Most large parking centers in shopping centers where I live have stop signs at the intersections. Walmarts all have them, big strip shopping centers have them, malls have them, etc.
I have noticed that the stop signs are smaller than the “regulation” size you see on the city streets. Sometimes they are not even mounted on an octagonal sign, I’ve seen some that are on a square with the octagonal stop symbol in the middle.
Hypothetically, if you ran one of these stop signs, and a police officer saw it, would a ticket be legally enforceable? (if you took photographs of the sign to an expert and unbiased judge, as if those existed in traffic court)
Are these signs even approved by the city, or can a parking lot owner place them wherever they want on a whim?
We have done this quite a few times in slightly different ways. Bottom line: it depends on your state. Most if not all have restrictions on what can and can’t be enforced on private and quasi-public property.
I’ll give one answer which is only true specifically for New Jersey.
[ul]
[li]parking lots are private property even though they are accessible to the public[/li][li]only certain motor vehicle statutes are enforcible on private property[/li][li]failure to observe a stop sign is not one of the enforcible statutes[/li][li]careless and reckless driving are enforcible so you can be cited for those statutes depending on the circumstances[/li][li]the property owner can petition the town to have the motor vehicle statutes enforced[/li][li]if there is an ordinance allowing for enforcement all signs must be DOT compliant[/li][li]it is possible that a township ordinance is on the books covering it without evoking the state statutes. if so there may be fines but no points or bad marks on your driving record[/li][/ul]
THANKS. Basically, it’s entirely possible that those signs are not enforceable directly, though you are correct, a cop can write a ticket for a lot more things if they want to.
I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t completely off base thinking that stop signs that are small and in hard to spot places in random parking lots weren’t “stop 100% or risk a ticket”. Sounds like I can probably California roll those things if I want to.
Coincidentally, I do believe California is one of the states where you need to obey the stop signs even if it’s a private property as long as it’s meant to be open to the public, i.e. shopping centers and the like.
Not a lot more things. In NJ there are only a handful. Off the top of my head: careless driving, reckless driving, DWI, failure to report an accident, leaving the scene of an accident and handicap parking. And I think a couple others I can’t remember right now. On private property the choices are limited.
In NJ anyway.