this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024
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Is sleeping in your car being illegal some sort of FREEDOM©®™ thing that I'm way too European to understand?
Sleeping in a car isn't illegal necessarily, but there are increasing popup communities that settle in empty/low traffic lots and live out of their vehicles. Like most of America's problems, our politicans are sending police forces to "clean up" the effect, instead of trying to solve the cause.
Here's an article on Vehicle Residency https://www.thenation.com/article/society/homelessness-vehicle-residency-housing/
Sleeping in your car is actually illegal in a lot of places.
In Ohio I'd have to wake up every couple of hours to switch parking lots to avoid cops/loitering charges
Not Ohio, but I did sleep on my car on the West Coast on and off for about a year and only got into trouble once. And I didn’t even get a citation, just an oral warning that this wasn’t permitted in that particular town despite there being no signs anywhere (it was written in the city code).
I will say, for all the shit that private property owners get on this site, Walmart is actually one of the places where this is the easiest and least problematic to do. I always tried to avoid private property in favor of more inconspicuous places but I frequently saw quite a few motorhomes parked on their lots after dark and they were still there in the morning, and I’ve heard from others that they’ll generally let you be unless you are causing some sort of ruckus there. Same goes for just sleeping in the car.
In general, if you’re not making a nuisance of yourself or parking right in front of a sign that prohibits overnight parking, you’ll most likely be okay.
I slept in my car for a bit and Walmart was the best place, followed by Home Depot.
The worst places? Believe it or not, truck stops and rest areas. I was asked to leave multiple locations. You couldn't tell I was living out of my car and I looked like I was just on a road trip.
Sleeping at rest stops is literally stealing money from hardworking hotel owners! /s
I slept in my car on public rest stops while on a road trip in Norway.
IIRC you can sleep in your car there for two nights, which I never ended up doing anyway because I was travelling.
Public rest stops are amazing, there's usually pretty clean toilets, benches for picnics and sometimes even showers or a lake to bathe in.
The US has such places along highways also.
Yeah, check local ordinances this is not legal or universal advice lol
Sleeping in your car in public is not allowed in Germany either
Afaik it is allowed as long as its only to regain your driving capabilities and not for multiple nights I'm a row on the same place. The Straßenverkehrsordnung does not state otherwise.
Interesting, I've been told that it's illegal to sleep in your car in Canada when drunk because being in a car with possession of the keys is enough to show intent to DUI and get arrested.
I imagine it's something you could fight in court and win with a good lawyer, but it always seemed counter intuitive to me.
IIRC that's how it works in the US, too. Apparently you're supposed to leave your keys outside the car if you're drunk and want to sleep in it (and even then it's only a court defense, not something that would stop you from getting arrested in the first place).
My understanding is that if the keys are in the ignition, it counts as driving and you're DUI even if you're dead asleep. As long as they're in your pocket, center console, whatever you're good.
I agree though that it may not keep you from going downtown but it'll save you from catching the charge (again, I am super not a lawyer, whatever the opposite is, thats me. Don't take this as fact 😂)
How the fuck does that work with keyless starting cars? Lol
I guess it wouldn't lol. My last car was an 04 Isuzu rodeo so I don't know nuthin bout that sorcery. 😂
Wtf are you supposed do if it's cold out? Just die? So stupid.
No. You are not allow to leave your body out in the cold. That is a public health hazard and littering.
You have successfully identified the end goal
Simple solution: sleep on the back seats if drunk.
Yeah it's that way everywhere
It is absolutely allowed in Germany. Private parking lots can forbid it, but on public parking space it's allowed
In some places, parking lots are monitored by security and you'll be kicked out if you're sleeping in your car in the parking lot.
I see a lot of areas with "No Overnight Parking" signs or something similar, so they don't make sleeping in your car illegal technically, but you can't stay there over night.
Sleep during day, party with neighbors at night
Often times it's loitering charges, loitering being a fancy term for "being out in public whenever it displeases a person of authority". Sitting on a public bench, having a picnic, walking on a sidewalk, sleeping in your car, whatever, all of those can and will get you loitering charges depending on your exact location in the United States.
Then you have public intoxication charges which on paper are only supposed to apply if you're causing a public disturbance (despite disorderly conduct already being a charge for that, public intoxication just makes it more severe), but in reality it's mostly used to harass drunk people who couldn't get a ride home, or uber home, and decided not to drive while drunk. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a higher likelihood of getting arrested for public intoxication while drunk walking/public transporting home than of getting arrested for DUI while drunk driving home. But public intoxication and even DUI can also be used if you're sleeping off drunkenness in your car, while the car is turned off.
Don't forget local "no camping" laws meant to keep homeless people from sleeping in their cars on public property/public parking.
Less actually illegal and more that the lots are privately owned and the owning companies can have you removed from the lots of they don't like what you're doing.
It's illegal in the netherlands too
You have cars? I thought all cars are forcibly seized and replaced with bikes at the border.
It's because those things happen if you allow people from general Benelux to have a car.
In australia, it can be illegal too. Only 1 state has actually made it 100% illegal, that state being Queensland (which is a rather big state too, stupidly enough). Where I'm from (Victoria), it's not illegal at a state level, but some councils prohibit it in their local bylaws. In the rest of our states and territories the act of sleeping in your car isn't illegal, but some of the more affluent and snobby areas try to get around that by not offering anywhere to park overnight without permits or living in the area