There’s a little strip-mall kinda thing near my apartment, which is along a pretty busy, major thoroughfare. Next to the place where you turn out onto the road, the curb is painted red (i.e. no parking). Sometimes large vehicles park there anyway temporarily.
Today I was trying to pull out of this place and there was this huge freaking coffee truck parked right there, and I couldn’t see the oncoming traffic at all. It was just an accident waiting to happen. I yelled at the driver who was sitting in the truck with its hazard lights flashing (oh, I guess it’s OK to park illegally as long as you put your hazards on) to move out of the way but he refused.
I was feeling especially pissy today so I parked, got out of my car, and took some photos of the illegally parked truck, the license plate, and the driver. I yelled at him some more through his slightly cracked window but there was so much ambient noise I couldn’t hear anything he said, and I think he didn’t speak English anyway. I hung around for a minute looking for the number for parking enforcement at which point he finally left.
So are these photos good for anything if I submit them to the police / parking enforcement? I strongly suspect that they’re pretty much worthless since they’re coming from a regular old citizen but it bugs me that people can create such a blatant hazard like that on a daily basis and they’re not getting pegged for it.
I dunno if the police would do anything or not, but since you have pictures, why not send them to the company that owns the truck with a letter explaining the problem?
If you notify local law enforcement (on the non-emergency number) of the consistent problem and the hazard it creates, they should start having officers on patrol check the area out. Hopefully they will catch some violaters and the problem should begin subsiding.
Citizens alerting the police to these types of problems should be wanted and encouraged by the local law enforcement. Don’t forget they work for the taxpayers.
Now with regard to them taking specific action against the driver of the vehicle you photographed, I don’t know, but you might mention it to them when you talk to them.
I’m pessimistic about them caring about it unless it’s actually hurting their business (which is why I would want them to be issued a citation ideally), but I’ll likely try that avenue of recourse as well. I’m just curious if this sort of thing is ever done.
There may be some risk of liability for the company–assuming the truck is illegally parked and creating a traffic hazard, they might get sued if someone was injured in a wreck and the company vehicle was a factor in causing the wreck.
My wife is a volunteer with our city’s Citizen Patrol. There are some pretty strict requirements around here about documenting parking violations and the city attorney isn’t even sure that trained police volunteers should be allowed to do more than call the station to get a proper officer to handle it. But the city right next door has their Citizen Patrol issuing parking tickets. (I’m not sure how they’d handle a civilian with a photograph, but it just goes to demonstrate that the police response can vary greatly by jurisdiction).
You’d be surprised how companies react sometimes. If their drivers are annoying people on the road, most companies take that very seriously. The last thing they want is to have thousands of dollars in advertising negated by one idiot with a truck.
I’ve always been under the impression that if the vehicle’s transmission is in park, it’s parked. Regardless of whether he’s with the truck or not, his truck was creating a major safety hazard by being stopped there. I don’t see how it matters.
Anyway I fired off an e-mail to the company and on inspection of the photos I realized that the truck had one of those “how am I driving?” numbers on the back so I went ahead and called and filed a complaint. I feel better enough now that I probably won’t bother with law enforcement.
Trucks can get damaged in accidents, too. Presumably the company would have to pay for that damage, either directly or through higher insurance premiums.
Second this – its a very dumb thing to piss people off while representing a company with a big ol’ van. If the guy was a dick, the best thing to do is just have a word with the company. Or, ehh, just let it go. I know people in delivery trucks break various and sundry parking laws, but its really a bitch to do this kinda thing without stepping on anyones toes – uhh, but you said the guy was rude. Thats never called for.
Heh, man, funny thread to devote so much thought to, but after rereading the OP, I’m starting to find this a little silly. Am I wrong, or is the situation that – this ONE time – you encountered a guy in a truck, illegally parked, and you got in a fairly pointless argument (I can’t help but notice that you mentioned that the first interaction was you yelling at him to move)…and maybe it escalated a little, and then you took photos of the guy…and now, you’re asking, essentially: “How can I harm this person?”? No offense, but let it go. What do you want, here? The guy to get fired? Go to jail? Nothing’s going to happen, and the cops have better things to do than…help you get revenge over an argument. If I’m wrong, mea culpa, but thats how it appears.
Well it’s not pointless because I could have easily gotten into a nasty accident due to his gigantic fucking truck obscuring the entire view of the (busy) street I was turning on to. I’ve fully acknowledged from the beginning I don’t really expect a lot to happen - and it’s more for everyone else’s sake than my own. If he happens to park illegally one less time after this (whether because of his company scolding him, or him getting a ticket, or whatever) and someone avoids an accident because of it, then it was worth it to complain.
My ex drove a delivery truck for a beer distributor. At a lot of places, especially in the city, there just isn’t anywhere for a truck to park. They have to just pull over, partially blocking traffic, and hope they don’t get a ticket before they get the truck unloaded.
That’s no consolation to people like you who can’t see to pull out or are otherwise hindered, but it’s a problem with no good solution.
IDK. At the end of my block there is an auto mechanic. For some reason they like to park the SUVs and other big vehicles along the (legal but annoying) cross street rather than in their parking spaces. Equally annoying are residential houses that plant huge bushes at street corners.
Clearly this isn’t illegal. OTOH my only option is to crawl forward enough to see left, which makes me one of those douches who is halfway into the lane.