Curb colors

[agentsteel53]

perhaps they should stripe the forbidden zone red?  yellow tends to mean "commercial loading, 20 minutes", which is exactly what the workmen appear to be doing.

[1995hoo]

perhaps they should stripe the forbidden zone red?  yellow tends to mean "commercial loading, 20 minutes", which is exactly what the workmen appear to be doing.

Yellow has been the norm in Virginia for as long as I can remember, though. Edited to add: Per this link, apparently the use of yellow is a Fairfax County requirement.

In the case of workmen, though.....Saturday one guy had a car parked on the yellow curb from 9:00 AM until 6:00 PM. The guy was a car detailer. I find it annoying but I tend not to say anything UNLESS they get in the way of my getting in or out of my driveway. (I will give the lady next door some credit–last week when a truck pulled up and blocked my driveway to deliver a new refrigerator to her house, before she let them unload she called me to ask if I needed to go anywhere in the next half hour so that I could move the car before they started unloading. I appreciated that, as most workmen would just start unloading and then act annoyed when you ask them to move the truck.)

Either way, I suspect even if they used red paint they'd still have that sign reading "FIRELANES," and that misspelling irks me every time I see it.

[bsmart]

perhaps they should stripe the forbidden zone red?  yellow tends to mean "commercial loading, 20 minutes", which is exactly what the workmen appear to be doing.

Huh??  I was always taught that yellow curb was no parking. Now I'm in Maryland and spent a bunch of years in Virginia when I was in the Air Force so maybe its a 'Mid Atlantic thing'

[agentsteel53]

Huh??  I was always taught that yellow curb was no parking. Now I'm in Maryland and spent a bunch of years in Virginia when I was in the Air Force so maybe its a 'Mid Atlantic thing'

must be a state-by-state thing.  California is the way I described.  I don't remember Massachusetts, which is where I learned to drive: I didn't own a car most of the time that I lived there.

[Alps]

perhaps they should stripe the forbidden zone red?  yellow tends to mean "commercial loading, 20 minutes", which is exactly what the workmen appear to be doing.

That's a crazy California thing, I think you guys also paint white curbs for some reason. In the rest of the country, yellow = no, blue = handicapped, red = *mumble*, nothing = park here.

[myosh_tino]

Yellow means "No Parking"?  Really?  I did not know that.

In California, here's what the curb colors mean (per CVC Sec 21458)...

RED -- No Parking (ever)
YELLOW -- Loading Zone
WHITE -- Loading Zone or Depositing Mail
GREEN -- Short Term Parking (generally 30 minutes of less)
BLUE -- Handicapped Parking

Although loading zones can be either yellow or white, yellow is more common.  I find it fascinating that curb colors have different meanings across the country.  I would have thought someone would have tried to standardized these markings to eliminate any ambiguity (although posted signs would remove any ambiguity).

[Alps]

Yellow means "No Parking"?  Really?  I did not know that.

In California, here's what the curb colors mean (per CVC Sec 21458)...

RED -- No Parking (ever)
YELLOW -- Loading Zone
WHITE -- Loading Zone or Depositing Mail
GREEN -- Short Term Parking (generally 30 minutes of less)
BLUE -- Handicapped Parking

Although loading zones can be either yellow or white, yellow is more common.  I find it fascinating that curb colors have different meanings across the country.  I would have thought someone would have tried to standardized these markings to eliminate any ambiguity (although posted signs would remove any ambiguity).

Again, I think it's just California. MUTCD applies everywhere, except where state law supersedes. It sounds like CA's curb colors are written into the state law, so even if the other 49 states all follow the same standards, CA can't be forced to match them, they have to do it themselves and I'm sure they see no reason to change. After all, they've always viewed themselves as bigger/better than the MUTCD.

[formulanone]

The red zone is for loading and unloading...

[hbelkins]

In Kentucky, yellow is "no parking." Red is "no parking, there's a fire hydrant here."

[Mr_Northside]

I've always assumed that here, in PA, Yellow was a general "No Parking", and red was a more strict "No Parking".  (Never really thought about it that much till now, actually...).  Perhaps yellow is a No Parking, as in parking the car and leaving it, and red is No Parking, or even stopping (sometimes referred to as "Standing") while you're in the car with the engine running.

I'm a cheap bastard, so if I'm not sure I won't get a ticket or towed, I err on the side of finding somewhere else to park.

[Scott5114]

In Oklahoma you tend to only see painted curbs in private parking lots, and they're usually red (but I think I've seen yellow). On actual streets I don't think curbs are painted at all; parking restrictions are posted on signs.

[apeman33]

Kansas usually only uses yellow. Red and blue will be seen in private parking lots, but I don't recall having ever seen either of those colors on a public street.

[myosh_tino]

Again, I think it's just California. MUTCD applies everywhere, except where state law supersedes. It sounds like CA's curb colors are written into the state law, so even if the other 49 states all follow the same standards, CA can't be forced to match them, they have to do it themselves and I'm sure they see no reason to change. After all, they've always viewed themselves as bigger/better than the MUTCD.

I did not know the MUTCD had curb color guidelines but it's good to know that curb colors outside of California have different meanings.  Other than the blue handicapped markings, everything else is different and I could see how easy it would be for a Californian to get a parking ticket (or towed) if parked in a yellow zone in, say, Pennsylvania.

I am not entirely sure which came first, the California curb colors or the MUTCD (an argument I'm not willing to get into at this time) but to try to change the curb colors now is probably not feasible because of the mass confusion it would cause and any kind of "grace" period would mean a significant loss of revenue for local governments (i.e. parking tickets).

[roadfro]

In California, here's what the curb colors mean (per CVC Sec 21458)...

RED -- No Parking (ever)
YELLOW -- Loading Zone
WHITE -- Loading Zone or Depositing Mail
GREEN -- Short Term Parking (generally 30 minutes of less)
BLUE -- Handicapped Parking

Although loading zones can be either yellow or white, yellow is more common.  I find it fascinating that curb colors have different meanings across the country.  I would have thought someone would have tried to standardized these markings to eliminate any ambiguity (although posted signs would remove any ambiguity).

These curb colors generally also have the same meaning in Nevada, with yellow being more common than white as a loading zone color.

Again, I think it's just California. MUTCD applies everywhere, except where state law supersedes. It sounds like CA's curb colors are written into the state law, so even if the other 49 states all follow the same standards, CA can't be forced to match them, they have to do it themselves and I'm sure they see no reason to change. After all, they've always viewed themselves as bigger/better than the MUTCD.

I did not know the MUTCD had curb color guidelines but it's good to know that curb colors outside of California have different meanings.  Other than the blue handicapped markings, everything else is different and I could see how easy it would be for a Californian to get a parking ticket (or towed) if parked in a yellow zone in, say, Pennsylvania.

The National MUTCD gives no standard meaning for painted curbs for enforcement of parking regulations. Their preference is to establish parking regulations by signage. The MUTCD prescribes an option that gives agencies the option to use colored curbs to supplement parking regulation signs. They also would prefer not to use yellow or white, since these colors are used in the delineation of curbs.

[1995hoo]

Off the top of my head I can't say I've ever seen a red or blue curb in the USA (I might have in the UK and I just don't recall it), but then I've also never been to California.

[agentsteel53]

red = *mumble*

what??

I seem to recall in NYC (the one place I regularly needed to go out of my way to find parking), the trick was to take any spot that wasn't near a hydrant or signed as NO PARKING.

[myosh_tino]

These curb colors generally also have the same meaning in Nevada, with yellow being more common than white as a loading zone color.

...

The National MUTCD gives no standard meaning for painted curbs for enforcement of parking regulations. Their preference is to establish parking regulations by signage. The MUTCD prescribes an option that gives agencies the option to use colored curbs to supplement parking regulation signs. They also would prefer not to use yellow or white, since these colors are used in the delineation of curbs.

It's good to know that California's curb coloring scheme is being used by other states.  Steve's post made it seem like California was "going it alone" on curb coloring and that the other 49 states were all "standardized" on what was in the national MUTCD (which is apparently not the case).

[KEK Inc.]

Yellow means "No Parking"?  Really?  I did not know that.

In California, here's what the curb colors mean (per CVC Sec 21458)...

RED -- No Parking (ever)
YELLOW -- Loading Zone
WHITE -- Loading Zone or Depositing Mail
GREEN -- Short Term Parking (generally 30 minutes of less)
BLUE -- Handicapped Parking

Although loading zones can be either yellow or white, yellow is more common.  I find it fascinating that curb colors have different meanings across the country.  I would have thought someone would have tried to standardized these markings to eliminate any ambiguity (although posted signs would remove any ambiguity).

Washington and Oregon follows that, but most of the time, the curb is uncolored and has signs. 

[kphoger]

Kansas law doesn't seem to say anything at all about curb colors.  It only gives reference to 'official signs'.
http://kansasstatutes.lesterama.org/Chapter_8/Article_15/#8-1571

[blawp]

California is the only state that consistently colors almost every curb if the curb is regulated.

[Alps]

I didn't think the MUTCD specified all curb colors, but I did think they at least discussed the use of yellow. I was unaware that the discussion recommended against yellow, though.

[Duke87]

I seem to recall in NYC (the one place I regularly needed to go out of my way to find parking), the trick was to take any spot that wasn't near a hydrant or signed as NO PARKING.

Pretty much, although yellow curbs are also fairly common here.

[luokou]

The red zone is for loading and unloading...

"No, the white zone is for loading of passengers and there is no stopping in a red zone..."

[realjd]

Yellow is no parking here in Florida also. I seem to recall somewhere (Texas?) that used red to denote fire lanes in parking lots.

Up in Indiana, or at least at Purdue, loading zones were yellow and white striped curbs.

Now in which states do yellow (or red, green, purble, glow-in-the-dark, etc.) curbs have actual legal status? I've never really seen them without parking restriction signs or in situations where parking is otherwise illegal (hydrants, driveways, near corners). I'd be interested to know if the yellow paint in a location that would otherwise be unrestricted actually matters.

[Alps]

Yellow is no parking here in Florida also. I seem to recall somewhere (Texas?) that used red to denote fire lanes in parking lots.

Up in Indiana, or at least at Purdue, loading zones were yellow and white striped curbs.

Now in which states do yellow (or red, green, purble, glow-in-the-dark, etc.) curbs have actual legal status? I've never really seen them without parking restriction signs or in situations where parking is otherwise illegal (hydrants, driveways, near corners). I'd be interested to know if the yellow paint in a location that would otherwise be unrestricted actually matters.

I've been wrong in this thread, but I think any place you see a yellow curb in NJ is no parking. Usually they do go along with signs - no one's really trying to trap people into getting tickets. The curb color helps to define the extent of the rule when signs are ambiguous or not able to be posted at the start of the rule.