel parking was the norm without impeding traffic. Enforcement agents drove by and smiled."

** DavidV

[Big Panda]

i completely agree with changing a law like that. only makes sense, especially in an area where parking is at a premium.

HOWEVER just because you disagree with this law, or any law, does not give you the right to disobey it.

just keep putting pressure on your local leaders until it is changed.......

[DavidV]

Originally Posted by Jeepster55

i completely agree with changing a law like that. only makes sense, especially in an area where parking is at a premium.

HOWEVER just because you disagree with this law, or any law, does not give you the right to disobey it.

just keep putting pressure on your local leaders until it is changed.......

Thanks - I'm an attorney and PR professional and feel like I have a pretty good handle on this.

** DavidV