Whys and wherefores of snow regs

CORNWALL — The snow has yet to pile up to any considerable depth, but odds are it’s coming.

Drivers need to heed when and where they park their vehicles, even when snow is not predicted. Until the end of March, the town’s winter parking regulations are in effect.

Those guidelines can mean more than avoiding parking on roads. Some residents may be surprised to learn a car parked in their own driveway can be in violation.

Typically, residents in any town may freely use property frontage right up to the road shoulder, in exchange for maintaining it. Towns certainly do not want to mow alongside the length of every road. It’s a win-win.

But legally, towns — and states — have the right to property use from a specified distance from the center line of all roads they own; that distance is usually 25 feet. Since the average road around here is narrower than that, the right-of-way can extend a surprising distance onto front lawns.

When snow comes in unrelenting and copious amounts, plow truck drivers need somewhere to put it beyond the road shoulder. The sensible — and pretty much only — option is to do what the highway crew calls set-back plowing: shoving snow banks back several feet from the shoulder to make way for the next wave.

“Interference with plowing can occur unless a parked vehicle is at least 6 feet from the traveled or paved portion of the highway,� according to the ordinance.

Residents who park vehicles the length of their driveway need to be aware they just might be in the way, and that set-back plowing can take place even on a sunny day, or at night.

State law allows the Board of Selectmen to have vehicles in violation towed. But it’s not about being punitive. The upshot is that it’s all about safety and making every effort to keep roads passable. A considerable number of tax dollars, often more than is budgeted, goes toward snow removal. The ordinance is designed to make those tax dollars work as hard as possible so taxpayers can make it to work, school and on essential errands.

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