According to the RA Law on Ensuring Road Traffic Safety, the following is considered a stop:

Explanation

A stop is the deliberate immobilisation of a vehicle for up to 5 minutes, or for whatever time is needed to pick up or set down passengers or to load and unload.

The 5-minute figure is the line that separates "stopping" from "parking", and the second limb of the definition matters more than the number itself: if you are genuinely boarding a passenger or unloading cargo, even more than 5 minutes still counts as a stop, not parking. Conversely, if you stay put for more than 5 minutes doing none of these things, your status is parking.

Why did the legislator draw this line? Because signs and markings have two different scopes. Where only "no parking" applies, you may pause briefly to set down a passenger or goods; but where "no stopping" applies, even that brief halt is an offence and a tow truck may remove the vehicle. Telling these two signs apart, on the central streets of Yerevan where both types are mounted within metres of each other, is the difference between an ordinary passage and a fine. Memorise the number 5 exactly.

• This is the definition of parking, not stopping; remaining immobile for more than 5 minutes unconnected with boarding, alighting or loading is precisely what the law calls parking.

Sources and content coverage · Report a content error