No Standing Signs: What Do They Mean?

What does the No Standing sign mean?

A No Standing or No Stopping sign (they mean the same thing) means just that; you can’t stop in that zone at all other than for an emergency.

For context, parking regulations exist – if you believe the official line – to keep traffic moving and prevent bottlenecks and traffic jams caused by stopped cars blocking the road for those wishing to continue moving.

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Fair enough, but one suspects there’s also an element of revenue raising involved when you look at the financial penalties for disobeying the regulations.

In any case, one parking sign that causes a lot of confusion is the No Standing sign, denoting a no standing zone. But what do No Standing signs mean compared with No Stopping signs? And where does a No Standing vs No Parking sign leave you?

Fundamentally, while a No Parking sign means you can’t leave your car in that zone for an extended time, you can (broadly speaking) stop long enough to drop off passengers. The provisos are that you don’t stay more than two minutes, and you don’t stray more than three metres form the car in that time.

And as mentioned, a No Standing or No Stopping sign means just that; you can’t stop in that zone at all other than for an emergency.

A No Stopping sign means you can’t stop in that zone at all other than for an emergency. (Image: nsw.gov.au)

And by 'stopping' the law means having the vehicle’s wheels not turning, even for a small amount of time. Some No Standing or No Stopping zones also have cameras fitted to them, so that even if a parking officer doesn’t nab you at the time, the fine might be coming in the mail.

Unlike a car parking sign, which can display all sorts of time frames and exceptions for that zone, the No Stopping sign is a much simpler directive.

So, let’s take a quick look around the country to see what the various No Standing sign rules look like. Interestingly, there’s more state-to-state agreement than you might imagine, but there are some subtle but important differences.

While a No Parking sign means you can’t leave your car in that zone for an extended time, you can (broadly speaking) stop long enough to drop off passengers. (Image: nsw.gov.au)

NSW

Like many states and territories, the No Standing sign is on the way out. That’s because, compared with a No Stopping sign, they amount to the same thing and represent the same rule.

Simply, it’s been decided that No Stopping is an easier-to-understand sign than No Standing which is a bit antiquated in its language.

A No Parking sign allows you the two minutes/three-metres of grace, but that’s all. NSW also uses unbroken yellow lines on the kerbside of a No Standing zone to mark that zone, even if there’s no physical No Stopping sign.

In NSW, Vic, SA, TAS, NT, the unbroken yellow line by the kerb denotes a No Stopping zone. (Image: VicRoads)

Victoria

The rules are the same as NSW, including the yellow line thing. The No Parking rules are the same as NSW, but in Victoria, the amount you can be fined for a breach of these rules varies from council to council.

SA

South Australia follows the same protocols and, like NSW and VIC, the unbroken yellow line by the kerb also denotes a No Stopping zone. Again, individual councils decide on how much you’ll be fined.

QLD uses the same set of rules.

TAS follows the same rules as Victoria, including the yellow unbroken line. Tassie also allows you to stop for two minutes in a No Parking zone to let passengers out, but extends that to five minutes if the vehicle has a disabled occupant sticker displayed.

Individual councils decide on how much you’ll be fined. (Image: Chris Lane)

WA

The same rules apply in the west, and, again, fines are calculated on a council by council basis.

NT

Territorians are faced with the same rules, including the unbroken yellow line one.

ACT

The Capital Territory also subscribes to the same rules with the subtle difference being that a car can stop in a No Parking zone to let passengers out but instead of a fixed time to move on, the laws says the drive must do so ASAP.

It’s worth mentioning the major capital cities and their councils are particularly savage on enforcing these rules. An out-of-towner visiting Sydney or Melbourne might be shocked at how easy it is to gain an unwanted slip of paper under their wiper.

This is because come councils have become addicted to parking fine revenue and new No Parking signs are going up in new zones all the time.

A known traffic hot-spot is also a likely candidate to gain a No Stopping or No Standing sign meaning you can no longer prop in that spot to drop off a passenger, check a map or even jump out and close a tailgate that has been left half open.