Stopping Versus Parking in Hanoi: Checking Where a Short Pause Is Allowed

The 2024 Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety separates “stopping” (dừng xe) from “parking” (đỗ xe), and the road signs P.130 and P.131 split along the same line. For a rider in Hanoi weighing a short pause, such as collecting a friend, buying water or taking a phone call, the question is which side of that line the pause falls on. The pages read give definitions, banned positions and a Hanoi police officer’s view, but no number of minutes that separates a stop from parking.

Stop versus park: how Article 18 draws the line

Article 18 of Law No. 36/2024/QH15, as reproduced by the Nghe An Public Administration Service Centre, applies from 01 January 2025 under Article 88, which ends the older Law No. 23/2008/QH12 with exceptions. A Hanoi legal-information portal (posted 01/08/2024) quotes it too. Dates here are day/month/year, as the pages print them.

Where neither stopping nor parking is allowed

Clause 4 of Article 18 lists positions and does not name the P.130 or P.131 signs. Among them, paraphrased:

• the left side of a one-way road;
• a bend or near a crest where the view is blocked;
• a bridge unless traffic organisation allows it, and under a flyover except where allowed;
• a pedestrian crossing, an intersection and the first 5 metres from its edge, and a pick-up or drop-off point;
• in front of, and 5 metres either side of, the gate of an agency or organisation that has a road for vehicles;
• where the road fits only one motor-vehicle lane, and in a railway safety zone;
• positions hiding road signs or traffic lights, bus-only roads, drain and utility manholes, fire-engine water points, and carriageway or pavement where the rules do not allow it.

How to stop or park where it is allowed

Clauses 3 and 5 to 7 of the same article, paraphrased:

• Signal when entering or leaving the position, and do not affect pedestrians or other vehicles.
• On roads, use a wide verge or land beside the carriageway, or the right edge where the verge is narrow or absent.
• On streets, keep to the kerb or pavement on the right, with the nearest wheel no more than 0.25 metre away, without obstructing or endangering others.
• If a breakdown or other force majeure forces parking that takes up part of the carriageway or happens where parking is not allowed, hazard lights or a warning sign behind the vehicle are required.

Signs P.130 and P.131

Thanh Niên (18/05/2025) cites Circular 51/2024/TT-BGTVT and QCVN 41:2024/BGTVT for two signs it says drivers often confuse.

VOV (updated 26/06/2020) describes the earlier edition, QCVN 41:2019/BGTVT, where supplementary sign S.508 can limit a prohibition to hours, odd or even days or a set period such as “> 5 phút” (over 5 minutes). No page read confirms that the 2024 edition keeps this.

What a Hanoi police officer says about a short pause

In Đời sống & Pháp luật (09/05/2026), Lieutenant Colonel Nguyễn Việt Anh of Road Traffic Police Team No. 7, Hanoi Traffic Police Department, says P.131 bans parking but not a temporary stop that is done properly and does not obstruct traffic. From the Article 18 definitions, the article goes on to say that a brief stop at a P.131 sign to pick up or drop off a passenger is allowed if done quickly and without congestion, while leaving the vehicle, waiting a long time for a passenger or leaving it standing for long counts as parking. It adds that traffic police have come across drivers who switch on hazard lights, then leave the vehicle to buy goods, take a phone call or wait for someone, and says this is treated as parking at a No parking sign even with the warning signal.

The Thanh Niên article carries a tension. A driver in Ho Chi Minh City says he stopped for about four to five minutes to wait for a friend, engine running and himself inside, where a No parking sign stood, and was fined for parking; officers said the act breached the rule on places with a no stopping and parking sign, even for a short time. The article, framed around car drivers, does not reconcile this with its own statement that P.131 allows a temporary stop.

Hanoi signs: homemade boards and parking-operator signs

Hànộimới (05/10/2024) reports No parking and No stopping boards put up by households and businesses on streets including Hai Bà Trưng, Trần Thái Tông, Khúc Thừa Dụ and Duy Tân. The Hanoi Department of Transport says some organisations and individuals have installed road signs contrary to regulations and without authority; its Document No. 6009/SGTVT-QLKCHTGT of 25-9-2024 asked units to review and withdraw them; the article quotes the Department as asking for results before 8 October 2024. A resident says a person from a shop asked him to move on after he stopped on Hai Bà Trưng.

Another Hànộimới article (15/07/2024), about car parking in Cầu Giấy, reports No parking signs beside parking-operator signs, and drivers who parked a few minutes being asked to pay. It says this was explained as correct under current rules; the Department of Transport’s Trần Đăng Hải cites the older Law No. 23/2008/QH12.

After parking, see Hanoi Motorbike Parking: Tickets, Payment and Collection Checklist and What to Do If a Motorbike Parking Ticket Is Lost in Hanoi. Weekend pedestrian streets and parking boundaries are the subject of Hanoi Weekend Pedestrian Streets: Plan Your Motorbike Parking Boundary, while short rental questions sit in the Hanoi Motorbike Rental FAQ.

Penalty figures: three pages, two decrees

No page says that one decree replaced the other.

What the pages leave out

• No page gives a number of minutes separating a stop from parking; the law says “temporary”, and parking has no time limit.
• No page says how the engine rule applies to a rider who dismounts to buy water; the officer speaks of drivers and the P.131 sign.
• No page quotes QCVN 41:2024/BGTVT on P.130 or P.131; Thanh Niên and the officer paraphrase it, and VOV describes the 2019 edition.
• No page gives a step-by-step for a street where no sign is visible, beyond the Article 18 rules above, and none gives a fine for a motorbike that only stops at a No parking sign.
• No page explains the gap between the penalty figures or says whether a rider must obey a homemade sign.
• No page gives a full list of Hanoi streets with No parking signs or the hours those signs apply; the Hànộimới articles name only some streets, and the Cầu Giấy article concerns cars and gives no motorbike parking charge.

Sources checked

• Nghe An service centre: Law 36/2024/QH15 full text
• Hanoi legal portal: stopping and parking rules
• Ministry of Public Security: motorbike penalties
• Đời sống & Pháp luật: Hanoi police officer on P.131
• Thanh Niên: reading P.130 and P.131
• VOV: supplementary signs, 2019 edition
• Hànộimới: No parking and parking-operator signs
• Hànộimới: homemade No parking signs

Thuê xe máy Nguyễn Hà is open 09:00–21:00 daily at Ngõ 5 Nguyễn Văn Cừ, Bồ Đề, Long Biên, Hà Nội (near Gia Lâm bus station). Phone: 0334 699 969.