Stopping or standing in a fire lane?

[Question]

Is it legal? Does city ordinance or state law govern this (where you're from)?

[tpd_six]

Depends on where you are, and what type of fire lane. Here, if it's on a street or near a hydrant, it's state law. Most cities or municipalities also have their own ordinances. On private property, usually it would be a local ordinance and depend on what type of agreement exists between the business and local government.

[michiganstud]

Stopping or standing in a firelane is prohibited by law in most cities all over the US.

Otherwise why have a firelane?

[scott715us]

Stopping or standing in a firelane is prohibited by law in most cities all over the US.

Otherwise why have a firelane?

Ditto

[Question]

Otherwise why have a firelane?

One could argue that if the car is occupied you could move it quickly in the event of an emergency. Of course, what's most likely going to happen is the driver is going to panic and cause delays for the FD.

I called the FD here and the operator said that stopping or standing was in fact illegal. So I'll act in accordance with this information.

[Gooch]

One could argue that if the car is occupied you could move it quickly in the event of an emergency. Of course, what's most likely going to happen is the driver is going to panic and cause delays for the FD.

Occupied car is considered standing. One could argue all one wants to but the argument does not justify one's misunderstanding of the law. What if one has every intention of moving it quickly but one's transmission decides to pay one back for years of negligience and just won't move? One's argument will be irrelevant.

[Question]

For those curious, I'll explain why I'm asking this question.

We operate a DD program at my school. There's a road, which is designated a fire lane, that goes behind the bar "district". Generally, we stand there and pick up rides from there as needed. But the driver always stays in the car.

So we've been doing it this way for about a year. Anywho last night, a parking attendant comes up fuming mad to one of the cars and yells at them for standing in the fire lane. He went on to say that none of the police officers like this program and so on ... (I have no idea how a parking attendant knows the feelings of the police but I'll come back to this).

Now we have kept in contact with the PD about what we do and we've received a grant from the city as well. So this morning (a bit after I made this first post), I go down to the PD to talk to the police assistant (civilian involved in information relations). I was planning to go down as it was just to update with each other, but I also had the opportunity now to discuss this.

I said earlier that I called the FD and asked them (without telling them who I was) what were the rules on parking in a fire lane. I asked the assistant the same question if it was illegal to stand there. She said that it was illegal to park there but if we our cars were occupied then it would be OK. I explained to her what had happened last night. She said that she would talk to the parking supervisor about this and she was disappointed in how the attendant approached us. She said she would ask the supervisor to see who was working last night. She said that they can make exceptions for our program.


As I was writing this post, I just got a call from the parking supervisor. I'll update later.

[Question]

So the parking supervisor calls me back. He asks me if I could get somebody who had first-hand experience of what happened to call him and that he was wanting to give us parking passes for the town garage. So I got a member who was there (not the driver, but someone who was standing outside the bars) to call the supervisor. So this person tells the supervisor the description of the attendant but that he does not want anybody to lose their jobs. The supervisor understands and explains that he was just upset (like me) that someone would badmouth our service after all we have done for the community.

So everything worked out.

[Darin]

I write parking tickets for parking in a firelane at a local grocery store ALL the time. I love it because people get bent when they get a PT. ;)

[Sleuth]

No worries if you park in front of a hydrant. We (I'm a Volle Fire Fighter) just break out the windows of your car with an axe, and run a hose through it. You stay until we are done (it could be hours). Then, the SO writes you a ticket for interfering with a FF.
And if you stall out in a fire lane, that big bumper on our fire truck can push a car with the brakes on - I never tried one locked in park.
What if you had an emergency, and we could not get to save you?

[JD45]

Otherwise why have a firelane?

One could argue that if the car is occupied you could move it quickly in the event of an emergency.

That can't argue that with me, or I'll just keep writing citations. I LOVE when people stop in a red zone or a handicap to let passengers out or run to the ATM. It isn't the fact that you can leave when you see me behind you. (Which I won't let you leave by the way, I'll just turn on my purdy lights, keep you there and write you a ticket.) It's the fact that you STOPPED there period. I don't care how fast anyone can leave. It's RED, BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW, WHITE for a REASON.

[cecilVA]

What I love is when they turn on their hazard lights like its some kind of special pass that says they are allowed to park in an otherwise illegal parking spot. Found a nice Porsche 911, unoccupied with its flashers on parked directly in front of a No Parking sign. Probably wouldn't have noticed it except for the blinking yellow lights. Some people just ask for it....

[scott715us]

What I love is when they turn on their hazard lights like its some kind of special pass that says they are allowed to park in an otherwise illegal parking spot. Found a nice Porsche 911, unoccupied with its flashers on parked directly in front of a No Parking sign. Probably wouldn't have noticed it except for the blinking yellow lights. Some people just ask for it....

You are soooo right. We get people like that at the airport all the time. The civilian traffic officers and I laught about the hazard lights. The hazard lights on basically means, "hey officer! look at me! I'm parked illegally, please write me a ticket." They will stop in the loading zone, put the hazard lights on, and run inside the airport, right below the sign that says "active loading/unloading only, all others will be ticketed and towed." Morons

I can never understand the folks who ride down the road with their hazard lights on. I always see them when I'm off duty. If I get a chance, they're gettin pulled over and inquired upon.

Kind of gettin off the subject. I commend you for being a designated driver and if your program keeps the drivers at their vehicles at all times and it is not a traffic hazard, I wouldn't see a problem. Like the other post just stated, if your car did die during a fire, believe me the fireman would find a way to get it moved, or just run the hose straight through your car.

[JD45]

What I love is when they turn on their hazard lights like its some kind of special pass that says they are allowed to park in an otherwise illegal parking spot. Found a nice Porsche 911, unoccupied with its flashers on parked directly in front of a No Parking sign. Probably wouldn't have noticed it except for the blinking yellow lights. Some people just ask for it....

YES! LOL, that's totally right on. We have this little corner store market and it's on a busy street so parking is a pain. There is this nice bus zone that people love to park in and throw their flashers on. When they come out, they find their grocery bill just went up $325...:D