Parking In Front Of A Mailbox In North Dakota: Legal Or No?

We are right at the start of road construction season in Bismarck-Mandan. The roads are starting to fill with cones, and more and more detours are popping up. While that can be frustrating for us, it's not the only challenge we face. Parking throughout town can be a bit of a struggle in the downtown area, but sometimes figuring out where to legally park in residential neighborhoods can be tricky.

While on my way home for lunch this afternoon, I saw a postal worker doing his rounds throughout my neighborhood, and it got me thinking: Can you park in front of a mailbox? Probably not, right? I'm sure this is something we learned in driver's ed, but I thought I'd look it up to be sure.

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According to the United States Code, Title 18, Section 1701, it says that whoever willfully obstructs or retards the passage of mail shall be subject to fine, imprisonment, or both.

That sounds pretty scary. I doubt any local authorities will enforce this federal law unless a particular individual has been warned several times and the issue proves to be serious; blocking a mailbox could still get you reported to the police. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't risk it!

Since we are talking about parking no-no's, let's get a good laugh in and take a look at Bismarck-Mandan's biggest parking fails.