Tire Chalking: What It Means (& Why It’s Controversial)

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A look at this questionable parking enforcement practice
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Ever seen a block full of cars where almost every vehicle had a weird chalk mark on one of the tires? If so, we’ve got the answers to this mystery! While chalking tires is actually relatively straightforward, there is a surprising amount of controversy over the practice. We’ll cover all of that and more below.

Chalking Tires in Parking Enforcement

Chalking tires is an enforcement technique where a parking or police officer places a small chalk mark on part of your tire. The officer returns after a specific amount of time has passed to see if the chalk mark is in the same spot. If it is, it means the car has been there long enough to receive a ticket.

Section 1 of 4:

Why is there chalk on my tires?

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  1. Tire chalk is typically parking enforcement’s way of tracking your car. In many jurisdictions, parking enforcement officers will use a piece of chalk to mark tires in areas where there is a time limit for parking. Here’s how the whole process works: [1]
    • A parking officer marks your tire with chalk and notes the time. The enforcement officer will either write the time on the tire, or put a subtle chalk line somewhere (usually a parallel or perpendicular line to the curb).
    • The officer returns to your car after the time limit has passed. If you’re in a 3-hour parking zone, they’ll return 3 hours after making the mark. If you can only park on a street for 72 hours, they’ll return after 3 days.
    • If the chalk mark is in the same place, you get a ticket or are towed. Seeing their chalk mark in the same exact location where they originally put it means that you didn’t move your car. They’ll write you a ticket or tow your car.
    • If the chalk mark moved, you’re in the clear. If your car moved at all, the chalk won’t be in the same location. This means you drove the car and reparked it, and you shouldn’t get in any trouble.
    • Some jurisdictions only use chalk to check abandoned vehicles. This is much less common, but some municipalities mark a tire with chalk if they suspect the car has been abandoned. They’ll return after a few days or weeks to confirm the car hasn’t moved and tow it off as an abandoned car. [2]
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Section 2 of 4:

Is chalking tires legal?

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  1. The legality question is complicated, but yes, it’s (usually) legal. In 2014, a court case went to the Michigan higher courts where a judge ruled that chalking tires violates the Fourth Amendment. That ruling was later overturned in another court, and then that ruling was overturned. Right now, chalking tires is generally considered legal. However, some cities have preemptively banned the practice since it seems likely that chalking tires will eventually be illegal again. [3]
    • What’s the Fourth Amendment? The Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable search and seizures. Basically, a cop can’t walk up to you and search your backpack for no reason at all, and a parking enforcer isn’t allowed to tow your vehicle unless they have a valid reason.
    • How does chalking tires violate that amendment? The argument is that marking the tires involves infringing on the property rights of a person. They don’t consent to their car being marked, so in a weird way it’s like they’re trespassing on your property before you’ve made any parking violation.
    • Why is it legal if it violates the Fourth Amendment? Right now, courts don’t accept the argument that a chalk mark qualifies as a search. This keeps flipping back and forth depending on the judge, though.
Section 3 of 4:

Alternatives to Chalking

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  1. 1
    Physical parking slips are the most common old-school alternative. If you think about what chalking is actually tracking (how long you park somewhere), it may have dawned on you that parking permits and paid receipts that you stick in your dashboard basically do the same thing—they’re proof of how long you’ve been parked in a specific location.
    • This is why chalking is more commonly used for longer-term parking restrictions. Chalking isn’t popular in areas where you pay for parking on a short-term basis. It’s much more useful for checking to see if a car has been abandoned or left somewhere for an extended time.
  2. 2
    Valve stem position is a less invasive alternative to chalking. Some jurisdictions will check the location of your valve stem—the little piece that sticks out of the tire so you can refill it with air. The parking enforcement officer or cop will draw a little clock and then mark your valve stem location on the chart. If they return and see the stem hasn’t changed positions, you’ll get a ticket. [4]
  3. 3
    Most parking enforcement agencies now use electronic tracking. There are a few different ways to check the plates digitally, and this is what most larger towns and small cities have moved on to. They’ll typically use a digital license plate reader to automatically measure how long you’ve parked somewhere. [5]
    • The advantage of this system is that it’s also more airtight. The chalk line method can be disputed in court since agents can forget where they put the marke exactly.
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Section 4 of 4:

What is the tire chalk test?

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  1. The “chalk test” is a DIY method to find your ideal tire pressure. This is a popular DIY hack for drivers who care about maintaining proper air pressure . Here’s how it works. You draw a thick chalk line across the top of your tire tread. Then, you drive in a straight line for a block or so. Get out and check the tire. If the chalk is totally worn off evenly, your tires are perfectly inflated. [6]
    • If the chalk is worn off only on the outside: your tires are under-inflated. There isn’t enough air pressure to apply force to the middle of the tire, so the road makes way more contact with the edges of the tire.
    • If the chalk is only worn off in the middle: your tires are overinflated. The excess air is pushing the middle of the tire out so the road didn’t wipe away the chalk on the edges.

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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/tire-chalk-parking-unconstitutional.html
      2. ↑ https://www.rigov.org/803/Abandoned-Vehicle
      3. ↑ https://parking-mobility-magazine.org/the-business-of-parking-legal/the-business-of-parking-legal/
      4. ↑ https://my.spokanecity.org/news/stories/2023/03/13/how-the-city-uses-lpr-technology-for-parking/
      5. ↑ https://my.spokanecity.org/news/stories/2023/03/13/how-the-city-uses-lpr-technology-for-parking/
      6. ↑ https://youtu.be/_T2FfrRHaTU?t=90

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