Where You May Not Park
ORC 4511.68 — the distances, and ORC 4511.69 — the space with the placard
Most parking rules people meet are a city's. Two of them are the state's, and they are the two that carry the numbers: a list of places a vehicle may not stand, measured in feet, and one space that carries a fine larger than most moving violations.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
The list, and the distances in it. No person stands or parks a vehicle on a sidewalk, except as the section itself provides, in front of a public or private driveway, within an intersection, within ten feet of a fire hydrant, on a crosswalk, within twenty feet of a crosswalk at an intersection, within thirty feet of and upon the approach to any yield sign, stop sign or highway traffic signal, or within fifty feet of the nearest rail of a railroad crossing.
The safety zone rule is in the same list: no standing between a safety zone and the adjacent curb, or within thirty feet of the points on the curb immediately opposite the ends of a safety zone, unless a traffic control device indicates a different length. Where a device says something different, the device governs the distance.
The accessible space, and what it costs. No person stops, stands or parks a vehicle in a location designated for persons with disabilities unless the vehicle is being operated by or for the transport of a person whose disability limits or impairs the ability to walk, and a valid removable windshield placard or accessible license plates are displayed. An offender is fined not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.
Having the placard and forgetting it is a different figure. An offender may be fined not more than one hundred dollars where the offender proves, before sentencing, that at the time of the violation the offender, or the person for whose transport the vehicle was being operated, had been issued a valid removable windshield placard or accessible license plates but neglected to display them. It is proved to the court rather than explained at the car.
| The place | The distance |
|---|---|
| The placeA fire hydrant | The distanceTen feet |
| The placeA crosswalk at an intersection | The distanceTwenty feet |
| The placeA yield sign, stop sign or traffic signal, on the approach | The distanceThirty feet |
| The placeThe nearest rail of a railroad crossing | The distanceFifty feet |
| The placeA sidewalk, a driveway, an intersection, a crosswalk | The distanceNo distance; the prohibition is on the place |
The rest of the section's list, the rules about parking near a curb and facing the direction of travel, private lot towing, which is its own page on this site, and every local ordinance that adds to any of this are not covered here. A municipality may prohibit more than the state does, and the sign at the curb is the one that gets enforced. What a particular citation rests on is a question for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (2)
- ORC 4511.68 — Parking prohibitions, and the distances they are measured in
- ORC 4511.69 — Parking requirements, accessible spaces, and the fine for using one without the placard
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.