Does the tourist bus driver have the right to park at this location for an extended rest period?

Explanation

He has the right.

The round blue sign with one red oblique stroke fitted beside the road is "parking prohibited"; but its zone of effect is not endless. That zone runs from the point where it is fitted to the nearest junction, and if there is no junction, to the end of the built-up area. In the picture, the white "ԳՅՈՒՄՐԻ" sign with a red line struck through it announces exactly that end of the built-up area.

So the white arrow points to a place where the sign's prohibition no longer holds and the bus may stand off the carriageway, on the shoulder, for a long rest.

This very structure is the most useful rule about stopping- and parking-prohibition signs: a sign takes effect as far as the nearest junction; if there is no junction, to the end of the built-up area; and a supplementary plate can also shorten or extend its zone. If you know this, you will stop generalising every "parking prohibited" sign to the end of the road.

The safety point is simple too: a struck-through town-name sign means that speeds rise from this point on. A bus stopping for a rest must move completely off the carriageway and make itself visible with its lights and a warning triangle.

• Seeing the "parking prohibited" sign immediately pushes the mind towards "he has no right", but its zone of effect has ended at the end-of-built-up-area sign.

Sources and content coverage · Report a content error