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Russell wrote:
Do you, or the UPS guy, have a radio on you at all times that allows you to be notified when an emergency vehicle is in route that will need the fire lane?

If we follow the logic implied in your question that it is OK to park there as long the vehicle can be moved in an emergency after the officer is notified, then it should be equally safe for someone to park a vehicle there as long as a driver is in the vehicle who can move the vehicle if an emergency vehicle that needs the fire lane arrives as was the case in the initial subject of this thread. I do not like to think my safety depends on someone in dispatch remembering to notify an officer who is parked in a fire lane to move his car before the fire truck arrives. There is no pressing need for the officer to block the fire lane in the first place when he is picking up his kid from school, ticketing a shoplifter, or buying a snack in McDonalds (yes, I have personally seen this). His act of doing so does not speak well of his commitment to public safety.

srothstein wrote:<snip>
And do not bring up in court that the officer also parked int he red zone to get his kid. It is both irrelevant to your guilt or innocence AND legal for an emergency vehicle to park there. And the law does not say what the business has to be, just that this does not apply to the emergency vehicles.
<snip>

I have never understood why a police car parked in the fire lane at Walmart for 45 minutes while the officer processes shoplifters presents less of an obstruction to fire trucks and hazard to public safety than the UPS driver or US mail truck in the same place for 10 minutes does. In my opinion, a vehicle is not an emergency vehicle from a moral standpoint simply because it belongs to a city agency and sometimes responds to emergencies. If it unsafe for other vehicles to park there, then it is equally unsafe for the police car to be there. I feel that my safety is threatened by their obstruction of the fire lane to the same extent that is from any other vehicle and do not see why it permitted. I realize that the law does not agree with my viewpoint, but I find the behavior difficult to justify from a public safety standpoint.

Where was the officer parked/standing when he picked up his kid?