Van parked on the road

The ppl directly across the road from us have a huge camper/bus thing parked on the road out the front of their house...completely on the road not on the curb at all.

Someone is staying in it as it has an extention cord running into it.

Its right across from the drive way so we have to back out carefully so we dont hit it.

It hasnt moved since thursday how long do you think it can stay there for?

:redface: DH says he is going to back into it "accidently" :doh: I know he wouldnt really but if they moved it it would save me listening to DH rant about it :rolleyes:

The ppl that live in the house have gone away so Im guessing that the person is house sitting

Maybe go over and ask them nicely if they could move it up or down the street a little so you can back out?
Do they have kids, cause it's not school holidays so hopefully they won't be away long?

I don't understand why you wouldn't just stay in the house if you were housesitting! That's what we used to do...

Hope they bugger off soon for you!!

If the owners aren't there, why can't he park in the driveway?!

Give the council a call as that is really not on. Maybe for a day or two, but really should be fully on the property if someone is staying it. I suppose though the polite thing is to talk to them first, then call the council if there looks like they wont be moving for awhile.

I know I certainly would find it a more neighbourly thing to go over and ask if they would mind moving up onto the footpath a bit as you are concerned about accidentally backing into it and you don't want to damage the bus, than if you went straight to complaining to the council. At least that will give them the chance to respond - if they say no, then you can take another path.

I once had a neighbour have an issue with my rooster - never did they tell me, until I got a note of complaint, I definitely would have appreciated a word from them in person during one of our chats over the fence.

Sometimes it's difficult to approach them though, there's an assumption that the neighbours and the person in the van are reasonable, but they may not be.

Have you seen the person who's in the van? If they seem approachable then yeh I'd ask otherwise I might just call the council.

I'm sorry but we had a similar situation at our old house where the neighbours moved someone in to a caravan out the front. They just weren't approachable, and I'd have been risking my safety approaching them directly. Lucky for us they were renting sooner called their re as they were breaking the law by doing it

No! No! No! Don't back into it! Legally you aren't allowed to reverse out of your driveway, so you (or DH) would be responsible for all damage.

I would try approaching them first, but if that's not possible (or a dead end), then call the council and voice your concern of safety. Good luck.

I thought you couldn't 'park' opposite driveways?.... could be mistaken

Sometimes you need to call the council or the road authority for your state, not to report them, but to find out what the law is regarding how they are parked. Nothing worse than being wrong when approaching a neighbour, as they may have every right to be there (doubt it, but it pays to check).

Frankly though, if there is even the slightest concern that an emergency vehicle would not be able to make it up the street due to how they are parked, then the authorities need to be notified. Lived in street with bad parking and an ill husband, it was always a stress if we had to call an ambulance at night.

It is actually illegal to park on the curb. We know because we got a ticket for it in front of our own house.

Have you seen them? If they seem friendly then tell them. Last thng ud want is bad blood between neighbours.

Good luck!

DH said if its not moved by tomorrow afternoon he will go have a nice word, he said he is going to blame my lack of reversing skills(so I have one incident :lol: ) for his concern :rolleyes:

not sure if it is the same were you are, but some streets you are not allowed to park on the curb. one area we lived in, would get a parking fine for being parked on the side of the road out the front. yet here, there is a massive truck parked on the side of the road every day and night, taking up half a lane, yet there hasnt been an issue as yet (except near misses with oncoming cars due to lack of room) could you call and see if there is a legal requierment in regards to street parking? if it is near a corner they have to be a certain distance. ETA, a parking fine or warning could get them to move it and they wouldnt know who it was if they dont seem like the nice neighbourly type.
HTH

Yeah it was annoying yesterday wasn't it!!!!! So didn't want to back out of your driveway! Lol


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No! No! No! Don't back into it! Legally you aren't allowed to reverse out of your driveway, so you (or DH) would be responsible for all damage.

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What the?? You're not legally allowed to reverse out of your driveway? So what are you supposed to do, reverse in? Wouldn't that be "just as illegal". I don't really understand this.

PO5 - Did the van move in the end?

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What the?? You're not legally allowed to reverse out of your driveway? So what are you supposed to do, reverse in? Wouldn't that be "just as illegal". I don't really understand this.

PO5 - Did the van move in the end?

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I have heard that too. But never heard of it being actually used. I think it's a law that's there but not minorited.


Love MN ;-)

The van moved yesterday and when I was at the shop I bumped into the neighbour and she apoligised, they were away so she didnt realise they parked there. They were ment to park up the side of the house. She seemed embarrassed so Im glad DH didnt say anything after all :)

My parents had a similar issue with the guy opposite parking his big truck (a commercial vehicle) outside his house making it difficult to reverse out AND he often parked outside my parents house for their shade :o

My folks, who are lovely BTW, approached him one day and asked him nicely if he would mind not parking directly outside their house as it made it difficult to see out their driveway and they had children with kids visiting often who needed to park out the front. He was a rude ***** and basically told my poor little mum to F-off :o He then threatened my dad when he approached him! They live in such a nice street that it was really worrying so we phoned the council :) We found out it was illegal for a commercial vehicle to be parked in a suburban street for any length of time and they had received complaints about him before and he'd already received a ticket from them AND they were on the way to give him another ticket. :clap:

Well he ended up apologising to my parents (but was still damn rude) and said he thought they had caused him to get the first ticket.... No, but we were to blame for the second one :rofl: He had to park his truck in his driveway and he did so from that point onwards.

We had the last laugh when A. he reversed into the garage one day and damaged the fascia of the garage (it's a rental so he had to pay for it!) and B. he moved to a place around the corner and we drove past one day and noticed his truck, which was on the lawn, had been graffitied!! :rofl: Karma

So you may have a leg to stand on and it couldn't hurt to phone the council so you know what's allowed and what isn't it before you chat with them. Hopefully you'll have a better experience than what my parents did!

As far as I know, from the Man (who used to train people to drive trucks, and so is very well versed in road law, even if he doesn't always follow it.... ), you are not allowed to reverse out of your driveway, as visibility up and down the footpath for pedestrians is much less than if you were driving out forwards, as well as the visibility of the road. So, yes, you are supposed to reverse into your driveway, and drive out on to the road forwards.

Getting further technical on reversing into a driveway, you are not supposed to reverse off your left side (ie, turning towards the passenger side of the vehicle). So this means, that you are supposed to pull up to the kerb on the wrong side of the road, and reverse into the driveway off the driver's side. I get to do this at my place, because our street is quiet, but somewhat impossible on major roads.... This rule is why you will see trucks pull out wide across a road to reverse in off the driver's side. The reversing off your left side rule isn't enforced in cars, but important in trucks where visibility is so much more limited (so next time you see a truck trying to pull out across the road to reverse into a loading bay or driveway, please stop and let them go :) ).

I wouldn't want to try the "I'm not liable because I reversed out of my driveway into your vehicle" trick though.

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As far as I know, from the Man (who used to train people to drive trucks, and so is very well versed in road law, even if he doesn't always follow it.... ), you are not allowed to reverse out of your driveway, as visibility up and down the footpath for pedestrians is much less than if you were driving out forwards, as well as the visibility of the road. So, yes, you are supposed to reverse into your driveway, and drive out on to the road forwards.

Getting further technical on reversing into a driveway, you are not supposed to reverse off your left side (ie, turning towards the passenger side of the vehicle). So this means, that you are supposed to pull up to the kerb on the wrong side of the road, and reverse into the driveway off the driver's side. I get to do this at my place, because our street is quiet, but somewhat impossible on major roads.... This rule is why you will see trucks pull out wide across a road to reverse in off the driver's side. The reversing off your left side rule isn't enforced in cars, but important in trucks where visibility is so much more limited (so next time you see a truck trying to pull out across the road to reverse into a loading bay or driveway, please stop and let them go :) ).

I wouldn't want to try the "I'm not liable because I reversed out of my driveway into your vehicle" trick though.

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Wow, thanks for that. Learn something new everyday.

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As far as I know, from the Man (who used to train people to drive trucks, and so is very well versed in road law, even if he doesn't always follow it.... ), you are not allowed to reverse out of your driveway, as visibility up and down the footpath for pedestrians is much less than if you were driving out forwards, as well as the visibility of the road. So, yes, you are supposed to reverse into your driveway, and drive out on to the road forwards.

Getting further technical on reversing into a driveway, you are not supposed to reverse off your left side (ie, turning towards the passenger side of the vehicle). So this means, that you are supposed to pull up to the kerb on the wrong side of the road, and reverse into the driveway off the driver's side. I get to do this at my place, because our street is quiet, but somewhat impossible on major roads.... This rule is why you will see trucks pull out wide across a road to reverse in off the driver's side. The reversing off your left side rule isn't enforced in cars, but important in trucks where visibility is so much more limited (so next time you see a truck trying to pull out across the road to reverse into a loading bay or driveway, please stop and let them go :) ).

I wouldn't want to try the "I'm not liable because I reversed out of my driveway into your vehicle" trick though.

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I'm not sure this is true, or at the very least it is not true in Victoria, as I just looked up the Road Safety (Drivers) Regulations 2009 act on the vicroads website. At no place does it state that you cannot enter the road in reverse (as in reversing out of a driveway). It does not indicate whether you must reverse turning to a particular way. This may be different for commercial vechiles, but does not apply to cars. There is no law that people cannot park opposite your driveway. It would be nice, as it is annoying but it doesn't make it law.

The only laws I can see in regards to this are:

Driving a vehicle in reverse
(1) The driver of a vehicle must not reverse the vehicle unless the driver can do so safely.
Penalty: 3 penalty units.

(2) The driver of a vehicle must not reverse the vehicle further than is reasonable in the circumstances.
Penalty: 3 penalty units.

and:

Obstructing access to and from a footpath, driveway etc.
(1) A driver must not stop on a road in a position that obstructs access by vehicles or pedestrians to or
from a footpath ramp or a similar way of access to a footpath, or a bicycle path or passageway
unless—

(a) the driver is driving a public bus that is dropping off, or picking up, passengers; or
(b) the driver stops in a parking bay and the driver is permitted to stop in the parking bay
under these Rules.
Penalty: 3 penalty units.

(2) A driver must not stop on or across a driveway or other way of access for vehicles travelling to or
from adjacent land unless—

(a) the driver—
(i) is dropping off, or picking up,
passengers; and
(ii) does not leave the vehicle unattended; and
(iii) completes the dropping off, or picking up, of the passengers, and drives on, as
soon as possible and, in any case, within 2 minutes after stopping; or
(b) the driver stops in a parking bay and the driver is permitted to stop in the parking bay
under these Rules.
Penalty: 3 penalty units


You might be able to get them under parts 6, 7 or 8 if there is a continuous white line, or there is less than 3m wide on the road.

208 Parallel parking on a road (except in a median strip
parking area)
(1) A driver who parks on a road (except in a median strip parking area) must position the driver's vehicle in accordance with subrules (2) to (8).
Penalty: 3 penalty units.

(2) The driver must position the vehicle to face—
(a) in the direction of travel of vehicles in the marked lane or line of traffic on, or next to, the part of the road where the driver parks; or
(b) if there is no traffic on, or next to, that part of the road—in the direction in which vehicles could lawfully travel on that part of the road.

(3) If the road is a two-way road, the driver must position the vehicle parallel, and as near as practicable, to the far left side of the road.

(4) If the road is a one-way road, the driver must position the vehicle parallel, and as near as practicable, to the far left or far right side of the road, unless otherwise indicated by information on or with a parking control sign.

(5) If the driver does not park in a parking bay, the driver must position the vehicle at least 1 metre from the closest point of any vehicle in front of it and any vehicle behind it.

(6) If the road has a continuous dividing line or a dividing strip, the driver must position the vehicle at least 3 metres from the continuous dividing line or dividing strip, unless otherwise indicated by information on or with a parking control sign.

(7) If the road does not have a continuous dividing line or a dividing strip, the driver must position the vehicle so there is at least 3 metres of the road alongside the vehicle that is clear for other vehicles to pass, unless otherwise indicated by information on or with a parking control sign.

(8) The driver must position the vehicle so the vehicle does not unreasonably obstruct the path of other vehicles or pedestrians.

Otherwise, if you back into them you are at fault

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(7) If the road does not have a continuous dividing line or a dividing strip, the driver must position the vehicle so there is at least 3 metres of the road alongside the vehicle that is clear for other vehicles to pass, unless otherwise indicated by information on or with a parking control sign.

(8) The driver must position the vehicle so the vehicle does not unreasonably obstruct the path of other vehicles or pedestrians.

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Now if I only my neighbours at my old house knew that one. It was so bad that I almost photocopied that section of the road rules and did a letter box drop. We lived in a dead end street, so if we could not drive up it then could not get to our house. Councils only solution was for us to apply to have parking banned on one side of the road, which would have disadvantaged the whole street. I wanted them to book the repeat offenders, but they can only book if they know which was the car to cause the blockage (ie the second car to park).

I'm in Victoria and my driving instructor told me it was illegal to reverse out of a driveway

We asked our across the road neighbors to move the 4 cars regularly parked out the front as we couldn't get in or out of our driveway easily and they threatened us and made living there a nightmare, to the point we had to move

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I'm in Victoria and my driving instructor told me it was illegal to reverse out of a driveway

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I'm very happy to be proved wrong, I looked up the acts and couldn't find anything to verify this. I have heard others say it before, but unless people can give a source in legislation then it appears to be an unsubstantiated rumour.

Interestingly, it says in the act that you don't have to wear a seatbelt when reversing your car... Didn't know that one.