I have a smart car and parked like that a few times years ago after seeing a picture like this and got a ticket eventually
I just looked up my state laws, and yeah, it specifically states parallel.
It should be. That’s exactly why those cars exist. I just got back from NYC, and I always admire the people that drive them there. You can always find a parking place. You often find them at the end of street, just barely squeezed in before the crosswalk. No other car can do that.
Way better than a SUV truck using one and a half parking spaces at least.
In Rome, If you own a smart, you are obligated by law to park like that 🤣
Idk if people are aware, but this is the original concept for the car. It was designed to be short enough to fit into parking spots sideways deliberately.
I was about to say, I’m pretty sure I remember TV adverts demonstrating exactly this.
And in most areas of NA, it’s illegal to park like that.
Same in the country where it was engineered and built
That seems like an oversight.
Good thing nobody lives in Not Available.
What about the guy with the NULL registration plate?
He lives just down the street at 404
Is that next to
The grassy null?
That doesn’t exist
He gets all the parking tickets for NA citizens parking like that
I think they were referring to Not Acceptable.
Clearly they meant Non-Alcoholic
No it’s Narcotics Anonymous
no, it’s naturally aspirated
Yes, since youre NOT obstructing and are within the defined space for parking.
Depends on the situation/country. There are signs that dictate how you must park. Under those signs it would be illegal

I’m sorry, I thought this was America!
Thinking of the van and ute that have been both been parked outside my apartment with 3/4 of a car length between them for over a month now. I miss my old Yaris.
I have one of these cars (in the US no less) and i absolutely do that sometimes. No tickets yet
I got one eventually in a small city for doing the same. I didn’t bother fighting it because court would’ve taken all day and it was $20, which I assume is what they bank on, but I did want to go to court to have them clarify just what exact law did I break
I would bet that a lot of trucks are larger than the Smart is long.
Oh yeah definitely, fun fact you can easily get two smarts comfortably into a standard US parking spot I have a friend that also has a smart and when we go somewhere together we will use a single parking spot because it’s funny
not in stock form. close, but not quite
of course, their inability to parallel park close to the curb means that they would in fact stick out just as much to the street
The American mind cannot comprehend this.
Picture taken in America… The American mind cannot comprehend this…
considering american mind not comprehending this posted the original picture…
They comprehend it. They just ask if it’s legal. Because it’s not always legal.
I know in my city it’s not legal. Someone did this and a police officer walked up to them and told them to park it sideways. I was really pissed at the cop. They weren’t blocking the street.
Just because a cop tells you not to do it doesn’t mean it’s illegal. They’re known for throwing their weight around over very little.
In many places the passenger side of the vehicle is legally required to be at curbside.
Most definitely, my point was only that you shouldn’t assume something is illegal because a cop told you not to do it.
True, but depending on the city there’s basically no real way to dispute a parking ticket. Most of the time a judge will just automatically side with the city
Oh I don’t doubt that for a second.
Where I’m from the legal infraction is that the right side wheels are more than half a meter from the curb (I learned this from the ticket I got for parking on the wrong side of the street)
We have something similar, it’s not half a metre though, more like twenty centimetres. The reason being that it must allow for the cleaning of the gutter. It’s not really enforced though.
I don’t see why. I would park my motorcycles in the same way on busy streets.
Not in my area. You have to park in the same direction as the flow of traffic or get a ticket.
The wording for my town’s law is that the right wheels(passenger side) need to be within 12” of the curb to be legal. So if you parallel park facing the wrong way on the road your right wheels are significantly more than that from the curb. That wording would be why parking like OP is illegal. The right front wheel is more than 12” from the curb.
OP could park nose first into the curb. Checkmate.
right wheels need to be within 12" of the curb
park nose first
rear passenger wheel still more than 12" from curb -> ticket.
Oh I misread it as front right/passenger wheel, my bad. Yeah that doesn’t leave much alternative.
Which is kinda stupid since that car’s front wheels are probably closer to the curb than many trucks’ driver side wheels are even when parked properly…
I agree that it probably should be legal-ish. I think maximum curb gaps are a great idea, and minimum curb gaps are probably a good idea in areas where curb cleaning might frequently overlap with parking. But smarts and cycles should almost always be allowed to double-up within the same F-150-sized space.
What about motorbikes?
At least in my area where the rules are the sane, motorbikes just exist outside the law. You park them wherever, but nobody gets in trouble when someone on a motorbike dies.
Isn’t that always the case when someone is killed by a car? Unless they were also in a car then they are clearly at fault.
Fair trade.
As long as it’s not blocking the travel lane or the sidewalk, pretty sure it passes the smell test.
There are laws that specify wheel within a specific distance from the curb when parking on the side of a road like this. Some are vague and just ‘wheels’, but some do specify front wheels or back wheels and this could technically be in violation.
Pretty sure in my state your supposed to be about 6 inches away from the curb.
Dont get me wrong its never enforced cause then all the oversized small peeney trucks would be in the lane of traffic…
But yea wonder how ppa would handle it
6 inches away from the curb? Fuck that. Tyres going in the gutter.
Yall got gutters?
Agreed. I know it’s not the “right” way to park but I’d rather risk the ticket than replace my driver’s side mirror.
They can exit either left or right easily but I wonder what the visibility of oncoming traffic would be given the drivers position seems a little more set back from the lane of traffic versus a traditional park where the driver is directly adjacent the moving traffic lane with mirrors also giving them a clear view.
No worse than parking on the opposite side of the road though
True, and both potentially illegal depending on where in the world you live.
Huh. Certainly not where I am (though it’s advised against).
More set back, behind cars a meter taller than they need to be. They can’t see shit
I mean, it probably could’ve fit in that space normally, too. Tiny cars, ftw!

















