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Comment by gerikson | Hacker News Reader

As a Swede it amazes me that some countries allow parking "in the wrong direction". I've never even thought about it, and I don't know if it's a written rule (I'm sure it is, just it;s been a long time since I got my license).

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In finland this has been allowed since a few years ago. It is quite useful on narrow sidestreets in residential areas where it helps hunting for parking spaces. The biggest problem seems to be that now many misinterpret the law that one must leave 5 meters empty space before pedestrian crossings as being measured from the front of the car, ie not applying when parking on the ”wrong” side

Also it seems less understood or followed rule is that it is also technically 5 meters from any crossing lane. And then sometimes whole intersection is very nebulous. As pedestrian crossing can be faraway from intersection and still be part of intersection...

Sometimes things just get weird.

You don't have to go further than Norway to be allowed to park on both sides of the street (unless indicated otherwise by signs) as well as park in both directions.

I believe many Norwegians have received parking tickets when visiting Sweden because if this difference. I wasn't aware of this myself until recently.

Over here in Poland it's allowed in areas of "low traffic" - a term not defined anywhere in the law.

I did it the other day and it felt illegal.

It feels much more illegal in Italy

As a Brit it amazes me that this is even a concept. I've certainly never heard of it. We park whichever way is convenient.

If you read the British highway code, you will find that we have this rule too.

Interesting. Any Brits ever seen it enforced?

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