Where to park a car on a road with a cycle path.....

[tony111]

A few of the main roads where I live have cycle lanes on the roads, marked with a solid white line. I have to come out of the cycle lane to get past parked cars, which isn't a problem, and I would probably park my car in the same position. I just wonder if these cars are parked correctly or should they park outside the cycle lane which would leave them a metre from the kerb and a danger to other traffic.

 

[fossyant]

Not sure of the legalities, but in my experience, it's a free for all. I personally would find somewhere else to park, but 99% of humans are lazy.

 

[potsy]

I always thought if it was a solid white line then it was illegal to park there, but a broken line then it's fine?

 

[glenn forger]

Continuous white line is mandatory, they should not be there.

 

[400bhp]

Continuous white line is mandatory, they should not be there.

In the spirit of the Highway Code, "Must not"?

 

[summerdays]

Normally the solid white line is often backed up with double yellows to help all the motorists who don't know their Highway Code.

Do you mean there are actually parking bays the other side of the cycle lane...? We have some of those, you just have to be careful as you pass the parked cars as the lane is too close to the car doors but they don't seem to be in places where the cars shift very often when I'm around.

First two examples I can think of locally

 

[tony111]

There are no double yellows or parking bays, just the solid white line. there is another narrow road nearby marked the same way, and if you parked up outside the cycle lane, you'd be over the centre line.

 

[vickster]

Ask the local council?

 

[summerdays]

From the Internet (Cambridge cycle campaign )

Mandatory cycle lanes

So what's a mandatory cycle lane, then? Now the first thing to stress is that the term 'mandatory' refers to motorists, not to cyclists. It means that it is mandatory that motorists keep out of a mandatory cycle lane. It does not mean that it is mandatory that cyclists keep in the lane.

Motorists must not drive in a mandatory cycle lane, nor may they park in it - whether there are double yellow lines or not (though stopping for short periods to load and unload is sometimes permitted).

 

[captain nemo1701]

The first photo is an advisory lane, which have different rules to mandatory ones. In the second shot, the vehicles don't seem to be blocking the cycle lane but appear to be parked on the pavement?. I'm no legal expert, but I understand the law forbids driving onto a pavement, especially in London.

I believe an attempt was made in parliament to debate the 'paveparking' issue and bring England into line with London, but failed. On our local telly here in the SW, they wheeled out Mr Bob Bull, self-styled spokesperson for the Alliance of British Drivers (silly site, moans about bus lanes etc) to comment on the issue.

I'm afraid bad parking gets me riled. If I were to park a company vehicle badly, we'd get a call from someone moaning about it. Around where I live, there seem to be lots of graduates from the Dump-It-Anywhere School of Parking

 

[Andy Roadie]

Double yellows apply to the whole of the Highway including the footway and verge. The vehicles in the second photo may be on private land.

 

[Drago]

A I would probably park my car in the same position.

I'd no more park my car in a cycle lane than I would lay my bicycle down to park it in the middle of the carriageway. It is the act of a git.

The only place it is not possible to cause an obstruction on a road is in a marked parking bay - irrespective of whether parking is specifically banned at that spot they are committing an 'unnecessary obstruction' offence if they are preventing your lawful progress along the cycle lane. However, before we get too excited, in most part of the country parking enforcement has been decriminalised and the powers devolved to the local authorities, so the odds of getting anything done about it in 2015 are slim to nil. We can thank Tony B.Liar for that one.