Parking in the Center Turn Lane

Q: I often see trucks parked in the center turn lane and unloading cargo. I also see truck trailers parked in the center turn lane in rural areas after unloading heavy equipment. What are the rules? Can just anyone park in a center turn lane and conduct business or unload items?

A: A thought popped into my head when I read the last part of your question. Imagine if this went beyond deliveries, and guerrilla food trucks started conducting business in center turn lanes, with pedestrians darting across the road for their burger or burrito. Or maybe the cook tosses your food to you from across the lane, like the Pike Place Market fishmongers.

But that’s not what you’re asking about. And the law is clear: “every vehicle stopped or parked upon a two-way roadway shall be so stopped or parked with the right-hand wheels parallel to and within twelve inches of the right-hand curb or as close as practicable to the right edge of the right-hand shoulder.” If you’re parked more than a foot away from the curb, you’ve violated the law.

The trickier question is, “What should we do about it?” It’s not just the big semis. I live on a street that has angle parking down both sides. Any delivery vehicle bigger than the mail carrier truck stops in the road to deliver packages. It’s a violation of traffic law, but there isn’t a good alternative either.

I’ve never been a commercial driver, but I once drove from San Diego almost to Canada in the biggest U-Haul available while towing a car, and I gained a new level of respect for commercial drivers. When it came time for gas or food, I discovered that many of the options for car drivers don’t exist when you’re as big as, well, a truck. You have to think beyond where you’re going to park, to include how you’re going to get out of where you parked.

Do you know what some truck drivers call the center turn lane? The bonus lane. I learned that on a truck driving forum where a new driver asked about parking in the center turn lane. The collective opinion of the over fifty drivers who responded could be summarized as, “Yep, it’s illegal, but where else are you going to park?”

I also sought out an opinion from law enforcement. The officer wasn’t speaking officially on behalf of his agency, so I’ll leave him unnamed, but he kind of said, “Yep, it’s illegal, but where else are they going to park?” He pointed out that sometimes that center lane is the safest option, even if it isn’t the legal one. If you were hoping to see some enforcement action, I think you’re going to be disappointed.

I’m not suggesting that every truck that parks in the center turn lane had no other choice, but why would a driver park in the middle of the road if they had a better option? It’s not legal, but it’s tolerated because it’s necessary. That sort of answers whether anyone can park in a center turn lane. If I parked my car in the center turn lane and ran into the grocery store, I predict that I’d face some legal consequences. But why would I when there’s a parking lot I can easily access?

Commercial drivers at times must choose the best of several not-so-great options, and as long as our transportation infrastructure remains as it is, I don’t see that changing. If we want our stuff delivered, sometimes it’ll involve a truck in the middle of the road.

3 Replies to “Parking in the Center Turn Lane”

  1. It’s actually safer because it prevents people from driving 1/4 mile at 40 mph down the center lane when traffic is backed up. I’m much more bothered by that center lane activity than a truck using it to unload.

    But wasn’t that recent DUI fatality involving the fork lift on Aurora Avenue a center lane delivery situation? It does show it’s not necessarily safe.

    1. I didn’t see anything in the articles I read about the landscaping truck being parked in the center turn lane; maybe it was and I just missed that coverage. Either way, I’m not trying to imply that parking in the center lane is completely safe; just that sometimes it can be safer than a worse alternative. However, from what I’ve read about the crash, the cause was the impaired forklift driver.

  2. My name is Richard Santiago and I’m from California and I recently got into an accident into a semi container that was park on the center lane on a Main Street but all they left was just the container without the semi vehicle attached to it. The container was left unsupervised and didn’t had no caution cones from 10ft to 200ft. Thankfully I’m alive but that day I was going to work following my father I was sober and driving 35-40miles per hour safe speeds. That day it was a lonely Main Street. I was going west bound where the sun was blinding me on my left lane and I was going to switch to my right lane cause there was shade so I can be able to see visible but there was a vehicle on my blind spot and the vehicle was merging into my lane about to hit my vehicle which made me serve a little bit to the left while honking my horn and BOOM I hit the container which I blacked out and woke up seconds later. Then I got out the vehicle with a laceration wound and cars came slowing down to check up on me and then I saw people from the container company came out after the crash happend which look like the person in charge of everything approach me ask me what happend which I told him what happened, I called my father right away then the main person in charge seem like he made a mistake which he tried to get his workers to move the container with forklifts and trying to pursue my father to take me to the hospital but my father insisted to get the police and ambulance involve. My father ask the main guy you didn’t see what happend? The main guy said “noo all I heard was a boom and I came out running to see what happend “ So police officers arrived and question me in a rude manner and lost my wallet on purpose and on top of that he didn’t get the insurance on the container nor the person information. The officer stated on my report that there was a “witness stating I was driving at unsafe speeds which was totally bullshit because there was no one there on the mainstreet before I crashed And I was never speeding or else I wouldn’t had been here typing all this down, and based off the pictures of my vehicle. I feel like the officer fucked me over with the” fake witnesses” to try to cover up there mistake of leaving a container unsupervised and to put me at blame just cause I’m age 22 and I look young. Now I’m trying to pursue help from lawyers but I can’t get no help based off what the officer falsely stated on my report. I need help on trying to fight for my case and to find out any regulations and codes based off on how they park there container in a center yellow lane illegally which should had never been there in the first place to avoid an accident like this .

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