New York · Handbook chapter 5 · 5 min read

Chapter 5: Parallel parking and parking rules

How to parallel park and pull out in New York, parking on a hill, what NO PARKING, NO STANDING and NO STOPPING mean, the statewide distance rules, and reserved parking for people with disabilities.

Why this chapter matters

Parallel parking is part of every New York road test, and the written test asks about the difference between parking, standing and stopping, and about the exact distances from hydrants, crosswalks and railroad crossings.

How to parallel park

1. Choose a space big enough on your side of the road. Check your mirrors and signal. Stop alongside the car in front of the space, about two feet away from it.
2. Look over both shoulders for pedestrians and traffic. Back slowly, turning the wheel fully toward the curb. Look through the rear window, not just the mirrors, and glance forward now and then to clear the car ahead.
3. When your front wheels are level with the back bumper of the car ahead, turn the wheel the other way as you keep backing. Stop before you touch the car behind.
4. Straighten the wheels and pull forward, leaving room front and back. Your wheels must end up no more than one foot from the curb.

Back-up cameras, sensors and self-parking systems can help, but you are still responsible for checking around the vehicle. After parking, do not open a road-side door if it would get in the way of bicyclists or other traffic.

Parking on a hill

Set the parking brake, put the car in Park (or first gear in a manual), and turn the wheels toward the curb or side of the road, so the car would roll away from traffic.

Pulling out

Straighten your wheels, back up toward the car behind, and turn your wheels away from the curb. Then:

1. Look over your right shoulder through the rear window.
2. Use the inside mirror to watch behind you.
3. Signal.
4. Check your side mirrors for vehicles, cyclists, skaters and others.
5. Look over your left shoulder and move forward slowly, clearing the car ahead.
6. Look over your left shoulder again and enter the lane when it is safe.

Parking, standing and stopping

Statewide rules (often not signed)

No parking, stopping or standing:

• Within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, unless a licensed driver stays in the vehicle to move it in an emergency.
• Double parked, on the road side of a parked vehicle.
• On a sidewalk or in a crosswalk.
• In an intersection, unless signs or meters allow it.
• On railroad tracks.
• Beside or opposite road work or an obstruction if you would block traffic.
• Within 30 feet of a pedestrian safety area, unless another distance is marked.
• On a bridge or in a tunnel.

No parking or standing:

• In front of a driveway.
• Within 20 feet of a crosswalk at an intersection.
• Within 30 feet of a traffic light, STOP sign or YIELD sign.
• Within 20 feet of a fire station driveway, or within 75 feet of it on the opposite side of the road.
• Along a curb that is cut or lowered for sidewalk access.

No parking within 50 feet of a railroad crossing.

Reserved parking for people with disabilities

• Park in a reserved space only with disability plates or a parking permit (from New York or another state), and only when the person the permit was issued to is in the vehicle.
• Do not park in the striped spaces beside reserved spaces; they give room for wheelchairs and lifts.
• The law covers spaces set up by local ordinance and those in shopping centers with five or more stores and 20 or more off-street parking spaces.
• Unless a town sets higher fines, a shopping center violation costs $50 to $75 for a first offense and $75 to $150 for a second within two years, plus a $30 surcharge.
• False statements to get disability plates or a permit can bring license revocation, fines and civil penalties of $250 to $1,000.