Winter parking bans: how Fall River, Dartmouth and Somerset clear the streets and who pays for a tow
Fall River tells drivers which side of the street stays open during a ban, and Somerset lists seven lots to use while the plows work.
SOUTH COAST When a snowstorm is coming, Fall River, Dartmouth and Somerset can order cars off their streets so plows can get through, and a car left in the way can be ticketed or towed at the owner's expense. Fall River announces its bans ahead of a storm, Dartmouth posts its bans on the town website and local stations, and the rules for where a car may stay, what a ticket costs and where to park instead differ from one town to the next.
Fall River
Fall River declares a parking ban when 3 inches or more of snow are predicted, and the ban may take effect before the snow starts so streets can be cleared. The city says it announces each ban ahead of time to give residents a chance to move their cars. Rules are strictly enforced during a ban: a ticket costs $65, and cars in violation can also be towed.
During a ban, parking is allowed on the north side of streets that run east and west and on the west side of streets that run north and south, which in most cases means no parking on the fire hydrant side. Both sides of a street divided by a median stay open unless signs say otherwise, but no one may park against the median. Cars must stay 20 feet from a corner and 10 feet from a hydrant. The city lists the Flint Municipal Parking Lot on Pleasant Street, the Columbia Street Municipal Parking Lot at Columbia and Hunter streets, and Hood Street in the North End as places to park, and says more spots may be announced for bigger storms.
A driver whose car was towed during a ban can call the police station at 508-676-8511, extension 163, to learn where it went, and the tow company must be paid before it releases the car. Owners are to shovel the sidewalks along their homes and businesses, wheelchair ramps included, and the city says sidewalks and ramps should be cleared at the end of a storm. Snow may not be pushed onto a cleared sidewalk, driveway or street, and the city asks residents to clear the hydrants, catch basins, ramps and corners on their street too, with fines for violations. The Traffic and Parking storm line is 508-324-2577 or 508-324-2579, and Community Maintenance is at 508-324-2760.
Dartmouth
In Dartmouth, the public works director and the police chief decide together when a parking ban is needed and how long it lasts, under the Department of Public Works' Snow and Ice Control Manual, dated September 2024. When a major storm is predicted, the town administrator declares a snow emergency and the two officials set a ban. Cars left on the street during a ban are towed.
The town bylaw lets the Department of Public Works remove any vehicle that gets in the way of plowing or snow removal to a garage or outdoor lot. The owner pays for the tow and any storage, at the maximum rates allowed under state law, and the department has to tell the owner where the car was taken within a reasonable time, if the owner can be identified. Bans are announced on the town website and Facebook page, on DCTV Channel 18, on local radio and television, and at the public works main line, 508-999-0740.
Main roads are plowed before secondary and residential roads. Under the manual, plowing typically begins once 2 inches have fallen, and no later than 4 inches on main roads or 6 inches on secondary roads. Main roads are typically cleared to their full width within four hours after a storm ends, and secondary roads within eight.
Sidewalks along private property are the owner's job, including snow a plow pushes onto them. The town's bylaw gives owners four hours after daytime snow stops to clear a hard-surfaced sidewalk, or until 11 a.m. the next day after snow at night. Anyone other than town crews and their contractors who piles, pushes or plows snow onto a street or sidewalk in a way that blocks traffic or people on foot faces a $150 fine. Town plows do not clear private driveways except in an emergency, and the snow a plow leaves at the end of a driveway is the owner's to move. If a plow hits a mailbox, the town replaces it with a standard Postal Service box when the resident files a damage report within two weeks, but it does not pay for ornamental or nonstandard boxes or for damage from the impact of plowed snow.
A rewrite of the sidewalk rule, with a 24-hour deadline and a $25 fine, or $300 for commercial property and land within a mile of a public school, was on the warrant for the Oct. 20 Town Meeting (SC360's preview of that meeting). Under chapter 40, section 32 of the General Laws, a new town bylaw takes effect only after the attorney general approves it, or 90 days pass without action once the town clerk submits it, and the town publishes it.
Somerset
Somerset's parking bylaw, adopted at a December 1974 Special Town Meeting, lets the Board of Selectmen authorize the police chief, and sergeants and higher officers the chief names, to have any vehicle removed that is parked on a town way so as to block snow or ice removal, or that breaks a rule against parking there at that time. The owner can be charged for the tow and storage and fined.
The town lists lots for drivers to use during a ban. In the South End, they are Massassoit Park on Massassoit Street, O'Neil Field on Brayton Point Road and the Park and Ride on Slades Ferry Avenue. In the Center, it is the Council on Aging on Wood Street. In the Village, they are the Pierce Beach parking lot on South Street and the front lot of the Historical Society on School Street, and in the North End, the lot next to the concession stand at Ashton Field on Olympic Road.
How plowing works in Swansea
Swansea's Highway Department pretreats main roads and hills with wetted salt from the first flake. Once 2 to 3 inches have fallen, it calls in plowing contractors to work beside the town's 10 plows, at a cost of $2,000 an hour, so the highway director and foreman control that timing closely. After every street and the police, ambulance and fire stations are plowed, crews treat roads again as needed. The town asks residents to call the electric company at 800-465-1212 about tree limbs lying on electric wires.
The state law behind Somerset's tows
Somerset's bylaw rests on chapter 40, section 22D of the Massachusetts General Laws, which lets a city or town that accepts it authorize police to remove a vehicle that blocks plowing or snow removal or breaks a no-parking rule. Under that law, the owner can be charged for the tow and storage, but not above the state's maximum rates, and the tow company is liable for damage it causes through negligence. Vehicles owned by the state, cities and towns or the federal government, and marked that way, are exempt, as are cars with diplomatic or consular plates.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the City of Fall River's parking ban page, the Dartmouth Department of Public Works' Snow and Ice Control Manual, Dartmouth's general bylaws as the town links them on eCode360, Somerset's parking bylaw and snow emergency page, the Swansea Highway Department's snow and ice page, and chapter 40, sections 22D and 32 of the General Laws. We read them on Oct. 29, 2026. We checked each date against a calendar.
Corrections
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Sources (9)
- City of Fall River, Traffic and Parking: Parking BanThe 3-inch trigger, early start, announcement, $65 ticket and towing, which side to park on, medians, 20 feet from a corner and 10 feet from a hydrant, the three parking locations, sidewalk and snow rules, the tow line 508-676-8511 ext. 163 and the Storm Central and Community Maintenance numbers. No posted date on the page. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Town of Dartmouth Department of Public Works: Snow and Ice Control Manual (September 2024, PDF)Emergency Snow Removal Policy, parking ban decision and towing, public notifications list, priorities, plowing guidelines (2, 4 and 6 inches, and 4 and 8 hours), sidewalks, driveways and the mailbox policy. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Town of Dartmouth General By-laws, chapter 315, article I (Art. 89 of the 2011 General By-Laws), eCode360Section 315-6, snow to be removed from sidewalks (four hours, or by 11 a.m. after night snow), and section 315-7, dumping snow on streets or sidewalks, $150 fine. Linked from the town's Town By-Laws page. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Town of Dartmouth General By-laws, chapter 340, article I: Removal of Vehicles Interfering with Plowing (Art. 92 of the 2011 General By-Laws), eCode360Sections 340-1 to 340-4: removal by the Department of Public Works, owner pays at no more than the maximum rates under chapter 159B, section 6B, notice to the owner. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Town of Somerset: Parking By-Law, Special Town Meeting, Dec. 16, 1974, Article 4 (PDF)Police removal of vehicles that impede snow or ice removal, removal and storage charges and fines under G.L. c. 40, ss. 22 and 22D. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Town of Somerset: Snow Emergency InformationDesignated parking areas during a parking ban, by section of town. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Town of Swansea Highway Department: Snow and Ice ControlPretreating, the first flake policy, contractors at 2 to 3 inches at $2,000 an hour, the town's 10 plowing vehicles, post-storm treatment and the electric company number. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 40, section 32: approval and publication of town bylawsA bylaw takes effect after the attorney general approves it, or 90 days pass without action after the clerk submits it, and after it is published. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 40, section 22D: removal of vehiclesPolice removal of vehicles that impede snow or ice removal in a city or town that accepts the section, removal and storage at no more than the state maximum, contractor liability for negligence and the exemptions. Read Oct. 29, 2026.