Seven important things to know about parking in Denver so that you don’t get a ticket… from my personal experience.
I have gotten a ticket for the first three and have seen the cars in my neighborhood get the pretty little yellow envelope with the little white ticket attached for 4-7.
- Do not continuously feed the meter. The law is that if it is a two or three-hour meter, you need to move it at least 100 feet* after the time period is up. Yes, they do know if you haven’t moved. Sometimes they mark your tires and sometimes they take a photo and the computer software knows you haven’t moved. If you are in a 2-hour parking space, that “100” feet comes with an additional caveat, you can’t park within 100 feet* during the next 24 hours!
- Do not leave a wheel on the curb (even if it is broken and you don’t’ even know you are on the curb!). Yes, you’ll get a ticket for that.
- Do not park between 9 and 5 on the street sweeping day, even if it looks like they already swept. Also, do not park your truck and trailer, both will be ticketed. I think this ticket is up to $50 per vehicle or trailer. Yowza that was an expensive day for the construction guys.
- Do not leave your car running unattended. You can be ticketed. Winter or summer.
- Do not leave your car parked in the same place (on a street without parking limitations) for over 72 hours you will receive a ticket. Maybe not on the outer edges of Denver County but in the urban core neighborhoods, the parking jeeps drive them nightly, usually when it is dark and yes, this is another instance when they use the camera technology to know that you haven’t moved. That 100 feet kicks in here as well, move it at least 100 feet* every 72 hours.
- Do not park within 5 feet of an alley. Trust me, I’ve seen many bumpers pulled off cars…accidently.
- Do not park with your bumper touching mine…or any cars. The general rule is 2 feet between cars. Just a quick note here, if your bumper is touching another cars’ bumper, and let’s say the owner is frustrated and calls the police, the car can be ticketed for hit and run and the police can call a tow truck and have the car removed.
*To clarify a couple details about the 100 feet: The average car is about 15.4 feet long, so, 100/15.4 = 6.4. That means: move your car at least 7 spaces away. AND, might I suggest, that it is facing the other direction at least 7 spaces away. The next block is a safe place. Parking directly across from the space you were just in, doesn’t work….even if is it 8 hours later…really, take my word for it and save yourself 25 bucks and take me to lunch. Ha!
A few more GOOD things to know about parking in Denver:
- Parking downtown and in Cherry Creek is free on Sunday and holidays, so if the meter isn’t blinking red or green, it is free!
- The meters take credit cards so you don’t need change.
Here’s a link to Denver parking Ordinances.
Park confidently!
