Different situation, I know, but: A few years ago, in a neighborhood adjacent to mine in Austin, the HOA put up signs saying that overnight curbside parking was prohibited and that cars would be towed. I griped to myself about it, thinking “Does an HOA actually have the authority to dictate activity on a public street?” Then after a couple of months, the signs abruptly disappeared.
I’m guessing the City provided the HOA with the answer to my question.
Nitpick: AGAIN, TXDOT does NOT go around approving signs. It is on the property owner to ensure any tow-away signs meet minimum state standards. TXDOT takes no responsibility for ensuring they do, and there is no requirement that the sign itself declares itself compliant with state regulation.
That said, if such minimally acceptable signs are on the property, and there’s also a “Dry Cleaners only” parking sign bolted to the ground in front of a space, you’re on shaky legal ground trying to argue the matter.
ETA: In other words, a single “towing enforced” sign can be acceptable for the entire lot and can cover restrictions added by the lot owner or shop owners who post signs with the blessing of the lot owner.
Just to bring the point home - the signs mentioned in the OP (“Parking for X only - others towed”) are probably ok. TX requirements aren’t that onerous on signage.
There doesn’t have to be any TXDOT imprimatur at all to make them legally valid, but they do have to pass muster (minimum font size and such).
That said, a lot of signs won’t be enforced and may not pass minimal legal muster. The lot owners are encouraging people not to be jerks.
Here’s the Texas Towing Law. You can read though and decide for yourself if the sign in question was valid and if it’s worth a court fight.
Although, chances are, places who make the signs in question already know what the minimum requirements are.
Relevant portion of law:
[spoiler]ec. 2308.301. General Requirements for Sign Prohibiting Unauthorized Vehicles.
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (a)(2)(B) and Section 2308.304 or 2308.305, an unauthorized vehicle may not be towed under
Section 2308.252(a)(1) or booted under Section 2308.257 unless a sign prohibiting unauthorized vehicles on a parking facility is:
(1) facing and conspicuously visible to the driver of a vehicle that enters the facility;
(2) located:
(A) on the right or left side of each driveway or curb-cut through which a vehicle can enter the facility, including an entry from an
alley abutting the facility; or
(B) at intervals along the entrance so that no entrance is farther than 25 feet from a sign if:
(i) curbs, access barriers, landscaping, or driveways do not establish definite vehicle entrances onto a parking facility from a public
roadway other than an alley; and
(ii) the width of an entrance exceeds 35 feet;
(3) permanently mounted on a pole, post, permanent wall, or permanent barrier;
(4) installed on the parking facility; and
(5) installed so that the bottom edge of the sign is no lower than five feet and no higher than eight feet above ground level.
(b) Except as provided by Section 2308.305, an unauthorized vehicle may be towed under Section 2308.252(a)(1) or booted under
Section 2308.257 only if each sign prohibiting unauthorized vehicles:
(1) is made of weather-resistant material;
(2) is at least 18 inches wide and 24 inches tall;
(3) contains the international symbol for towing vehicles;
(4) contains a statement describing who may park in the parking facility and prohibiting all others;
(5) bears the words, as applicable:
(A) “Unauthorized Vehicles Will Be Towed or Booted at Owner’s or Operator’s Expense”;
(B) “Unauthorized Vehicles Will Be Towed at Owner’s or Operator’s Expense”; or
(C) “Unauthorized Vehicles Will Be Booted at Owner’s or Operator’s Expense”;
(6) contains a statement of the days and hours of towing and booting enforcement; and
(7) contains a number, including the area code, of a telephone that is answered 24 hours a day to enable an owner or operator of a
vehicle to locate a towed vehicle or to arrange for removal of a boot from a vehicle.[/spoiler]
The dry cleaner has an obligation to make sure his sign complies with TXDOT regs. His not meeting those regulations does not give you any additional rights, however, and it most certainly does not give you the right to park on private property.
Sure, you can say “It was not a DOT approved sign, and I understood it to be mischief by someone”, but the Judge is still not likely to find in your favor if you say you saw the sign but decided to ignore it (regardless of the reason you give for ignoring the sign). Your argument seems to be “I saw the sign, but I didn’t think it applied to me (because of some technicality)”. If you are before a Judge, then you were obviously wrong (that is, the sign did apply to you or you wouldn’t be there) and being wrong doesn’t often work well as an excuse.
^^^^
This.
Even if the sign isn’t 100% legal, if people obey it, it serves its purpose. If you piss-off the shop owner enough, he just may have you towed for spite. Yes, you might “win” in that you can get the towing charges and impound fees dropped, but is it worth that hassle? If the guy doesn’t want you to park there unless you are doing business with him, why do it unless you just want to be a jerk?
The real question is not is the sign is legal, but does the shop owner have the right to restrict parking in front of his shop? If that answer is yes, and you know what he wants, then you are wrong.
And what is the solution? You are still on the hook for the towing/impound fees. Hell, even when shown to knowingly violating the law and committing GTA by towing your car when LEGALLY parked, the towing company gets a free pass so I guess you’d have to sue the shop owner for the towing/impound fees and convince a Judge in a civil suit that “I saw the sign but for <insert technical legal reason> the shop owner is civilly liable for the towing costs.”
Previous threads that may be of interest:
Chances are that DOT doesn’t have any jurisdiction in the parking lot, so, there is no requirement for the dry cleaner to use a DOT approved sign.
A sign is just a sign. It is not enforceable. The sign is there for everybody’s convenience: 1. To the landowner, so he doesn’t have to chase you down and tell you to get out of the parking space, and 2. To you, so you don’t get towed off.
The sign does not create liability, neither does a bad sign diminish liability.
If you tell the judge that the sign was non-compliant with anything, he’ll probably just ask you if you had parked there, and why you thought you could do it since a sign told you otherwise, and then assess you your parking penalty.
In Massachusetts, a car was towed from private property on the property owner’s direction. The car owner refused to pay the towing charge, was sued by the tow company, and won - ultimately the party who ordered the tow was responsible for all charges including storage, which incidentally was for well over a year as the case went through the system.
This story was publicized at the time as a victory for the little guy, but I don’t recall that it led to a sudden wave of drivers showing up at tow lots and saying “I don’t have to pay! I know my rights!” (Not me anyway.)
This was also a long time ago, the early 80s I think.
Reported.
In MA the current law is you can not have a car towed without 24 hour notice. A posted sign counts as notice retroactively provided you can prove the sign was in place for more than 24 hours. So if someone parks in xx space and it’s posted they could be towed within minutes of parking there.
If there is no sign and it’s private property the owner can’t have the car towed till 24 hours after they’ve provided notice. Ie telling you to move your car or putting a note on it saying move or be towed. If you block a driveway or do something that might require a vehicle be moved in less than 24 hours there are exceptions that allow towing.
If you are towed without appropriate notice or signage the person requesting the tow is on the hook for all expenses.
In Ohio a no-parking sign on private property has to be “prominent.” I was involved in a case once where the court found that the sign was not prominent; the fact that the driver had parked there after hours, had otherwise done nothing wrong, and was not hurting the property owner’s business was also a factor.
Things are very different from state to state. Rather than guesses and over reaching generalizations I’ll give specific examples of what is legal in NJ. This is for the OP and other issues that have been mentioned.
All traffic laws are enforceable on public property. On private property there are several motor vehicle statutes that still are enforceable to include careless and reckless driving, DWI, Leaving the Scene of an accident and a few others.
Publicly accessible private property such parking lots are considered quasi-public property. The statutes for what is and isn’t enforceable on quasi-public land is the same as for private property.
Handicap parking is the only parking offense that is enforceable on private property. In order for it to be enforced it must be marked with the proper two signs approved by the NJDOT.
If a property owner puts up stop signs on his property they are not enforceable. However, if you blow through one and cause an accident you may be cited for careless driving which is enforceable.
If the property owner wishes to have their parking lot patrolled and traffic laws enforced he can petition the local government to make Title 39 (state traffic code) enforceable there. Local code enforcement officials would have to determine that the signage and such all comply with NJDOT rules. Then it would have to be passed as a township ordinance. After that all traffic statutes are enforceable.
Some offenses like no parking, in particular fire zones, may be covered under local ordinances. The local police can cite you but only under the local ordinance not the state statute. Those properties covered under the local ordinance must be specifically named.
Property owners can have cars towed off their property. Mostly I have seen that from apartment managers getting rid of abandoned cars. I have never seen anyone towed for disobeying the “Parking for Bob’s Bagels only” signs. The closest I’ve seen to that was a local volunteer fire department towing party goers who rented their space when they were parked in the area needed for the fire trucks and volunteers responding to emergencies.
In Stockton, there must be a posted sign that cites the relevant municipal code in the proper place or the police will not tow. The sign must meet regulations as to size, color, and letter size.
Most of the signs I’ve seen are No Parking Here signs, to keep the front of the building clear for fire trucks. I haven’t seen a Must Be Customer sign with a code, but that might mean that the signs work well enough without a need to call for tows.
As to the Handicapped signs, in order to get the plans for your parking lot approved, the plans had better include DOT approved handicapped signs and striping. So far as I know “DOT approved” applies to the sign design and materials, not to who made it. If you can make a baked enamel aluminum sign with the right reflectivity, good on you. But they’re cheaper to buy.
Well, of course.
Just imagine the traffic jam if every customer tried to park their car facing toward Meccqa!
I don’t know about Texas, but several patrons of the bar next door to my building have found to their dismay that that does not apply in the state of Indiana.
Obligatory Arno cartoon: http://www.latinodawah.org/newsletter/images/whereismecca.jpg
So I’m wondering if the signs are likely to be enforced after the businesses close for the day. I occasionally go to a restaurant in a plaza where all the parking spaces in the front row are restricted to the businesses in front of them. The restaurant stays open longer than the adjacent businesses so I don’t see what harm it could do parking next door when I go there in the evening.
