The recent blizzards in the central plains and the northeast have caused the cities to institute parking bans. Since I’m from Southern California where the snow we get falls in the form of rain, I have little understanding of such things. However I can assume that the reason is so the snow plows can get through and clear the snow from the streets. It makes perfect sense.When there is six feet of snow drifted up on the streets, how would a plow know if there is a car there or not?
My question, and perhaps some of my avid readers can answer this, is Where the heck do people put their cars when a snow day ban is on?
I guess it goes further than that. If there are places to put your cars when it snows, what about the rest of the year? People complain about on street parking availability, but during snow bans, they find somewhere to park, don’t they?
OK, OK, I know that winter can be hell, I mean we are going through a major storm here in LA right now, may get up to an inch of rain and it will close many intersections, but I digress…I just seems to me that there can’t be much of a parking problem if people can find places to put their cars off street during a snow storm.
Just asking…
JVH
2 Responses
Some cities allow free parking in municipal lots during a snow emergency, or have deals with private garages that offer discounts.
I never understood the point of snow emergency parking bans if there’s less than about 2 feet of snow. With that depth, there’s never a question of whether plows and emergency vehicles will get through, and the end result is a plow berm a few feet from the curb, which means people park further into the street. If cars had been parked during the storm instead, there’d be car-shaped holes next to the curb, so people would park exactly as close to the curb as they always do.
I disagree with anonymous. We had a couple of inches, then a couple of more inches, and then for good measure, a few more inches. Those ‘car shaped holes’ are quickly collapsed when the car is removed.
Remember, to get out of a spot you have to move forward or back. Cars do not move straight to the left. If cars are not moved, the plow has to plow around them. That means the ‘berm’ is one to two feet out from the car, making the driving lane more treacherous.
To answer the question ‘where do the cars go’? They do find off street parking. They store the good car for the winter and drive the beater around in the snow and salt. They leave the car on road and let the city tow it awayand never pick it up (never registered it, and it was the $200 corner car lot special).
It proves that there is parking, but people use the free parking that the city provides, because it is free, and they don’t want to walk a block for the off street parking.