[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of Middle Smithfield 5-10-2005 by Ord. No. 138; amended
in its entirety 8-25-2016 by Ord.
No. 208. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Vehicles and traffic — See Ch. 182.
A.
General rule. Outside a business or residence district, no person
shall stop, park or stand any vehicle, whether attended or unattended,
upon the public road when it is practicable to stop, park or stand
the vehicle off the roadway. In the event it is temporarily necessary
to stop, park, or stand the vehicle on the public road or any part
of the public road, an unobstructed width of the highway opposite
the vehicle shall be left for the free passage of other vehicles and
the vehicle shall be visible from a distance of 500 feet in each direction
upon the road.
B.
Exception for disabled vehicles. This section and § 138-2 (relating to prohibitions in specified places) and § 138-3 (relating to additional parking regulations) do not apply to the driver of any vehicle which is disabled in such a manner and to such an extent that it is impossible to avoid stopping and temporarily leaving the vehicle in that position.
Except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or
to protect the safety of any person or vehicle, or in compliance with
law or the direction of a police officer or official traffic control
device, the following prohibitions shall be in effect:
A.
Stopping, standing, or parking a vehicle is expressly prohibited
under the following circumstances:
(1)
On the roadway side of any stopped vehicle stopped or parked at the
edge or curb of the public road.
(2)
On any sidewalks.
(3)
Within any intersection.
(4)
On any crosswalk.
(5)
Alongside or opposite any street excavation or obstruction which
would obstruct traffic.
(6)
On public or private property which is expressly reserved for handicapped
persons or disabled veterans where said property has been posted in
accordance with the regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation.
(7)
At any place where official signs prohibit same.
B.
Standing and parking vehicles is expressly prohibited under the following
circumstances:
(1)
In front of a public or private driveway.
(2)
Within 15 feet of a fire hydrant.
(3)
Within 20 feet of a crosswalk at an intersection.
(4)
Within 30 feet of any flashing signal, stop sign, yield sign or traffic
control signal located at the side of a road.
(5)
Within 20 feet of the driveway entrance to any fire station or, when
properly posted, on the side of a public road opposite the entrance
of any fire station within 75 feet of the entrance.
(6)
At any place where official signs prohibit same.
A.
No person shall park or leave unattended a vehicle on private property
without the consent of the owner or other person in control of possession
of the property except in the case of an emergency or disablement
of the vehicle, in which case the operator shall arrange for the removal
of the vehicle as soon as possible.
B.
The provisions of Subsection A of this section shall not apply to private parking lots, unless such lots are posted to notify the public of any parking restrictions, in which case the operator of a vehicle should not violate said posted restrictions. For the purpose of this section, "private parking lot" means a parking lot open to the public and used for parking with or without charge.
A.
Every vehicle which is standing or parked on a two-way public road
shall be positioned parallel to either the curb or the edge of the
road and in all cases in the direction of authorized traffic movement.
The vehicle shall be parked such that the right-hand wheels are within
12 inches of the right-hand curb. Or, in the absence of a curb, the
vehicle shall be parked such that the left-hand wheels are not closer
than 12 inches from the edge of the road.
B.
Every vehicle which is standing or parked on a one-way public road
shall be positioned parallel to the curb or edge of the road in the
direction of authorized traffic movement. Said vehicle shall be parked
so that its wheels are within 12 inches from the curb or, in the absence
of a curb, within 12 inches from the shoulder of the road.
A.
No commercial equipment, including, but not limited to, trucks, tandems
(in excess of one-ton capacity), tractor-trailers, tractors or other
commercial construction or cargo moving vehicles or equipment shall
be parked upon any public road or within the public road right-of-way
within the Township of Middle Smithfield at any time.
B.
Exceptions. The following are exceptions to the restrictions set forth in Subsection A of this section.
(1)
Any commercial equipment described in this section may legally park
for the purpose of delivering goods or rendering services during the
normal course of business, provided that such vehicle does not substantially
impede the flow of vehicular traffic.
(2)
Vehicles being used for the purpose of road construction shall be
permitted to park, stand or stop on any highway or street within the
Township of Middle Smithfield when construction is in progress upon
said highway or street.
A.
Authority of Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors of Middle
Smithfield shall have the authority to designate and mark such fire
lanes as may be reasonable and necessary on private property devoted
to public use. The Board of Supervisors shall adopt a resolution approving
these areas so designated as "fire lanes" within the Township. Such
fire lanes shall be those areas immediately adjacent to a building
or buildings for a distance of 18 feet from said building or buildings
or 18 feet from the curb adjacent to said building or buildings on
property such as shopping centers, bowling alleys, theaters, hospitals,
churches and similar locations as may be deemed necessary by the Board
of Supervisors to insure proper ingress and egress of Fire Department
and emergency vehicles for the protection of persons and property.
Parking in such fire lanes shall be prohibited and such fire lanes
shall be posted "No Parking - Fire Lane." Any currently designated
"fire lanes" shall remain in place until such time as the Board of
Supervisors shall cancel the designation by resolution.
B.
Areas posted. Whenever the Board of Supervisors of Middle Smithfield
Township shall determine that parking of motor vehicles upon any public
or private street, lane, alley or private parking lot is liable to
interfere with the operation of the Fire or Police Departments or
hamper egress of occupants from buildings in case of fire or emergency,
parking in such areas shall be prohibited and said areas shall be
posted "No Parking - Fire Lane."
C.
Private property. On private property that is devoted to public use
there shall be maintained one or more unobstructed lanes to provide
for the ingress and egress of Fire Department and emergency vehicles,
equipment and personnel, said lanes to be a minimum of 18 feet in
width each, and laid out for convenient access from the public thoroughfares
and water supplied to the building or buildings. The marking of said
lanes shall be performed and maintained by, and at the expense of,
the property owner or occupier.
D.
Unlawful acts. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation
to barricade, stop a vehicle, park or otherwise block any of the passage,
entrance or exit ways to, in, about or out of any public building
or any place occupied for public use or accommodation, whether upon
public or private property, so as to interfere with or obstruct the
free and unimpeded passage of persons and fire and emergency equipment
around the said building, nor shall any person park a motor vehicle
or trailer in disregard of any sign erected pursuant to the provisions
hereof.
E.
Building defined. For the purpose hereof, the term "building" shall
mean the exterior surface of the vertical wall of the structure, excluding
any marquee, portico, mansard roof or similar appendages.
F.
Notice of violation. Notice of violation hereof shall be effectuated
by the placing of a parking ticket upon the vehicle parked or stopped
in the fire lane in question.
The provisions hereafter set forth in this section shall apply
to snow and ice clearing in the Township:
A.
In order to facilitate the movement of traffic and to combat the
hazards of snow and/or ice on the Township's public roads, the
Township's Director of Public Works or the Chair of the Board
of Supervisors in the Director's absence or incapacity may declare,
in their sole discretion, a snow emergency. Information on the existence
of a snow emergency may be given by the Director of Public Works or
the Chair of the Board of Supervisors through radio, television, newspaper
or other available media. Information on the termination or modification
of the snow emergency may be given by use of this same media. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, a snow emergency shall be deemed automatically in effect
where there has been a snowfall of four inches or greater in the Township,
until such time as the Township roads have been cleared of snow.
B.
Whenever a snow emergency has been declared by the Township or is
deemed in effect, it shall be unlawful to park a vehicle on any public
road and right of way, in the Township.
C.
It shall be unlawful to throw, shovel or otherwise move, pile or
dump snow or ice removed from sidewalks, driveways or other areas
onto any public road.
A.
The fines for violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be
as follows:
|
Violation
|
Maximum Fine
| |
|---|---|---|
|
Parking outside of marked spaces
|
$50
| |
|
For handicapped persons only (posted)
|
$50-200
| |
|
For handicapped persons only (not posted)
|
$50
| |
|
Within a fire lane
|
$50
| |
|
Within 15 feet of a fire hydrant
|
$50
| |
|
Blocking flow of traffic
|
$50
| |
|
Double parking at road edge
|
$50
| |
|
On private property
|
$50
| |
|
Within any intersection or crosswalk
|
$50
| |
|
Outside 12 inches from road's edge
|
$15
| |
|
No commercial equipment on public road
|
$50
| |
|
Snow deposited onto Township roads
|
$50
| |
|
No parking zone
|
$50
| |
|
Other
|
$50
|
B.
Any person violating the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty
of a summary offense, and upon conviction thereof before a district
justice shall be fined up to the maximum fine plus costs of prosecution.
In default of the payment of any fine, such person shall be liable
for imprisonment of not more than 10 days in the Monroe County prison.
C.
Reduced penalty. In any case where a police officer or other authorized
Township official shall first give notice of the offense by handing
to the offending operator or affixing securely to the motor vehicle
illegally parked hereunder a ticket on which he has noted the time
and place of the offense, the nature of the offense, and the license
registration of the vehicle, and bearing the statement that no prosecution
shall be instituted for 72 hours thereafter, and if during the said
seventy-two-hour period, the offending operator shall voluntarily
appear at the Township office, 147 Municipal Drive, East Stroudsburg,
PA 18302, or as elsewhere designated, and shall voluntarily enter
a plea of guilty, and pay the appropriate fine payable to Middle Smithfield
Township, then no further prosecution for said offense shall thereafter
be brought. In the alternative, said offender may forward to the Township
office by regular mail the appropriate fine and no prosecution for
the offense shall be thereafter brought so long as the envelope is
postmarked within 72 hours of the violation.
A.
In addition to the penalties herein provided, whenever any police
officer, or Township code enforcement officer (or other authorized
Township official) finds an attended vehicle in violation of any provisions
of this chapter, the officer may move the vehicle, or cause the vehicle
to be moved, or require the driver or other person in charge of the
vehicle to move the vehicle, to a position off the roadway where the
vehicle will not interfere unduly with the normal movement of traffic
or constitute a safety hazard.
B.
In addition to the penalties herein provided, whenever any police
officer or Township code enforcement officer (or other authorized
Township official) finds an unattended vehicle in violation of any
provisions of this chapter, the officer may remove or cause to be
removed to the place of business of the operator of a wrecker or to
a nearby garage or other place of safety selected by the officer;
that said owner of said vehicle, if known, together with the address,
shall be notified in writing of the fact of said removal, and the
place of deposit of said vehicle; that said vehicle may be reclaimed
and surrendered upon payment of towing and storing charges.
