Did You Know Idaho Law Makes Parking Like This in Your Driveway Illegal?

When you’re parking in your driveway, there may be certain things you’re thinking about. Like, did I lock my door before I went in the house? Am I blocking someone in that has to leave for work or school before me? 

Chances are you’re NOT worrying about getting a ticket or being fined for the way you parked in your own driveway. Well, if you park a certain way that could actually happen. There’s a law on the books in Idaho that makes it illegal to park on and block the sidewalk, even if that sidewalk runs straight through the lower part of your driveway. 

While we prefer to run the Boise Greenbelt there are days when we’ve just run in our neighborhood because we’re tight on time. We’ve seen this in our neighborhood. People cram cars two or three deep into a residential driveway. The bumper of the last one in line is hanging over the sidewalk or the tires are actually ON the sidewalk. If traffic isn’t heavy, it doesn’t really bother us to just run around the car but this hazard is more dangerous for disabled individuals relying on the help of a wheelchair or walker to get around. 

That’s a major part of the reason you’ll find the words “No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle…on a sidewalk” when you read Idaho Code 49-660. 

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You may be thinking to yourself, “is any officer actually going to enforce this?” Well, you may not want to catch them on a bad day. East Idaho News published a story two years ago about an Idaho Falls resident who was upset to find a ticket on his vehicle in his own driveway for this exact violation. He was mostly upset that there were other people in the neighborhood who had done the same thing but didn’t get a ticket. The police department admitted their officers are too busy to catch this particular parking law. 

So what’s the penalty if a law enforcement officer wants to cite you for an infraction? According to YourMechanic.com, it depends on where the infraction took place. If a city or county has its own parking ordinance you’d be subject to that penalty. 

We dug through the state’s infraction fee schedule and it looks like violating this law would fall under “Other parking infractions or failure to pay parking infractions (unless otherwise provided by statute or ordinance.” That’s a $46.50 offense. The fee schedule also clearly states that fine applies unless otherwise provided by statute or ordinance. 

You know, like the one you’ll find in Title 6, Chapter 10 of the Boise City Code which reads similarly to the state law mentioned above. The penalty section of the “Parking” chapter says violators could be subject to a fine based on the most current City Clerk fee schedule. That fine is currently $65.25 in the City of Boise. 

There are actually quite a few places you’re NOT allowed to park in Boise. You can click here to see the entire list or keep scrolling to see a handful of those places! It’s easy to get caught up in your routine and think that there’s nothing wrong with the way you’re parking but why risk the fine when this refresher course is right here?