Arizona Law Bans Partially Blocking Sidewalk With a Car

Why is parking your car in a way that even partially blocks the sidewalk being made illegal? To improve accessibility for disabled people and ensure that sidewalks are safe for all pedestrians according to Democratic Rep. Jennifer Longdon of Phoenix.

On May 19, 2021, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2395, which “prohibits a person from parking a vehicle in a private driveway in a manner where any part of the vehicle or vehicle attachment impedes continuous pedestrian use of a sidewalk” according to legislative documents.

This new law applies to both commercial and residential neighborhoods and includes vehicles parked in driveways in such a way that blocks the sidewalk. Longdon, who sponsored the bill, explained that this is something she has witnessed happening in her own neighborhood during a Committee of Transportation meeting on Feb. 3, 2021.

“I live in one of Phoenix’s beautiful historic neighborhoods. We have short driveways in many cases if the houses have driveways at all, and so you can pull into your own driveway and still overhang it,” Longdon said.

One of the goals of the bill was to ensure that vehicles do not block the sidewalk in such a way that renders sidewalk clearance inconsistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In order to be ADA compliant, most sidewalks need at least five feet of clearance.

“It just covers that aspect of you know when people with ADAs are trying to access buildings and go down sidewalks where you’ve got pick up trucks and other vehicles that have parked and blocked it,” Republican Rep. Frank Carroll said during the Feb. 9, 2021 Republican House Caucus.

In 2004, Longdon was paralyzed in a random drive-by shooting and has been using a wheelchair ever since. She explained that vehicles, especially trucks, blocking the sidewalk can be a massive issue for “individuals like me who use a wheelchair,” particularly when they “are not aware that that truck is there before you get onto that piece of sidewalk.” This can lead the visually impaired to find themselves in dangerous situations.

“A person I know who is blind and navigates with a sight cane tried to get around an obstacle and when they stepped off the information that they didn’t know is that they were stepping into someone’s cactus garden and so they came home completely covered in cactus and spines,” Longdon said.

Another issue that vehicles blocking the sidewalk pose for individuals with disabilities, is the fact that their motorized wheelchairs and other mobility devices can ”weigh up to 300 or 600 pounds with a passenger in it,” making it dangerous for them to get around the obstacle particularly if they have to “move around it on landscaping material which could be quite soft” according to Carroll.

“When it comes to our disability community, we need to really think about what they face every day,” Democratic Rep. Richard Andrade said during the Feb. 3, 2021 Committee of Transportation meeting.

Although one of this new law’s purposes is to ensure that sidewalk clearance is consistent with the ADA, this new law is intended to make sidewalks safer for all members of the community, not just disabled individuals.

“It’s an effort to be more mindful to make sure that we’re protecting pedestrians,” Longdon said.

Violations of this law are punishable by a $250 fine.