One of the most important factors in attaining effective car park management is signage.
Car park signs allow you to warn drivers of specific rules and limitations in order to boost utilization, generate sales, and minimize issues like parking violations. When a driver joins a car park, they also sign an agreement with the car park management firm to comply with the park’s terms and conditions. Drivers must be able to quickly discover or view the terms and conditions, and they should be made aware of them right away.
Where Should I Park?
Unless you’re looking for a spot in a parking lot, directional parking signs are usually present. The parking zone is indicated by arrows on these signs. No-parking zones can also be indicated by arrows on some signs. These rules apply to the zone marked by the arrows if you see a second or third sign with a time restriction or other information.
Know the Stop-and-wait Limits
Lines drawn along the side of the road indicate where stopping and waiting limits apply. A double red line indicates that no halting is permitted for any reason at any time, except in an emergency or when delivering or picking up a disabled person. A single red line has the same meaning, but only at the times specified on the signs facing moving traffic.
Waiting is governed by a single line with double yellow lines. Even if waiting is prohibited, you may set down and pick up passengers, as well as stop to load or unload products, unless outlawed via small yellow curb markers or “blips”.
How Long Can I Park?
Some parking zones include a time limit that indicates how long you can park. You may come across phrases like “2-hour maximum” or “3-hour metered parking.” These signs are popular in congested urban areas where the local authority wishes to encourage short-term parking to facilitate access to businesses. Sometimes, if you have parked your vehicle at a specific place, i.e., someone’s private property, and have left your vehicle there for a long period of time, the person might remove your vehicle from the spot, and later the DMV can perform lien sales and your car could be sold. The same goes for mechanic shops. If your car has been in the shop for a longer period of time, taking up space, the shop owners can ask the DMV for lien sales and remove the vehicle entirely, thereby compensating for their expenses. Or this scenario, which might result in the same outcome, is if you happen to park your vehicle in a specific spot or neighborhood and law enforcement officers deem the vehicle abandoned and remove it. This can happen if the neighborhood has been known to “host” abandoned vehicles or if your vehicle, for some reason, seems suspicious to the officers.
Knowing parking signs, understanding them, and taking care that these rules are always respected can save you a lot of trouble later on. Vehicles can be sold via lien sales easily, and sometimes even unparked parking tickets can get you in trouble as well.
No Means NO
Aside from enforcing parking restrictions, no parking signs have several vital functions. They are critical for notifying cars of reserved parking, keeping fire zones free, and much more. Some of the crosswalks are erected to reduce pedestrian crossing distance and increase safety. However, the existing no-parking signs were never moved along with the crosswalk.
Safety in Parking Lots
A surprisingly high proportion of accidents occur in parking lots. According to some estimates, business parking facilities account for approximately one-fifth of all car accidents. Most parking lot accidents result in just minor damage to other vehicles or parking lot equipment, but injuries and even death sometimes occur. Parking lot owners would be wise to invest in the best parking lot equipment to reduce needless accidents. Proper signs advising parking lot users of speed limitations and urging them to be cautious when backing up or pulling around curves can assist in reducing parking facility accidents and injuries. Good signage can also serve to shield parking lot owners from legal culpability in accidents that occur in their facilities.
To Keep Your Attention
The typefaces and letter sizes used for road and parking sign design are carefully considered. It is critical that signage be legible in a range of lighting conditions. A sign that is clearly viewable during the day may be unreadable at night or in a parking garage or deck. Road signs were all capitalized in the early twentieth century. Psychologists ultimately discovered that if signs just had a few capitalized characters, the mind interpreted lengthy strings of information or titles better. Since then, fewer all-caps signs have been employed in sign writing.
Avoiding Parking Tickets
Of course, one of the most obvious reasons why you should always pay attention to signs is to avoid parking tickets. Above, we mentioned how even unpaid dues and tickets can cost you your vehicle, and therefore we’ll discuss some useful tips on how to avoid them in the future.
Don’t park on side and crosswalks, and don’t impede intersections
Vehicles, including motorcycles, are not permitted to be parked on any section of a street’s sidewalk or crosswalk. An automobile cannot be parked within 20 feet of a junction unless it is in a metered parking space.
Don’t drive a vehicle past the expiration
You are violating the law when you operate a vehicle with an expired sticker. A parked automobile with an expired plate may also be fined.
Park within the lines
Make sure that both sets of wheels are within the lines and that you are completely within the bay. If you are concerned that your vehicle is too large for the parking space, get two tickets and park across both. Also, make sure your ticket is visible and set the timer on your phone so you won’t stay longer than needed.
Of course, there are many more reasons why it’s important to follow the rules displayed at the parking lot, but as said, the most important ones are safety and reduced costs later on. Not only can you jeopardize the lives of others by not paying attention to the rules, but you’ll also get yourself in further trouble and pay extra later on.
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