Exact Answer: 72 Hours

A residential street is a road with a surrounding residential area, apartment complexes, houses, etc. It may or may not be under public services utilization and could be included within the property of the people residing in the area. A residential street is different from an industrial area or public area.

The parking facilities in the residential street are limited to only the people residing in the area as parking spaces is a major problem everywhere, and if an unknown vehicle is found in the property and is not recognized by any of the members living in the area it would get taken away by the police or the public service body.

How Long Can A Car Be Parked On A Residential Street

How Long Can A Car Be Parked On A Residential Street?

Parking-related issues are not only limited to the public paces but can be seen in residential areas as well, and essentially, there are different rules for parking in residential areas and public areas respectively. There are two types of parking, namely, off-street and on-street. Naturally, as the name suggests off-street parking is the type of parking that has all the vehicles parked in some other outlet than the street, essentially, underground parking lots. And on-street parking is the normal mode of parking which happens all around, hence, to park the vehicles on the street.  

The main issue with on-street parking in the residential areas is that there is little to no space for parking cars, and when people park their vehicles on the street, it interferes with the routine harmony of the pedestrians and creates problems for them by blocking their way. It becomes a hindrance for them to carry on with their routine lives.

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Moreover, as the street becomes clustered with cars, it is easier for unknown people to park their cars in between the crowd and they would go unnoticed, however, this increases the problem even more by blocking the roads. Further, there might be some people who would park their vehicles in a wrong manner which would block anyone else’s to get out.

Hence, to combat this problem, there is a rule that only residents can park on the street and if any unknown vehicle is seen parked, it would be towed after 72 hours of no one claiming it.

Type Of ParkingSolution
Off-Street ParkingUnderground Parking Areas
On-Street Parking72 Hour Law For Unrecognized Vehicles

Why Can A Car Be Only Parked For 72 Hours On A Residential Street?

Naturally, people like paring their vehicles closer to their houses, as it is convenient for them to do so. Usually, residential areas have parking permits for the people residing in that area who have taken up the offer, otherwise, they provide the residents with parking spaces.

This becomes a problem with the place in the middle of the city as they would have limited spaces and regulating through that could be tough.

The best solution to this problem was to take up the “off-street” parking structure, which had residential complexes making underground parking spaces or separate floors in the building for parking itself.

 However, it became a problem for the older structured residential areas as they do not have the spaces to restructure themselves. They were made in such a time where this was not a problem and hence, do not have the spaces to be renovated to adapt to the off-street parking policies. The appropriate solution to this could only be seen as influencing parking laws across regions. This could take away the problem of parking spaces without having to shift anything in the pre-made residential structures. Hence, the unknown vehicles in the area are only allowed to be parked for 72 hours, if no one claims the vehicle in those 72 hours, the public bodies are allowed to get them removed or towed. This could keep the road from cluttering with cars and turning the residents’ cars locked or shuffled between them. This is a very appropriate solution for the spaces to be kept free of unnecessary cars and carry on the regulation.  

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Conclusion

Parking is a huge problem across all sectors of the society with the cities growing enormously and the spaces reducing. The residential street in the area is surrounded by apartment complexes, houses, etc., and the parking rules for the area are different from that of public spaces. To combat the problem of parking spaces, the new residential areas are opting for off-street parking by customizing underground parking areas for the residents, and for the old areas, only residents are allowed to park on the street and if any unknown vehicle is parked for more than 72 hours without getting claimed, it would be taken away, so that pedestrians do not face a problem by the cars blocking their ways.  

References

  1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322131761_New_Concepts_of_parking_in_residential_areas
  2. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/dealing-with-abandoned-vehicles-your-neighborhood.html#:~:text=Local%20Laws%20on%20Abandoned%20Vehicles,as%20more%20than%2072%20hours.