Can I park across my own driveway?
Posted 8 October, 2020
Jeremy Rochow
Have you ever parked across your own driveway, blocking the entrance? It’s your property, so it shouldn’t matter, right?
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this isn’t the case. If you do park across your own or someone else’s driveway, you risk a fine.
In fact, 100 motorists were caught either parking across or blocking a driveway in 2019.
The law
You may own your house, but you don’t own the area in front of your driveway. Any section of driveway that extends beyond your property boundaries belongs to the local council.
The rule used to be that you couldn’t park within 1.8m of a driveway, but the legislation changed in 1999.
Now it states you’re unable to block access to a driveway – including your own.
Even if you partially block a driveway, you could still be handed an $83 fine and a $60 Victims of Crime Levy.
There are no exemptions just because it’s your own driveway.
You can, however, stop for up to 2 minutes – just enough time to drop off passengers or dash inside to pick up something you forgot.
The reason
So, why can’t you park across a driveway, even if it’s your own?
The main reason is that cars blocking a driveway can obstruct emergency services from accessing the property.
Parked cars can also make it difficult for other drivers to see when exiting or entering properties nearby. This could easily lead to a collision, and no one wants that.
This is why in some locations where access is tight, councils install yellow lines on either side of driveways for about a metre to assist entry and ease of access.
