Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In

If the government catches you drinking and driving, you will be arrested, fined and possibly jailed. And rightly so. Drunk driving kills almost 11,000 people annually in the United States, more than the number of U.S. soldiers killed in our multiple wars over the past decade.

On the other hand, government agencies are rolling out the red carpet for motorists at establishments devoted to drinking, thanks to minimum parking requirements. What gives?

false

Erica C. Barnett of Network blog PubliCola says its time we ended this thoroughly counterproductive and dangerous practice.

By requiring parking for drinkers’ cars, city land use codes practically encourage drunk driving.

Even “progressive” Northwest cities aren’t immune. Vancouver, BC is actually one of the worst offenders, requiring one parking space for every 60 square feet of businesses that sell liquor for on-site consumption. (In fairness, Vancouver does exempt much of its city core from parking requirements).

Seattle and Portland, meanwhile, both set minimum parking requirements for bars at one space for every 250 square feet. The “best” city, in terms of parking requirements: Boise, Idaho, which requires just one parking space per 300 square feet of bar space.

Barnett quotes Vancouver blogger Eric de Place, whose post on Sightline inspired her remarks, on how to remedy this problem:

It’s really not hard. You just need the number zero. That’s how you make sustainability legal when it comes to bar parking. You find that section in your city’s land use code where it regulates parking minimums. You take a black magic marker, cross out what’s there, and then write in the word “none.” It’s that easy.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Spacing Toronto encourages local cyclists to turn out for a ride to protest Mayor Rob Ford's plan to remove the Jarvis Street bike lane. The Seattle Transit Blog remarks on the irony of public outrage over artificially deflated parking prices. And Green City Blue Lake reports on a minor victory in the Cleveland region, where ODOT spurned bike advocates' pleas for a bike lane over an important bridge, but offered $6 million in improvements along an alternate route as a compromise.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy Is Dead Wrong About Bike Lanes

The Secretary of Transportation says he hasn't seen enough data to believe in the benefits of bike lanes. So we put together an explainer help him out — mostly using information from his own department.

April 25, 2025

Friday Video: Check Out Lorde On a Bike!

The Kiwi singer is on the top of the charts — and in our bike-riding hearts.

April 25, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Dodge Death

Thankfully, traffic deaths have started to fall. But cars and drivers are still killing too many people. Why?

April 25, 2025

Breaking: US DOT is Coming For America’s ‘DEI’ Dollars, Threatening ‘Sanctuary’ Cities With Pulled Funds

Advocates are raising the alarm about yet another vague and disturbingly broad letter from Sean Duffy — and the fierce battle that's likely to follow it.

April 24, 2025
See all posts