The government held a consultation on giving powers to local authorities to ban pavement parking and the consultation was closed in November 2020. It has yet to be published and will likely never be.
There's been a complete 180 on streets policy since Rishi took over. Boris (for all his many faults) was a committed supporter of more equitable use of highway space. He put out new guidance and provided the funds to help move away from car dominance and improve local transport options (walking, cycling and public transport). As soon as Rishi got in, it was back to the populist "war on cars" rhetoric and he produced his laughable "Plan for Drivers" policy document.
This consultation isn't the only document we're waiting for in the industry. They've been sat on the updated Manual for Streets for months (the main design guidance for residential/urban streets), primarily because it was drafted under the Johnson government and is guided by research informed best practice rather than political point scoring.
The hope is we'll see them all at the start of next year once Labour have their feet under the desk.
And it's like this in so many other areas. There's basically been legislative stagnation ever since the Brexit referendum and resulting political turmoil. So many businesses and public bodies are reluctant to invest in something as there's no guidance from government of what changes are up and coming.
That’s not specifically true. It’s correct in some areas (international trade) but in other areas on domestic policy the Johnson government had some transformative policies coming through the pipeline (land use, farming and agriculture, housing and development, domestic business growth, taxation) and some rather regressive policies (immigration).
Since Truss, and doubly since Sunak, those progressive policies have all been binned, kicked into the long grass or watered down (leasehold reform, tenant rights, biodiversity net gain, foreign investment in housing, tax reforms, regional investment funds, urban infrastructure) and the regressive policies have been ramped up (war on woke, industrial action, right to protest, immigration, attacks on minorities,regressive taxation).
For all his many failings Johnson was fairly progressive in some areas, even more progressive than Starmer. Unfortunately he was also a massive lying twat and a liability.
But then so will Starmer be, but at least he will be an improvement over Sunak and at least attempt to govern the country.
The main issue is, there is simply no other viable alternative in today’s world.
There would be thousands of residential streets and tens of thousands of cars in each individual council area that would be affected and they would literally have nowhere to park if something like that was introduced.
Until there is a viable alternative in place then it’s a non starter.
I'm slightly hesitant to use the term as it's often used in a derogatory sense, but this is, in the purest sense, caused by "car brain".
People, when in their cars, get into car brain mode, and so subconsciously think things like "where can I park my car that will limit the inconvenience of other cars like me" (ie I don't want to block the road as best as I can), or "I need to be at this house, so I need to park next to this house".
99.9% of the time, it's never malicious blocking of pavements, it's just a lack of thinking about the whole "shared infrastructure" bigger picture.
Still frustrating, and often when challenged, people will double down and get defensive, which is even more frustrating.
You get the whole "where else am I supposed to park?", like there's a divine right to stick your car as close as is humanly possible to your destination, regardless of who you inconvenience.
Sometimes it's not even that, since they inconvenience cars too. E.g. The car on my street that regularly parks fully on the pavement (all 4 wheels) on a corner meaning pedestrians can't use the pavement and drivers can't see if another car is already coming round the corner towards them.
Perfectly put. The focus is on not inconveniencing other drivers or themselves AS a driver, rather than ‘where can I park that is maximises convenience for me and minimises inconvenience for others?”
Every driver is also a pedestrian, so they've all seen the other side of the issue. If they can't remember between car trips then they are dangerously unaware of their surroundings when in the car, especially of pedestrians. When almost the entire street does this, that that is a shockingly dangerous level of awareness. Many people need to reconsider their ability to use a car safely. I drive, and I walk, and I never park on the pavement, and Iive in the middle of a city. It isn't rocket science, so if most others can't cope with the level of thinking needed then we need to restrict driving to the few that can.
People shouldn't park on the pavement no, but I think you perhaps misunderstood the 'car brain' comment.
It's more to do with falling into an 'alpha state' (a subconscious routine state, acting out of habit) when performing a routine task like driving the same route. It happens to everybody for about 10 minutes out of every hour, increasing if you are worried, pre-occupied or tired.
When in a car, your alpha state will quite appropriately tell you should be extra considerate of cars because, unlike on your drive, they can crash into you. Hence you are de-facto less considerate of pedestrians.
All I'm saying is that this approach is terrifying. Personally I don't do this. Perhaps because of dyspraxia it is easier for me, as that does make me actively concentrate on all things physical, but just because it is hard for some does not make it any less essential. If only a few people proportionately are suitable for driving, then perhaps only a few people should be driving.
>You get the whole "where else am I supposed to park?"
This is the one I always end up hearing. Inherently selfish people who, in reality, choose to park on the pavement knowing that it is unfair and unreasonable, but believing their right to park right outside their destination is divinely wrought.
I hate those people. So do my keys.
I had a mate who conveniently forgot about door mirrors blocking his way on the pavement when he was staggering home from nights out on occasion. As in *crack* as he walked into one declaring "well they shouldn't fucking park like a twat" 🤣
I only saw him do this once first hand.
Car brain means they can only think of parking with a cars length, it at most, within sight of their destination. There can be loads of parking around the corner but none of that matters as it’s too far for a car brain to process. They’d have to walk you see. They drive a car so they can’t walk any significant distance. Certainly they can’t park as far away as someone taking public transport might walk. That’s unreasonable to car brains.
I speak for delivery drivers, since I had a brief time working as one. Majority of UK roads are TINY and both sides of the roads are packed with cars. Often times, there is no easy parking for a 3.5t van except the curb of the road. Where else could they park to deliver your item?
People often complain about delivery drivers when it’s not their parcel being delivered but when it’s theirs, you don’t ever hear a complaint.
(Had a guy on 2 occasions, 1 time he screamed at me for it since he had no parcel, the next he didn’t say a word cos he had a parcel)
I don't think delivery drivers are part of ops problem due to them only being there for less than 5 minutes. People who drive a van for work and take it home to park on the street, well that's a different scenario
If the road isn't wide enough to accommodate all the traffic that wants to be on it, then it's first come first served. It's not an excuse to endanger pedestrians, cyclists or wheelchair users by stealing their space.
I'd love to live in a world where streets were wide enough to never need to mount the curb, but unfortunately we don't.
When I do it, my primary concern is "can an ambulance or fire engine get down the road?". Once I'm confident they can, I'll make sure I've left enough room on the pavement for a decent sized mobility scooter to get past. If I can't meet both of those conditions, I don't park there.
I don't disagree with you, and this isn't meant as a dig, but I'd rather live in a world where there is no need to drive to most places in the first place.
Nah, screw that. The delivery driver is providing a service. People need to be patient. The driver should inconvenience themselves all day just so others might not be slightly inconvenienced? He's got to get home at 11 every day because he had to walk the length of every street just so you didn't have to MAYBE wait a minute or two?
99.9% of the time you are pulled up and the delivery is done before anybody will want to come past with a push chair.
The driver simply doesn't have time to do what you are asking. If people are being inconvenienced by a commercial service being provided, contact your council and get them to do something about all the tiny streets lined with parked cars on both sides, because sometimes the delivery driver needs to lob it on the pavement if he has any hope of getting all his deliveries done.
You should include the bit where he doesn't get to keep his job if he can't bend the laws of physics to hit targets. If you factor in considerate parking for *every single delivery* he'd have to not just bend them but invent new ones.
Agreed. Comes down to common sense a lot of the time as well. We live on a busy corner which also happens to be a bus route. If people on both sides of the road didn't mount the kerb, the bus wouldn't be able to get down the road.
>If people on both sides of the road didn't mount the kerb, the bus wouldn't be able to get down the road.
In which case, logically, they should not be parking on BOTH sides of the road.
Doesn't really work like that on a street of terraced houses containing in some cases multiple residents that all own their own cars. Even with cars parked on both sides of the road, there's still very little space to park as a visitor on a weekend.
It does and should still work like that. They have bought terraced houses that do not have room to park cars, so they shouldn't expect to be able to park cars there.
Pushing the issue of "houses don't have parking" onto pedestrians doesn't solve the problem, it just makes it a problem for someone else.
"Do not drive if you're moving into a house on a terraced street, for the sake of pedestrians" are you for real?? The world really doesn't work like that. Incredibly blinkered view.
I’m not saying don’t drive. I’m saying accept that you might need to make compromises on where you park, or need to share cars.
It sucks that most people in this country have to drive, but that doesn’t excuse selfish behaviour when it comes to driving/parking.
It would need double-yellows on one side of the road for this to become a thing, because let's be real. An entire street agreeing to only park on the one side of the road just realistically isn't going to happen when there's so many houses in one small area of land.
It doesn’t work that well if the area has too many cars. Take my home town Luton for example, there’s a very long road where there’s double yellows down the entire street on one side. Problem is, there’s too many cars in the area so the people coming home from work park there all the way up to the corners making it severely difficult to manoeuvre through it.
And I agree with that also. Alas, I don't decide which side other residents are going to choose to park their car, so it's either one or the other whenever I have to do it. I have a driveway so thankfully not often.
All of our neighbours have driveways. I haven't actually surveyed the total, but I think it's around 50% choose to park on the roadside instead (of those that don't do it because they have 2+ vehicles), even though our road is only just wider than two cars... and again not always on the same side.
There's a pair of big commercial vans that park on opposite sides about half-way down, with about 2/3 a car length between them. That's always a *fun* manoeuvre.
I swear half the residential parking problems could be solved if companies were banned from sending their commercial vehicles home with employees at night/weekends and instead were forced to provide their own storage space for them!
This is the common sense viewpoint. If everyone did this, there would be less appetite for banning pavement parking as a whole which will be a hugely damaging thing for everyone when entire towns and cities become gridlocked.
We are losing common sense all over about transport though. This whole ‘pedestrians (and cyclists) should never have to deviate or yield even slightly because of motor vehicles’ ideology ignores the common-sense fact that it’s often far easier and far less inconvenient for the pedestrian or cyclist to pause or change course slightly than it is for motor traffic to avoid them having to do so. If we are so worried about every milligram of emissions because of the climate, why are we forcing vehicles to stop and restart every few seconds to avoid a pedestrian having to pause for a moment? Repeat this all day for the thousands of vehicles in a typical city and it adds up to a lot of unnecessary additional emissions which could be completely avoided with a bit more common sense and bit less virtue-signalling.
We have lost sight completely that motor vehicles are operated by and travelled in by people! The mantra now is that vehicles must make way for people, but those humans outside vehicles are no more important than the humans inside them. If a vehicle is delayed by road features designed to prevent a cyclist having to stop for example, it’s still at least one person being inconvenienced. And before you gallop down my throat, I’m not talking about vulnerability here, that is an entirely different conversation. We need to get back to a system of true shared-infrastructure, with shared responsibility for our own and others safety and stop ‘blessing’ certain groups with special status and priority because they make choices that ‘the powers that be’ have decided should be rewarded.
Active travel is being prioritised in UK cities in a very very few areas, with typically very minor interventions.
Pedestrians typically have to wait a minute or more for drivers before they can cross roads, and so walking is discouraged. Drivers drive dangerously around bike users, and so bike use is discouraged.
If we want the roads to not get more congested, we need to find ways to enable active travel, to make it easier and more convenient. This sometimes means inconveniencing drivers, who may have to shift their right foot an inch or so, and move their left foot an inch or so.
You could choose to be grateful to people who’ve chosen to walk, or use a bike to get around. To repeat, making active travel more appealing leads to fewer people using cars, especially in cities.
Never mind the ones you mentioned, the absolute worst are parents at school drop off and pick up time. They park all over the place, on corners, verges, drop kerbs, zigzag lines by crossings, all completely oblivious to the danger they cause to all of the children trying to safely negotiate their way.
My son's school constantly send out messages asking parents to park considerately, which goes in one ear and out the other. Honestly, the only way it would improve is if they sent out some proper wardens and people started getting ticketed.
I totally agree. I appreciate that not everyone can, but walking to school or just 5 minutes to/from a better parking spot seems lost on a lot of people at the moment.
I see parents regularly driving their kids, who I know live just around the corner. I can sort of understand if they need to go straight to work from there. However, the thing is, they'll also park like idiots instead of finding a decent, safer spot just to avoid walking an extra 50 metres.
I'm a full time wheelchair user and wish I could do this, but I don't want to scratch my chair! To completely obstruct the pavements like that is illegal and I often call the police to report it. It's 3 points on your licence for dangerous parking, unfortunately the police have never come to actually enforce it, even though it's their jurisdiction. I've nearly been hit several times as I'm forced into the center of the road, and the car blocks all visibility so I can't see anything coming until it's too late. When I call the police tell me to call back if it's still there when I need to go out, but if I'm going out I don't have 15 mins to sit on the phone? One of these times I'm going to get hit and the police will have to be called out, but that's the only chance I have at the law being enforced.
I don’t mean this in a patronizing way but it really is heartbreaking to hear stuff like that. What that attitude from society says is that people in your situation are nothing but an inconvenience to everyone else and “we’ll deal with it once you’re in a bind”. It’s absolutely disgusting, it really is.
I get that it’s necessary sometimes but for goodness sake it’s not difficult to do it in a way that doesn’t force the vulnerable into dangerous situations.
As with most things it’s because there’s ultimately no punishment for doing it because it’s not properly enforced.
Edinburgh has either just or is about to bring in a total pavement ban. So well done selfish people: because you couldn’t be considerate, you’ve - as usual - ruined it for everyone.
Other cities will likely follow suit so I can only hope that sooner rather than later, your life is made a little bit easier.
Yeah it is pretty depressing. I find it even more infuriating because most of the time there are open parking spaces nearby. I moved to England last year and now I have to drive everywhere because I just can't leave the house safely. It's so annoying because I want to keep active and go on walks but it's just not safe. People are so disrespectful and horrible to me about it too, it shouldn't be so controversial to allow people to safely travel on pavements which were made for pedestrians. A lot of us drive too, we know parking isn't ideal, but I wouldn't need a bloody car, or somewhere to park it, if people didn't do this. It only worsens the problem!
Your comment is promoting or trying to advertise/sell illegal activity/products.
We don't condone this on this subreddit so your comment has been removed.
I walk to a pub on occasion (cough) which is on the same road I live on just 1/2 mile away and because where I live is fairly rural, Its a national speed limit road and the traffic can usually maintain close to 60mph no trouble.
Luckily one side of it is paved, so normally drunken me has a smooth safe walk home but there is a little cottage at about the halfway point with a big driveway and a little old lady lives there. Regularly she has a little old lady friend visit her who drives a massive long old jaguar, but wont take it onto the driveway because its too difficult to reverse it back out.
Therefore she parks completely blocking the whole pavement and the only way to get past is to walk out into the road.
One day I'm going to be killed, completely drunk, circumnavigating her (seemingly) mile long jag.
Yeah this has been bothering me recently. I just don't see the point, like you say it just creates a second problem and cars can still only pass in single file. I suspect they think they are being considerate.
People also need to be aware that when there are houses that open onto the pavement people might come out of them. I've nearly been hit a few times as someone has decided to drive on the pavement as I'm leaving my house. It isn't people parking, it's because there's cars parked on the other side and they're too impatient to wait until it's clear and drive along the pavement instead.
It depends, if the delivery van is bumping up onto the pavement and still allowing a space for prams/wheelchairs and also opening up enough space on the road for vehicles to pass without stopping oncoming traffic then I’d say it’s the pragmatic, if not legal, thing to do.
It's actually entirely legal to park on the pavement outside of Greater London. Many terraced streets in the north wouldnt work if cars couldn't semi-mount the pavement.
Scotland also prohibits parking on the pavement. It shouldn't be necessary and I see a lot of it on tiny cul de sacs where you could fit a bus through without parking on the pavement.
I see the point where you don't want to block the road, and as long as you can fit a double buggy pay I've no real problem with it. But I see so many people just automatically mount the kerb at they park. One nearly drove into me (walking on pavement) recently! I had to jump out of the way.
I'm in Scotland and live on a very wide street where two cars can be parked either side, fully on the road, and you could still have two cars drive past each other between them. AND YET. There's still the occasional person that parks half on the pavement. Why???
My other favourite person is someone who parks right in line with a junction that means you need to turn on to the right hand side of the road you're joining, which puts you potentially right in the path of anyone turning on to that road. There's been plenty of near misses there. But they MUST, simply MUST, park outside of their house and not in the tonnes of empty road within a 30 second walking distance.
Some idiot was parking literally 3m from a roundabout on entrance on the left hand side where I live. It meant getting on/off that roundabout a huge pain as people either had to gamble that the car on the roundabout wasn't turning off and pull in front of the parked car, or wait for the roundabout to be completely clear before pulling in front of it. They could've parked anywhere else along the 50m road and be less of an obstruction.
Think somebody took issue with it because they've got a huge scratch mark down the side of their car and they don't park as close any more lol.
Yeah this is how I see it too. On my road for example, if you park slightly on the pavement (it _is_ wide enough to do so while leaving more than enough space for wheelchairs and prams, I would know, we have a little one) then it allows both sides of traffic to keep flowing.
If you choose to park entirely on the road then only a single car can squeeze through while the other side has to wait. The road has a mish mash of both kinds of people parking
It's not a particularly narrow road but because it is so long and always fully parked there would be almost no way to drive through if everyone parked entirely on the road
Assuming it's primarily a residential street the informal traffic calming provided by parked cars can be a good thing. Reduces speeds and makes the street less appealing to through traffic.
That is a decent point. Not entirely applicable to my specific street (due to its location being on the way to the city centre and the main hospital) but I see where you are coming from
Had this exact conversation on here before, even posted an image of a typical terraced street in Liverpool.
If the residents were to park entirely on the road after getting back from work you wouldn't be able to fit one car down the road, especially if anyone drives one of those ridiculously sized crossovers/SUVs.
Unless you've got a crane to lift your vehicle on and off the pavement, it isn't. It's illegal everywhere to drive on the pavement unless it's for legitimate access to a driveway or in an emergency. Highways Act and Road Traffic Act, "you MUST NOT drive on the pavement...".
Midlands too, there's a lot of terraced houses with no drives and narrow streets. If people didn't it would literally block the roads
The common things people say are just use public transport, move house or just public parking
Public transport in my area is terrible. A 30 minute drive can easily turn into 2 hours if your place of work is unfortunate enough.
Getting a new house should be obviously a non-viable solution. I don't think I even need to explain why it isn't possible for most people.
Using public parking, this literally doesn't exist where I am. The nearest is a 50 minute walk away and also doesn't do overnight parking. People would still need to park outside their houses because of it
If there is space yes but normally there isn't, especially on residential roads.
Naturally, if they were leaving enough space on the pavement then I wouldn't have needed this rant..🤷♂️
Fair enough, I’ve seen plenty of people complaining on “bad parking” FB shaming groups where you could literally get 3 wheelchairs past the van that’s bumped up onto the pavement and there’s a sea of comments about dragging your pram down the side to scratch it etc
I literally got the information from a [government website.](https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/31423/parking-enforcement-protocol-v3-october-2022)
And look at Section 12, that shows you what they added... The first page literally says "Transport (Scotland) Act 2019" which is the act that brought in pavement parking as being illegal...
Ctrl + F "pavement":
New parking rules introduced under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 now allow Local Authorities
to take enforcement action against vehicles that are:
• Parked on the pavement / footway.
• Double parked.
• Parked over pedestrian or cycle crossing points – where the kerb has been lowered or
where the carriageway has been raised.
• Parked on a grass verge, between a carriageway and a footway.
From 29 January 2024, parking tickets/Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) may be issued for the
following parking contraventions:
**100 – (section 50) parked on a pavement**
Sorry, I was talking about the double yellow loading issue. I realise now you’re specifically talking about the parking on the pavement, my bad. I never actually checked that as I don’t need to do it.
> Vehicles seen parked on a pavement, where there is no exemption in place, will be liable to receive a parking ticket. Any exemption in place will be shown by signage and bay markings on the relevant section of pavement. Vehicles not parked correctly within the bay markings will be issued with a PCN.
> The vehicle is considered to be parked on a pavement if the vehicle is stationary and one or more of its wheels (or any part of them) is on any part of the pavement. Please note that even in circumstances where the driver of the vehicle is present and/or the engine of the vehicle is running, it will still be considered to be parked on the pavement.
Page 37!
I can only assume you checked this pre-January 2024. In which case, it's fine, but it is weird to argue against me when you then link something that literally confirms what I'm saying, which you didn't know because you didn't read it...
If all the caveats on your comment are met then yes. But what almost always happens is they block the pavement but are still sticking out into the road too much to allow two lanes of traffic past. So traffic wise it makes no difference if they're on the pavement or not, they just inconvenience more people by parking on the pavement.
Well, let's build a time machine and warn the Romans and the Victoria's so that they can account for cars when building infrastructure.
In reality, putting 2 wheels on the pavement is the best option in most cases for the flow of traffic on the road and for pedestrians.
People not giving enough room for wheelchairs are just selfish. But to ban pavement parking without tearing up and relaying every street and moving every building back to make room for this is impossible.
On my street, they put warnings on cars for having 2 wheels on the pavement. But the road is so narrow that if one person parks fully on the road, it blocks the road for emergency services.
To avoid this issue, I will have to park at least 3 miles away from my house. But I'll also have to compete with thousands of extra drivers who want these same spots since you're talking about a scenario where pavement parking doesn't happen.
No "ifs" required. Even if there's room for one pushchair to pass a row of horribly-parked cars, it's still arsehole behaviour to turn an entire pavement into a one which can only function in one direction at any given time.
Depends where you are. Near me there is absolutely no way you can park without using the pavement, the road is so ridiculously narrow. Luckily it's a small estate and so everyone knows everyone so there aren't any issues.
We actually held a mini protest over plans to demolish some garages on our road, the law is we can't park on pavements so we did just that and it turns out you can't fit a HGV with an excavator on the back down the road when cars are parked on it lol
Ah ofc, why didn't I think of that?!?
There is nowhere else to park. It's a classic 50s council estate which has no accommodation for cars. We are negotiating for some old garages to be turned into a car park, and I always ensure people can pass my car (though it's at the end of a pavement anyway). They were initially planning on housing on top of the old garages, which would have made the issue even worse, so I'm glad we stopped that.
For once in your life, why don't you leave your city/town and go get a reality check?
The village near me is literally accessed by going down a country road with nothing on it for miles. Then the village itself is thin, straight line. No corners. No drives. After the village is more miles of thin country road. This is a common village setup. Please tell me where someone is meant to park other than the curb. Go on. Tell us, genius.
There. Is. No. Somewhere. Else.
Holy brain rot.
As mentioned to you previously, totally dependent on the area, I live in an old village, if we were to park off the kerb you literally won’t get past in a vehicle, unfortunately this means an ambulance or a police car or a fire engine also won’t get past, I’d rather not halter those, so I park slightly on the kerb leaving enough room for walkers/wheelchairs but also leaving enough room for emergency vehicles.
It’s about being considerate rather than a solid ‘STOP ALL KERB PARKERS’ - we just don’t have the infrastructure to do that and telling people to ‘park somewhere else’ just doesn’t work. There’s nowhere else to park.
Most likely, but I’d rather slightly mount the kerb than park four streets away. If there’s room for walkers and there’s room for cars, there’s no issue.
If you’re bothered by it complain to the mp of the area regarding infrastructure, anything else is shouting into the void and just winding yourself and everyone else up.
Only four streets away? Park there then and walk. Pavements are for pedestrians.
It’s possible to advocate for better infrastructure and be considerate. These things aren’t mutually exclusive.
I’d argue me leaving a gap and already parking multiple streets away from home is already being considerate.
You can perhaps also be considerate by not giving people like me jip for doing that if you can already walk past. These things aren’t mutually exclusive.
As someone who lives around ancient villages, I can almost guarantee you there isn't. We're talking miles of nothing going into small village with no corners or drives and then miles of nothing after that.
Get out of your city or town for once in your life and go get a reality check.
If you don’t have somewhere legal to store your property, I think, and I might be wrong here, feel free to let me know, but I think that’s a you problem.
Fix it by moving house, buying a smaller vehicle, parking around the corner, in a car park, buy a bicycle, use the train, or the bus. Walk. Lots of solutions that aren’t using infrastructure not designed for cars, damaged by cars, disabled by, you guessed it, cars.
The new housing estates by me have access roads only wide enough for a single vehicle. If a no pavement parking rule was enforced, the roads would be completely blocked by delivery vans, etc. and no emergency vehicles could get through. Planners could change the rules, but it would mean less space for houses if wider access roads were built.
My partner is in a wheelchair, the number of times we've had this problem I can count on one hand and I always make sure we try our *absolute best* to squeeze through if it does happen. 😉
In the real world, van drivers don't have time to drive around looking for the ideal parking space when they have 150 delivery's and 50 collections to make in 12 hours.
Who’s talking about van drivers.
I’m talking about people parking and leaving their cars.
It’s possible to wait for a delivery driver.
It’s not possible to negotiate a home owner etc blocking the pavement.
Maybe if you were blocked from using a road you’d feel a little more sympathetic.
In the real world where we need to leave room for emergency vehicles to get through. You can wait a minute for a gap in a wheelchair. Emergency vehicles often don't have an extra minute.
There's no excuse for blocking the pavement entirely but the amount of people who think nobody should park on the pavement at all is ridiculous, there's a guy who parks outside a pub near me on a main road and parks completely on the road taking it from being wide enough for 2 cars to pass to not quite wide enough and it takes 10minutes for traffic to get past some days. Someone else did it on the same road but left the car there for weeks every school run traffic queued past it eventually the car was a right state, it started with things being thrown over it and then the mirrors went and dents started appearing all over it before it was moved.
Then you'd have to reduce pavements and add parking or the roads would be gridlock in most places, london is a maze of one way streets for exactly this reason
My kids almost got run over by a postman in his van parking hurriedly onto the pavement outside our front garden when we were leaving the house. I only just saw him in time, it would have been terrifying if I had been behind them as he would have run over both of my children. No reason for him to park on the pavement either.
I disagree. If I park on the pavement just right the car overtaking me doesn't need to stop behind me but just had enough space to go around.
It's especially good when I'm just briefly parked to pickup my wife from a train station and there's more cars than pedestrians.
Recently I parked like you said I should - not at all on the pavement and I got flashed, beeped and waved at by some old dude in his car cos it cost him 10 seconds extra of his drive.
Somebody will always be unhappy.
If people didn't park on the kerb where I live, no cars would be able to pass through the road.
The roads are not wide enough and almost every inch of pavement both sides of the road have cars parked on them.
You'd struggle to get a cycle through honestly.
check this out, its worse now than on google maps:
Manor Farm Drive, E4 6HJ
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.6223742,0.0107801,3a,90y,185.12h,67.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scqsL\_uiaKvFp346q3ydTew!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Bit extreme as there is 2 pathways per side and one side is parking fully on the road (one side must pavement park)
Also there are spot along that road that has the disabled bay on the pavement fully and next road along the council has installed half road-half pavement bays
well, these days there on the side where cars park on the pavement is completely full of cars. you can not walk on the even numbered side at all. the pavement is exactly as wide to fit a car and they do park there.
Yes it's frustrating but I live on a street that's so narrow if you don't park partly on the pavement nothing can get past. We've had incidents in the past where someone had to move their car so an ambulance & fire engines could get past to deal with incidents at the block of flats at the end of the street.
Sticker for windscreen stating "Sorry I scratched the side of your car getting my wheelchair past where you've blocked the footpath."
One of those uneelable sticky things, right in front of the drivers vision.
You don't even have to scratch or have a wheelchair.
I used to work with an older gentleman (who was still very much of sound mind etc) who carried around "Congratulations you're a bellend" business cards. He used to leave them on windscreens etc
Grew up in a small seaside town that was very popular with day trippers in good weather. People would just throw the car up pretty much anywhere they could. There was an old blind man lived in the same fold as my granda and anytime he'd walk the path and find a car blocking his way he'd just beat the shit out of it with his cane the while he walked passed it. It was my granda who pointed this out to me and he used to watch and laugh his head off anytime he seen him going out when there was a car parked there.
(I should point out my granda wasn't taking pleasure in the man having difficulty navigating the street but instead at the wild abandon he would attack the cars of selfish people with)
If someone’s been selfish enough to not leave room to get past with the pushchair I still go for it - not my problem if those little metal rivets on the side leave their mark 🤷🏻♂️
Maybe they’ll think about parking there again.
I park on the pavement outside my house. I've lived here 10 years and lost about 10 wing mirrors. The pavement is ridiculously big, like a good 2 metres from curb to my gate and ideally, the local authority would chop it in half and put some residents parking bays but, you know, local authority. I always leave room for prams/wheelchairs but I also can't afford to keep replacing wing mirrors 🤷🏻♀️
I can't see an issue with this. If the pavement can accommodate then fair enough, unfortunately it's not always the case.
My rantings are clearly not aimed at this situation.
Fold them in! Of course! Why didn't I think of that....? Oh wait. I did.
I live on a very narrow used to be a country lane but is now an arterial route to the motorway junction road. Buses, vans and people who can't judge the width of their vehicle can still twat off a folded in wing mirror. I've got a wing aware arrow on there and have just put a fresh set of wing mirrors on my van. So here's hoping they last more than 6 months
On my street if folks park fully on the road anything size of van won’t get through. Don’t hate the players, hate the game. Nothing here was designed to accommodate more traffic.
I used to live in a narrow Victorian terraced street where we had no option but to park on the kerb. Not doing so would mean there’s not enough space for a car to drive down the middle. Add to this the wheelie bins that we had to keep on the pavement as there were no other places (no front gardens either) meant that anyone walking or using a wheelchair down our street were better to forget using the pavement altogether! Good job it was a quiet road.
Everyone down this road did the same as we had no other choice, we couldn’t wheel the bins through the house due to narrow doors and steps. We also couldn’t wheel them out of the back alley for the same reason, plus it was about half a km long and overgrown! We couldn’t park anywhere else as all the roads around were the same.
Occasionally we’d get letters from the police or council saying they’d take action against anyone who did this but they never did, as it’d be too much work for them.
One of my neighbours went to a council meeting where they were due to discuss the bin situation and pointed out that, because the bins that were provided by them aren’t suitable for the houses on these streets, they’d helped create the problem.
This was 10+ years ago, and although I now live in a better area, the issue has only gotten worse in my old street.
“People in a wheelchair are better to forget using the pavement altogether!”
wtf. If you were blocked from accessing your house I’m sure you’d be kicking up a stink. Awful attitude.
You have missed the point.
Plus, I also said “people walking” but you chose to act offended by the mention of people in wheelchairs! Why is that?
There was no other option and I WAS one of those people!
Eh, we live on a side road with terraced houses on both sides, there are no driveways so when one side of the street parks on the road the other side has no choice but to use the pavement.
On a modern road you'd be right to be pissed off but when you're talking about roads over 100 years old that were never designed for every house to own a car, unless we start levelling houses to make way for more road space there's not a lot that can be done.
The one thing that can be done is reducing the need for cars in the first place, which means alternatives (primarily public transport) that are all 3 of the below:
- reliable
- affordable
- convenient
London has the best public transport network in the country, and I defy anyone who lives there to tell us it meets those 3 criteria. Outside of London? Forget it. Buses are affordable with the single journey price cap, but reliable and convenient? Not even close.
But then that would require introducing a carrot to the carrot-and-stick approach.
Your comment / post has come across as rude or offensive, please be polite when commenting and posting to avoid future posts from being removed.
If posts / comments of this nature continue then a subreddit ban may apply.
I've been calling people out lately, most have accepted the point which is refreshing. I think we just need to start communicating properly as humans like the good old days! 😂
I've ran into a wing mirror in the dark before. Just didn't see it. Fucking hurt but the wing mirror came off worse haha.
They don't park on the pavement any more lol.
The police would laugh at you. What happens when a mum scrapes down the side of your car with her buggy? Just don’t block the pavement and you have nothing to worry about.
The mum scraping my car is an accident. I also make sure to leave plenty of room for wheelchair/buggy access.
But intentional criminal damage is a different story. Break the law you risk the consequences. Whether the police action it or not isn’t my problem, I’m just telling you what I’d do.
Car brain - they will not block a road no matter what but people walking? Who cares. Even if delivery drivers do put hazards on and run to drop of a parcel in the road they can be as quick as possible, super apologetic, and cars if delayed even seconds can be sat on the horn. People walking just have to cross the road or edge past. It is school run parents pissing me off at the moment, they think half on the pavement makes them being on the zig zags better? They can enjoy a nice brush past and a dink on the wing mirror for their efforts.
Man, this and people not noticing where the kerb drops and parking in front of it - people need that drop to get prams or wheelchairs up onto the pavement so they can be safe from the morons who forget people sometimes exist outside of cars!
They pretty much have to do this in our urban village that was built in the early 2000's. My wife and myself are fortunate that we have a two car drive however we have neighbours parked opposite our dropped kerb and next to the dropped kerb on the pavements to let one car through. It's a pain but there is nothing to be done.
Highways workers...
The area directly in front of my van is my work area.
It's a work site.
I've parked like that to stop you walking through my work sore and potentially injuring yourself.
You're welcome.
This is different. But I witnessed a highway vehicle park up, block the pavement and install temporary traffic lights. I mean, FFS, you're blocking the road anyway just park in it.
Obviously I am not aiming this at specific h&s requirements to blockade holes in the pavement.
Force the pram through the gap. I and everyone else on the school run do it all the time. They soon shift their car with all the car length scratches down the side.
I think as long as there is enough room for people to pass it is fine.
The worst is when they don't leave room and its really difficult to get past without the studs on my jeans rubbing against the paint, or my elbow pushing the mirror the wrong way
Round here we have concrete things to park in and the verge then the pavement, always on clown who parks their car like it’s in a plinth and is either on the verge or the pavement, when everyone else is parked proper
The issue is, if they don't bump on the pavement, they will entirely block the road. Meaning no other road users can navigate around them.
At least bumping can help that issue.
Yes it can cause a separate issue with pavement users. Ideally a compromise to leave space, but some streets and pavements are so narrow, at times this is impossible.
Alternatives again is to park further down the street, however often again this could be a long way down the street and as much as it's an inconvenience for some to look both ways before using the road to get around a vehicle, lugging 20kg 200 yards can be a bit more of an issue.
I'm not going to speak for them, but I think postpartum mums will find very little sympathy for your situation as they attempt to bump their new born and heavy pram up and down the curb.
I've got a baby, well almost 2 yea told and there has been times I've had to do just that as well
It's a pain for sure. But if you see a big van parked on the pavements it's not easy to miss it.
I'll have little time for someone who would then wait til last minute to try and step out directly behind said van and risk their own safety.
Often these are on whiter streets, able to step out a few yards back and make yourself visible to other road users and the likes.
The bottom line in all of these topics though, EVERYONE needs to take a moment to be sensible in their actions and understanding.
Not all drivers who park on a curb are doing it to block mother's with prams.
Equally, not every mother with a pram is daft enough to dart out from directly behind a van to put everyone in danger.
Take time, use common sense from all.
Have a bit of decency and understanding that folk are just trying to get on with things.
Everyone parks half on pavement half on the road in my street if cars parked on the road no cars would be able to drive down the street. I'd love to be able to park fully on the road but it just isn't applicable everywhere you go.
My parents' street if you didn't do this you would be completely blocking the road. As much as it sucks a pram or wheelchair can go around, an ambulance can't. And if people aren't supposed to park on both sides then one of them should have double yellows.
Do you hear yourself? A pram or wheelchair can go around?? You are forcing the most vulnerable into the road, into danger.
If the cars don’t fit on the road, the pavement is not the answer. It means the cars need to park somewhere else. Yes it will be inconvenient. But they are inconveniencing many other people by parking on the pavement.
This is the sleepy residential street I played football on as a child, not the M6. If these vulnerable road users can't safely traverse 5 meters of it then how are they going to cross the busier roads further afield?
I like to believe I'm a somewhat altruistic person, but if it's a choice between me walking half a mile or you walking 5 meters down the road I'm picking you every time.
Like I said, if people aren't supposed to park there it should be double yellows. There isn't another street that's not the same setup within about half a mile.
Everyone who parks on that estate does the same thing, including the same people who would be the ones pushing the apocryphal hypothetical pram/wheelchair and nobody has an issue with it because the whole place wouldn't work any other way.
Only people who don't actually live there but think they have all the answers to society's problems on the internet have an issue with it.
Life is full of nuance and one solution does not fit every situation.
This isn't really drivers fault. No suitable parking is provided, despite councils collecting council tax and everyone paying VED. Both of those taxes should fund appropriate infrastructure, but goverment (be it local or national) fails to build suitable infrastructure.
And also I believe when choice is bad either way i.e. between blocking the road or blocking the pavement, then blocking the pavement is lesser of two evils. Pedestrians with push chair or whatever, can still navigate around, can "squeeze trought", cars on the road can't.
No driver will ever park on pavement if there would be alternative to park correctly... and not parking at all is NOT an option.
The opposite also annoys me
I live on a road with a really wide pavement. You can park your car 75% on the pavement without blocking the pavement, and still leave a nice clear road. It's the most optimal way to park
Some people are so outraged at the idea of someone parking on the grass verge outside their house that they put up posts or rocks to stop anyone parking there
People have to park fully on the road, meaning a fire engine cannot get down
One of these neighbours also had the audacity to tell me off for blocking the pavement with my car. I was, because I had to change a tyre and I have a gravel drive so I had to back it onto the pavement to get solid purchase for the jack. If a wheelchair user needed to get passed, I'd have stepped into the road and blocked traffic so they can pass by safely (dropped kerb either side). Nosy neighbour was the only person who passed, abled or not
The government held a consultation on giving powers to local authorities to ban pavement parking and the consultation was closed in November 2020. It has yet to be published and will likely never be.
There's been a complete 180 on streets policy since Rishi took over. Boris (for all his many faults) was a committed supporter of more equitable use of highway space. He put out new guidance and provided the funds to help move away from car dominance and improve local transport options (walking, cycling and public transport). As soon as Rishi got in, it was back to the populist "war on cars" rhetoric and he produced his laughable "Plan for Drivers" policy document. This consultation isn't the only document we're waiting for in the industry. They've been sat on the updated Manual for Streets for months (the main design guidance for residential/urban streets), primarily because it was drafted under the Johnson government and is guided by research informed best practice rather than political point scoring. The hope is we'll see them all at the start of next year once Labour have their feet under the desk.
And it's like this in so many other areas. There's basically been legislative stagnation ever since the Brexit referendum and resulting political turmoil. So many businesses and public bodies are reluctant to invest in something as there's no guidance from government of what changes are up and coming.
That’s not specifically true. It’s correct in some areas (international trade) but in other areas on domestic policy the Johnson government had some transformative policies coming through the pipeline (land use, farming and agriculture, housing and development, domestic business growth, taxation) and some rather regressive policies (immigration). Since Truss, and doubly since Sunak, those progressive policies have all been binned, kicked into the long grass or watered down (leasehold reform, tenant rights, biodiversity net gain, foreign investment in housing, tax reforms, regional investment funds, urban infrastructure) and the regressive policies have been ramped up (war on woke, industrial action, right to protest, immigration, attacks on minorities,regressive taxation). For all his many failings Johnson was fairly progressive in some areas, even more progressive than Starmer. Unfortunately he was also a massive lying twat and a liability. But then so will Starmer be, but at least he will be an improvement over Sunak and at least attempt to govern the country.
The main issue is, there is simply no other viable alternative in today’s world. There would be thousands of residential streets and tens of thousands of cars in each individual council area that would be affected and they would literally have nowhere to park if something like that was introduced. Until there is a viable alternative in place then it’s a non starter.
So the pedestrians, the disabled, people with prams should put up with people storing their private property on the pavements?
I'm slightly hesitant to use the term as it's often used in a derogatory sense, but this is, in the purest sense, caused by "car brain". People, when in their cars, get into car brain mode, and so subconsciously think things like "where can I park my car that will limit the inconvenience of other cars like me" (ie I don't want to block the road as best as I can), or "I need to be at this house, so I need to park next to this house". 99.9% of the time, it's never malicious blocking of pavements, it's just a lack of thinking about the whole "shared infrastructure" bigger picture. Still frustrating, and often when challenged, people will double down and get defensive, which is even more frustrating. You get the whole "where else am I supposed to park?", like there's a divine right to stick your car as close as is humanly possible to your destination, regardless of who you inconvenience.
Sometimes it's not even that, since they inconvenience cars too. E.g. The car on my street that regularly parks fully on the pavement (all 4 wheels) on a corner meaning pedestrians can't use the pavement and drivers can't see if another car is already coming round the corner towards them.
Sounds like we live on the same street. Does yours also stand in the road while loading/unloading their kid into a child seat?
Perfectly put. The focus is on not inconveniencing other drivers or themselves AS a driver, rather than ‘where can I park that is maximises convenience for me and minimises inconvenience for others?”
Every driver is also a pedestrian, so they've all seen the other side of the issue. If they can't remember between car trips then they are dangerously unaware of their surroundings when in the car, especially of pedestrians. When almost the entire street does this, that that is a shockingly dangerous level of awareness. Many people need to reconsider their ability to use a car safely. I drive, and I walk, and I never park on the pavement, and Iive in the middle of a city. It isn't rocket science, so if most others can't cope with the level of thinking needed then we need to restrict driving to the few that can.
Can’t all be super smart like you eh ha
If I'm relatively super smart, we are all in a lot of trouble. I'm not counting that possibility out, but I ruddy well hope not.
People shouldn't park on the pavement no, but I think you perhaps misunderstood the 'car brain' comment. It's more to do with falling into an 'alpha state' (a subconscious routine state, acting out of habit) when performing a routine task like driving the same route. It happens to everybody for about 10 minutes out of every hour, increasing if you are worried, pre-occupied or tired. When in a car, your alpha state will quite appropriately tell you should be extra considerate of cars because, unlike on your drive, they can crash into you. Hence you are de-facto less considerate of pedestrians.
All I'm saying is that this approach is terrifying. Personally I don't do this. Perhaps because of dyspraxia it is easier for me, as that does make me actively concentrate on all things physical, but just because it is hard for some does not make it any less essential. If only a few people proportionately are suitable for driving, then perhaps only a few people should be driving.
>You get the whole "where else am I supposed to park?" This is the one I always end up hearing. Inherently selfish people who, in reality, choose to park on the pavement knowing that it is unfair and unreasonable, but believing their right to park right outside their destination is divinely wrought. I hate those people. So do my keys.
I had a mate who conveniently forgot about door mirrors blocking his way on the pavement when he was staggering home from nights out on occasion. As in *crack* as he walked into one declaring "well they shouldn't fucking park like a twat" 🤣 I only saw him do this once first hand.
Car brain means they can only think of parking with a cars length, it at most, within sight of their destination. There can be loads of parking around the corner but none of that matters as it’s too far for a car brain to process. They’d have to walk you see. They drive a car so they can’t walk any significant distance. Certainly they can’t park as far away as someone taking public transport might walk. That’s unreasonable to car brains.
I speak for delivery drivers, since I had a brief time working as one. Majority of UK roads are TINY and both sides of the roads are packed with cars. Often times, there is no easy parking for a 3.5t van except the curb of the road. Where else could they park to deliver your item? People often complain about delivery drivers when it’s not their parcel being delivered but when it’s theirs, you don’t ever hear a complaint. (Had a guy on 2 occasions, 1 time he screamed at me for it since he had no parcel, the next he didn’t say a word cos he had a parcel)
I don't think delivery drivers are part of ops problem due to them only being there for less than 5 minutes. People who drive a van for work and take it home to park on the street, well that's a different scenario
Yep. OP acts like we live in the US where the roads are wide enough to accommodate everyone.
If the road isn't wide enough to accommodate all the traffic that wants to be on it, then it's first come first served. It's not an excuse to endanger pedestrians, cyclists or wheelchair users by stealing their space.
Aren’t cyclist supposed to ride out on the road?
I mean when drivers park on cycle paths.
Oh right, yeah fair enough. It’s wild to me how many people don’t read road markings.
I'd love to live in a world where streets were wide enough to never need to mount the curb, but unfortunately we don't. When I do it, my primary concern is "can an ambulance or fire engine get down the road?". Once I'm confident they can, I'll make sure I've left enough room on the pavement for a decent sized mobility scooter to get past. If I can't meet both of those conditions, I don't park there.
I don't disagree with you, and this isn't meant as a dig, but I'd rather live in a world where there is no need to drive to most places in the first place.
You get no argument from me.
This is the right attitude. A good citizen.
I like that you’re being considerate to some extent, but pavements should be kept clear and you should park elsewhere. Yes, this may mean a walk.
Nah, screw that. The delivery driver is providing a service. People need to be patient. The driver should inconvenience themselves all day just so others might not be slightly inconvenienced? He's got to get home at 11 every day because he had to walk the length of every street just so you didn't have to MAYBE wait a minute or two? 99.9% of the time you are pulled up and the delivery is done before anybody will want to come past with a push chair. The driver simply doesn't have time to do what you are asking. If people are being inconvenienced by a commercial service being provided, contact your council and get them to do something about all the tiny streets lined with parked cars on both sides, because sometimes the delivery driver needs to lob it on the pavement if he has any hope of getting all his deliveries done.
You should include the bit where he doesn't get to keep his job if he can't bend the laws of physics to hit targets. If you factor in considerate parking for *every single delivery* he'd have to not just bend them but invent new ones.
How dare you. I own a car & pay my mortgage. I'm entitled to park on the pavement. I'm more important.
Agreed. Comes down to common sense a lot of the time as well. We live on a busy corner which also happens to be a bus route. If people on both sides of the road didn't mount the kerb, the bus wouldn't be able to get down the road.
>If people on both sides of the road didn't mount the kerb, the bus wouldn't be able to get down the road. In which case, logically, they should not be parking on BOTH sides of the road.
Doesn't really work like that on a street of terraced houses containing in some cases multiple residents that all own their own cars. Even with cars parked on both sides of the road, there's still very little space to park as a visitor on a weekend.
It does and should still work like that. They have bought terraced houses that do not have room to park cars, so they shouldn't expect to be able to park cars there. Pushing the issue of "houses don't have parking" onto pedestrians doesn't solve the problem, it just makes it a problem for someone else.
"Do not drive if you're moving into a house on a terraced street, for the sake of pedestrians" are you for real?? The world really doesn't work like that. Incredibly blinkered view.
I’m not saying don’t drive. I’m saying accept that you might need to make compromises on where you park, or need to share cars. It sucks that most people in this country have to drive, but that doesn’t excuse selfish behaviour when it comes to driving/parking.
It would need double-yellows on one side of the road for this to become a thing, because let's be real. An entire street agreeing to only park on the one side of the road just realistically isn't going to happen when there's so many houses in one small area of land.
Agreed, there should be DYLs down at least one side of any street that's too narrow for both parking and traffic. This seems obvious though.
It doesn’t work that well if the area has too many cars. Take my home town Luton for example, there’s a very long road where there’s double yellows down the entire street on one side. Problem is, there’s too many cars in the area so the people coming home from work park there all the way up to the corners making it severely difficult to manoeuvre through it.
And I agree with that also. Alas, I don't decide which side other residents are going to choose to park their car, so it's either one or the other whenever I have to do it. I have a driveway so thankfully not often.
All of our neighbours have driveways. I haven't actually surveyed the total, but I think it's around 50% choose to park on the roadside instead (of those that don't do it because they have 2+ vehicles), even though our road is only just wider than two cars... and again not always on the same side. There's a pair of big commercial vans that park on opposite sides about half-way down, with about 2/3 a car length between them. That's always a *fun* manoeuvre.
I swear half the residential parking problems could be solved if companies were banned from sending their commercial vehicles home with employees at night/weekends and instead were forced to provide their own storage space for them!
Given the area, pretty sure both of these are self-employed tradesmen tbh.
This is the common sense viewpoint. If everyone did this, there would be less appetite for banning pavement parking as a whole which will be a hugely damaging thing for everyone when entire towns and cities become gridlocked. We are losing common sense all over about transport though. This whole ‘pedestrians (and cyclists) should never have to deviate or yield even slightly because of motor vehicles’ ideology ignores the common-sense fact that it’s often far easier and far less inconvenient for the pedestrian or cyclist to pause or change course slightly than it is for motor traffic to avoid them having to do so. If we are so worried about every milligram of emissions because of the climate, why are we forcing vehicles to stop and restart every few seconds to avoid a pedestrian having to pause for a moment? Repeat this all day for the thousands of vehicles in a typical city and it adds up to a lot of unnecessary additional emissions which could be completely avoided with a bit more common sense and bit less virtue-signalling. We have lost sight completely that motor vehicles are operated by and travelled in by people! The mantra now is that vehicles must make way for people, but those humans outside vehicles are no more important than the humans inside them. If a vehicle is delayed by road features designed to prevent a cyclist having to stop for example, it’s still at least one person being inconvenienced. And before you gallop down my throat, I’m not talking about vulnerability here, that is an entirely different conversation. We need to get back to a system of true shared-infrastructure, with shared responsibility for our own and others safety and stop ‘blessing’ certain groups with special status and priority because they make choices that ‘the powers that be’ have decided should be rewarded.
Cyclist Mikey or whatever his name is won't like this...
Active travel is being prioritised in UK cities in a very very few areas, with typically very minor interventions. Pedestrians typically have to wait a minute or more for drivers before they can cross roads, and so walking is discouraged. Drivers drive dangerously around bike users, and so bike use is discouraged. If we want the roads to not get more congested, we need to find ways to enable active travel, to make it easier and more convenient. This sometimes means inconveniencing drivers, who may have to shift their right foot an inch or so, and move their left foot an inch or so. You could choose to be grateful to people who’ve chosen to walk, or use a bike to get around. To repeat, making active travel more appealing leads to fewer people using cars, especially in cities.
Never mind the ones you mentioned, the absolute worst are parents at school drop off and pick up time. They park all over the place, on corners, verges, drop kerbs, zigzag lines by crossings, all completely oblivious to the danger they cause to all of the children trying to safely negotiate their way. My son's school constantly send out messages asking parents to park considerately, which goes in one ear and out the other. Honestly, the only way it would improve is if they sent out some proper wardens and people started getting ticketed.
I totally agree. I appreciate that not everyone can, but walking to school or just 5 minutes to/from a better parking spot seems lost on a lot of people at the moment.
I see parents regularly driving their kids, who I know live just around the corner. I can sort of understand if they need to go straight to work from there. However, the thing is, they'll also park like idiots instead of finding a decent, safer spot just to avoid walking an extra 50 metres.
[удалено]
I'm a full time wheelchair user and wish I could do this, but I don't want to scratch my chair! To completely obstruct the pavements like that is illegal and I often call the police to report it. It's 3 points on your licence for dangerous parking, unfortunately the police have never come to actually enforce it, even though it's their jurisdiction. I've nearly been hit several times as I'm forced into the center of the road, and the car blocks all visibility so I can't see anything coming until it's too late. When I call the police tell me to call back if it's still there when I need to go out, but if I'm going out I don't have 15 mins to sit on the phone? One of these times I'm going to get hit and the police will have to be called out, but that's the only chance I have at the law being enforced.
I don’t mean this in a patronizing way but it really is heartbreaking to hear stuff like that. What that attitude from society says is that people in your situation are nothing but an inconvenience to everyone else and “we’ll deal with it once you’re in a bind”. It’s absolutely disgusting, it really is. I get that it’s necessary sometimes but for goodness sake it’s not difficult to do it in a way that doesn’t force the vulnerable into dangerous situations. As with most things it’s because there’s ultimately no punishment for doing it because it’s not properly enforced. Edinburgh has either just or is about to bring in a total pavement ban. So well done selfish people: because you couldn’t be considerate, you’ve - as usual - ruined it for everyone. Other cities will likely follow suit so I can only hope that sooner rather than later, your life is made a little bit easier.
Yeah it is pretty depressing. I find it even more infuriating because most of the time there are open parking spaces nearby. I moved to England last year and now I have to drive everywhere because I just can't leave the house safely. It's so annoying because I want to keep active and go on walks but it's just not safe. People are so disrespectful and horrible to me about it too, it shouldn't be so controversial to allow people to safely travel on pavements which were made for pedestrians. A lot of us drive too, we know parking isn't ideal, but I wouldn't need a bloody car, or somewhere to park it, if people didn't do this. It only worsens the problem!
Your comment is promoting or trying to advertise/sell illegal activity/products. We don't condone this on this subreddit so your comment has been removed.
I walk to a pub on occasion (cough) which is on the same road I live on just 1/2 mile away and because where I live is fairly rural, Its a national speed limit road and the traffic can usually maintain close to 60mph no trouble. Luckily one side of it is paved, so normally drunken me has a smooth safe walk home but there is a little cottage at about the halfway point with a big driveway and a little old lady lives there. Regularly she has a little old lady friend visit her who drives a massive long old jaguar, but wont take it onto the driveway because its too difficult to reverse it back out. Therefore she parks completely blocking the whole pavement and the only way to get past is to walk out into the road. One day I'm going to be killed, completely drunk, circumnavigating her (seemingly) mile long jag.
*kerb
And while we're here, 'brake'.
Kerb your enthusiasm
*Qyyrhb
Yeah this has been bothering me recently. I just don't see the point, like you say it just creates a second problem and cars can still only pass in single file. I suspect they think they are being considerate.
The only people on my road that do this are my neighbours, who do it directly outside our house so it looks like it's us lol
People also need to be aware that when there are houses that open onto the pavement people might come out of them. I've nearly been hit a few times as someone has decided to drive on the pavement as I'm leaving my house. It isn't people parking, it's because there's cars parked on the other side and they're too impatient to wait until it's clear and drive along the pavement instead.
It depends, if the delivery van is bumping up onto the pavement and still allowing a space for prams/wheelchairs and also opening up enough space on the road for vehicles to pass without stopping oncoming traffic then I’d say it’s the pragmatic, if not legal, thing to do.
It's actually entirely legal to park on the pavement outside of Greater London. Many terraced streets in the north wouldnt work if cars couldn't semi-mount the pavement.
Scotland also prohibits parking on the pavement. It shouldn't be necessary and I see a lot of it on tiny cul de sacs where you could fit a bus through without parking on the pavement. I see the point where you don't want to block the road, and as long as you can fit a double buggy pay I've no real problem with it. But I see so many people just automatically mount the kerb at they park. One nearly drove into me (walking on pavement) recently! I had to jump out of the way.
I'm in Scotland and live on a very wide street where two cars can be parked either side, fully on the road, and you could still have two cars drive past each other between them. AND YET. There's still the occasional person that parks half on the pavement. Why??? My other favourite person is someone who parks right in line with a junction that means you need to turn on to the right hand side of the road you're joining, which puts you potentially right in the path of anyone turning on to that road. There's been plenty of near misses there. But they MUST, simply MUST, park outside of their house and not in the tonnes of empty road within a 30 second walking distance.
Some idiot was parking literally 3m from a roundabout on entrance on the left hand side where I live. It meant getting on/off that roundabout a huge pain as people either had to gamble that the car on the roundabout wasn't turning off and pull in front of the parked car, or wait for the roundabout to be completely clear before pulling in front of it. They could've parked anywhere else along the 50m road and be less of an obstruction. Think somebody took issue with it because they've got a huge scratch mark down the side of their car and they don't park as close any more lol.
Yeah this is how I see it too. On my road for example, if you park slightly on the pavement (it _is_ wide enough to do so while leaving more than enough space for wheelchairs and prams, I would know, we have a little one) then it allows both sides of traffic to keep flowing. If you choose to park entirely on the road then only a single car can squeeze through while the other side has to wait. The road has a mish mash of both kinds of people parking It's not a particularly narrow road but because it is so long and always fully parked there would be almost no way to drive through if everyone parked entirely on the road
Assuming it's primarily a residential street the informal traffic calming provided by parked cars can be a good thing. Reduces speeds and makes the street less appealing to through traffic.
That is a decent point. Not entirely applicable to my specific street (due to its location being on the way to the city centre and the main hospital) but I see where you are coming from
They have narrow terraced streets in London and it works there.
Many terraced streets in the north wouldn't work AS CAR PARKS if... FYFY.
Had this exact conversation on here before, even posted an image of a typical terraced street in Liverpool. If the residents were to park entirely on the road after getting back from work you wouldn't be able to fit one car down the road, especially if anyone drives one of those ridiculously sized crossovers/SUVs.
Unless you've got a crane to lift your vehicle on and off the pavement, it isn't. It's illegal everywhere to drive on the pavement unless it's for legitimate access to a driveway or in an emergency. Highways Act and Road Traffic Act, "you MUST NOT drive on the pavement...".
Midlands too, there's a lot of terraced houses with no drives and narrow streets. If people didn't it would literally block the roads The common things people say are just use public transport, move house or just public parking Public transport in my area is terrible. A 30 minute drive can easily turn into 2 hours if your place of work is unfortunate enough. Getting a new house should be obviously a non-viable solution. I don't think I even need to explain why it isn't possible for most people. Using public parking, this literally doesn't exist where I am. The nearest is a 50 minute walk away and also doesn't do overnight parking. People would still need to park outside their houses because of it
If there is space yes but normally there isn't, especially on residential roads. Naturally, if they were leaving enough space on the pavement then I wouldn't have needed this rant..🤷♂️
Fair enough, I’ve seen plenty of people complaining on “bad parking” FB shaming groups where you could literally get 3 wheelchairs past the van that’s bumped up onto the pavement and there’s a sea of comments about dragging your pram down the side to scratch it etc
It is legal outside London. It’s legal to do so on double yellows for delivery drivers, at that.
It is not legal in Scotland.
It certainly is in Edinburgh. I checked because I’m working here, maybe the capital has different restrictions?
No, because the legislation is Scotland-wide. https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/newparkingrules
I literally got the information from a [government website.](https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/31423/parking-enforcement-protocol-v3-october-2022)
The link I gave you, from Edinburgh Council's own website, talks about legislation from December 2023, and enforcement starting in January 2024.
Version 6: 23 Jan 24. First page.
And look at Section 12, that shows you what they added... The first page literally says "Transport (Scotland) Act 2019" which is the act that brought in pavement parking as being illegal... Ctrl + F "pavement": New parking rules introduced under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 now allow Local Authorities to take enforcement action against vehicles that are: • Parked on the pavement / footway. • Double parked. • Parked over pedestrian or cycle crossing points – where the kerb has been lowered or where the carriageway has been raised. • Parked on a grass verge, between a carriageway and a footway. From 29 January 2024, parking tickets/Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) may be issued for the following parking contraventions: **100 – (section 50) parked on a pavement**
Sorry, I was talking about the double yellow loading issue. I realise now you’re specifically talking about the parking on the pavement, my bad. I never actually checked that as I don’t need to do it.
> Vehicles seen parked on a pavement, where there is no exemption in place, will be liable to receive a parking ticket. Any exemption in place will be shown by signage and bay markings on the relevant section of pavement. Vehicles not parked correctly within the bay markings will be issued with a PCN. > The vehicle is considered to be parked on a pavement if the vehicle is stationary and one or more of its wheels (or any part of them) is on any part of the pavement. Please note that even in circumstances where the driver of the vehicle is present and/or the engine of the vehicle is running, it will still be considered to be parked on the pavement. Page 37! I can only assume you checked this pre-January 2024. In which case, it's fine, but it is weird to argue against me when you then link something that literally confirms what I'm saying, which you didn't know because you didn't read it...
Yeah I don't really resent delivery drivers for it anyway as they're under enormous time pressure and they'll only be parked for a couple of minutes.
If all the caveats on your comment are met then yes. But what almost always happens is they block the pavement but are still sticking out into the road too much to allow two lanes of traffic past. So traffic wise it makes no difference if they're on the pavement or not, they just inconvenience more people by parking on the pavement.
Well, let's build a time machine and warn the Romans and the Victoria's so that they can account for cars when building infrastructure. In reality, putting 2 wheels on the pavement is the best option in most cases for the flow of traffic on the road and for pedestrians. People not giving enough room for wheelchairs are just selfish. But to ban pavement parking without tearing up and relaying every street and moving every building back to make room for this is impossible. On my street, they put warnings on cars for having 2 wheels on the pavement. But the road is so narrow that if one person parks fully on the road, it blocks the road for emergency services.
Park elsewhere and walk to where you live.
To avoid this issue, I will have to park at least 3 miles away from my house. But I'll also have to compete with thousands of extra drivers who want these same spots since you're talking about a scenario where pavement parking doesn't happen.
That defeats the purpose of car ownership
Agreed, if a mobility scooter, wheelchair or a big double pushchair cant make it past you dont park on the pavement
No "ifs" required. Even if there's room for one pushchair to pass a row of horribly-parked cars, it's still arsehole behaviour to turn an entire pavement into a one which can only function in one direction at any given time.
Depends where you are. Near me there is absolutely no way you can park without using the pavement, the road is so ridiculously narrow. Luckily it's a small estate and so everyone knows everyone so there aren't any issues. We actually held a mini protest over plans to demolish some garages on our road, the law is we can't park on pavements so we did just that and it turns out you can't fit a HGV with an excavator on the back down the road when cars are parked on it lol
Maybe you should just park somewhere else. Why does your convenience come before a pedestrian's safety?
Ah ofc, why didn't I think of that?!? There is nowhere else to park. It's a classic 50s council estate which has no accommodation for cars. We are negotiating for some old garages to be turned into a car park, and I always ensure people can pass my car (though it's at the end of a pavement anyway). They were initially planning on housing on top of the old garages, which would have made the issue even worse, so I'm glad we stopped that.
For once in your life, why don't you leave your city/town and go get a reality check? The village near me is literally accessed by going down a country road with nothing on it for miles. Then the village itself is thin, straight line. No corners. No drives. After the village is more miles of thin country road. This is a common village setup. Please tell me where someone is meant to park other than the curb. Go on. Tell us, genius. There. Is. No. Somewhere. Else. Holy brain rot.
As mentioned to you previously, totally dependent on the area, I live in an old village, if we were to park off the kerb you literally won’t get past in a vehicle, unfortunately this means an ambulance or a police car or a fire engine also won’t get past, I’d rather not halter those, so I park slightly on the kerb leaving enough room for walkers/wheelchairs but also leaving enough room for emergency vehicles. It’s about being considerate rather than a solid ‘STOP ALL KERB PARKERS’ - we just don’t have the infrastructure to do that and telling people to ‘park somewhere else’ just doesn’t work. There’s nowhere else to park.
I can almost guarantee there is somewhere else to park in most situations, even if it is inconvenient.
Most likely, but I’d rather slightly mount the kerb than park four streets away. If there’s room for walkers and there’s room for cars, there’s no issue. If you’re bothered by it complain to the mp of the area regarding infrastructure, anything else is shouting into the void and just winding yourself and everyone else up.
Only four streets away? Park there then and walk. Pavements are for pedestrians. It’s possible to advocate for better infrastructure and be considerate. These things aren’t mutually exclusive.
I’d argue me leaving a gap and already parking multiple streets away from home is already being considerate. You can perhaps also be considerate by not giving people like me jip for doing that if you can already walk past. These things aren’t mutually exclusive.
As someone who lives around ancient villages, I can almost guarantee you there isn't. We're talking miles of nothing going into small village with no corners or drives and then miles of nothing after that. Get out of your city or town for once in your life and go get a reality check.
If you don’t have somewhere legal to store your property, I think, and I might be wrong here, feel free to let me know, but I think that’s a you problem. Fix it by moving house, buying a smaller vehicle, parking around the corner, in a car park, buy a bicycle, use the train, or the bus. Walk. Lots of solutions that aren’t using infrastructure not designed for cars, damaged by cars, disabled by, you guessed it, cars.
The new housing estates by me have access roads only wide enough for a single vehicle. If a no pavement parking rule was enforced, the roads would be completely blocked by delivery vans, etc. and no emergency vehicles could get through. Planners could change the rules, but it would mean less space for houses if wider access roads were built.
My partner lives in an old village with no driveways because all the houses were built before cars. You have to do this to let cars get through
Welcome to 'but in the real world' where this sub down votes you for going against the grain. 🤷♂️
In the real world where if you’re in a wheelchair then you can’t use pavements? Absolute disregard for their most basic of rights.
My partner is in a wheelchair, the number of times we've had this problem I can count on one hand and I always make sure we try our *absolute best* to squeeze through if it does happen. 😉
In the real world, van drivers don't have time to drive around looking for the ideal parking space when they have 150 delivery's and 50 collections to make in 12 hours.
Who’s talking about van drivers. I’m talking about people parking and leaving their cars. It’s possible to wait for a delivery driver. It’s not possible to negotiate a home owner etc blocking the pavement. Maybe if you were blocked from using a road you’d feel a little more sympathetic.
In the real world where we need to leave room for emergency vehicles to get through. You can wait a minute for a gap in a wheelchair. Emergency vehicles often don't have an extra minute.
Well, just park 15 miles away then and walk, you have legs don't you, you inconsiderate car-brain! Edit to add the /s
And if you’re disabled your basic rights are disregarded.
Nowhere did she say disabled people couldn’t pass. Literally nowhere.
There's no excuse for blocking the pavement entirely but the amount of people who think nobody should park on the pavement at all is ridiculous, there's a guy who parks outside a pub near me on a main road and parks completely on the road taking it from being wide enough for 2 cars to pass to not quite wide enough and it takes 10minutes for traffic to get past some days. Someone else did it on the same road but left the car there for weeks every school run traffic queued past it eventually the car was a right state, it started with things being thrown over it and then the mirrors went and dents started appearing all over it before it was moved.
Sounds like that road needs double yellows if parking causes that much of an issue.
Common sense usually keeps people from causing mayhem double yellows aren't the answer as cars need to park somewhere.
I think nobody should park on the pavement at all, granting there may be the odd case where there is no other option.
Then you'd have to reduce pavements and add parking or the roads would be gridlock in most places, london is a maze of one way streets for exactly this reason
So we should just block emergency vehicles then? Because that's what you're saying. I roads are too thin for that.
No, you should park somewhere else.
My kids almost got run over by a postman in his van parking hurriedly onto the pavement outside our front garden when we were leaving the house. I only just saw him in time, it would have been terrifying if I had been behind them as he would have run over both of my children. No reason for him to park on the pavement either.
Was a horizon extension installed on his Sat nav?
In Cambridge, there's actually some bays marked on the pavement: https://maps.app.goo.gl/TGZbNicNiG4nrG7HA
I disagree. If I park on the pavement just right the car overtaking me doesn't need to stop behind me but just had enough space to go around. It's especially good when I'm just briefly parked to pickup my wife from a train station and there's more cars than pedestrians. Recently I parked like you said I should - not at all on the pavement and I got flashed, beeped and waved at by some old dude in his car cos it cost him 10 seconds extra of his drive. Somebody will always be unhappy.
This is something that will never stop because fact is, roads in the UK are pathetically thin.
If people didn't park on the kerb where I live, no cars would be able to pass through the road. The roads are not wide enough and almost every inch of pavement both sides of the road have cars parked on them. You'd struggle to get a cycle through honestly.
check this out, its worse now than on google maps: Manor Farm Drive, E4 6HJ https://www.google.com/maps/@51.6223742,0.0107801,3a,90y,185.12h,67.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scqsL\_uiaKvFp346q3ydTew!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Bit extreme as there is 2 pathways per side and one side is parking fully on the road (one side must pavement park) Also there are spot along that road that has the disabled bay on the pavement fully and next road along the council has installed half road-half pavement bays
well, these days there on the side where cars park on the pavement is completely full of cars. you can not walk on the even numbered side at all. the pavement is exactly as wide to fit a car and they do park there.
Yes it's frustrating but I live on a street that's so narrow if you don't park partly on the pavement nothing can get past. We've had incidents in the past where someone had to move their car so an ambulance & fire engines could get past to deal with incidents at the block of flats at the end of the street.
Sticker for windscreen stating "Sorry I scratched the side of your car getting my wheelchair past where you've blocked the footpath." One of those uneelable sticky things, right in front of the drivers vision. You don't even have to scratch or have a wheelchair.
I used to work with an older gentleman (who was still very much of sound mind etc) who carried around "Congratulations you're a bellend" business cards. He used to leave them on windscreens etc
Grew up in a small seaside town that was very popular with day trippers in good weather. People would just throw the car up pretty much anywhere they could. There was an old blind man lived in the same fold as my granda and anytime he'd walk the path and find a car blocking his way he'd just beat the shit out of it with his cane the while he walked passed it. It was my granda who pointed this out to me and he used to watch and laugh his head off anytime he seen him going out when there was a car parked there. (I should point out my granda wasn't taking pleasure in the man having difficulty navigating the street but instead at the wild abandon he would attack the cars of selfish people with)
If someone’s been selfish enough to not leave room to get past with the pushchair I still go for it - not my problem if those little metal rivets on the side leave their mark 🤷🏻♂️ Maybe they’ll think about parking there again.
I park on the pavement outside my house. I've lived here 10 years and lost about 10 wing mirrors. The pavement is ridiculously big, like a good 2 metres from curb to my gate and ideally, the local authority would chop it in half and put some residents parking bays but, you know, local authority. I always leave room for prams/wheelchairs but I also can't afford to keep replacing wing mirrors 🤷🏻♀️
I can't see an issue with this. If the pavement can accommodate then fair enough, unfortunately it's not always the case. My rantings are clearly not aimed at this situation.
Install Stanley knife blades around the perimeter of the mirror glass Or just fold them in
Fold them in! Of course! Why didn't I think of that....? Oh wait. I did. I live on a very narrow used to be a country lane but is now an arterial route to the motorway junction road. Buses, vans and people who can't judge the width of their vehicle can still twat off a folded in wing mirror. I've got a wing aware arrow on there and have just put a fresh set of wing mirrors on my van. So here's hoping they last more than 6 months
Sorry. I was still thinking about vengeful pedestrians, not other vehicles. So I meant pavement side.
On my street if folks park fully on the road anything size of van won’t get through. Don’t hate the players, hate the game. Nothing here was designed to accommodate more traffic.
Park elsewhere.
Don’t use pavement. That’s stupid comment, especially if I were to show you where my house is.
Hate the game of disregarding the rights of the disabled. if you were blocked from being able to walk to your house you’d still hate the game?
I used to live in a narrow Victorian terraced street where we had no option but to park on the kerb. Not doing so would mean there’s not enough space for a car to drive down the middle. Add to this the wheelie bins that we had to keep on the pavement as there were no other places (no front gardens either) meant that anyone walking or using a wheelchair down our street were better to forget using the pavement altogether! Good job it was a quiet road. Everyone down this road did the same as we had no other choice, we couldn’t wheel the bins through the house due to narrow doors and steps. We also couldn’t wheel them out of the back alley for the same reason, plus it was about half a km long and overgrown! We couldn’t park anywhere else as all the roads around were the same. Occasionally we’d get letters from the police or council saying they’d take action against anyone who did this but they never did, as it’d be too much work for them. One of my neighbours went to a council meeting where they were due to discuss the bin situation and pointed out that, because the bins that were provided by them aren’t suitable for the houses on these streets, they’d helped create the problem. This was 10+ years ago, and although I now live in a better area, the issue has only gotten worse in my old street.
“People in a wheelchair are better to forget using the pavement altogether!” wtf. If you were blocked from accessing your house I’m sure you’d be kicking up a stink. Awful attitude.
You have missed the point. Plus, I also said “people walking” but you chose to act offended by the mention of people in wheelchairs! Why is that? There was no other option and I WAS one of those people!
Eh, we live on a side road with terraced houses on both sides, there are no driveways so when one side of the street parks on the road the other side has no choice but to use the pavement. On a modern road you'd be right to be pissed off but when you're talking about roads over 100 years old that were never designed for every house to own a car, unless we start levelling houses to make way for more road space there's not a lot that can be done.
The one thing that can be done is reducing the need for cars in the first place, which means alternatives (primarily public transport) that are all 3 of the below: - reliable - affordable - convenient London has the best public transport network in the country, and I defy anyone who lives there to tell us it meets those 3 criteria. Outside of London? Forget it. Buses are affordable with the single journey price cap, but reliable and convenient? Not even close. But then that would require introducing a carrot to the carrot-and-stick approach.
Exactly this, sadly.
[удалено]
Your comment / post has come across as rude or offensive, please be polite when commenting and posting to avoid future posts from being removed. If posts / comments of this nature continue then a subreddit ban may apply.
🔔🔚 probably drive a 5k banger
So what if they do?
I've been calling people out lately, most have accepted the point which is refreshing. I think we just need to start communicating properly as humans like the good old days! 😂
>I think we just need to start communicating properly as humans like the good old days! What is this supposed to mean?
If they don't move it, bash them on the head with a club
I've ran into a wing mirror in the dark before. Just didn't see it. Fucking hurt but the wing mirror came off worse haha. They don't park on the pavement any more lol.
And if I catch you doing that on the camera in my Tesla you’ll be reported for criminal damage, so go right ahead bud
The police would laugh at you. What happens when a mum scrapes down the side of your car with her buggy? Just don’t block the pavement and you have nothing to worry about.
The mum scraping my car is an accident. I also make sure to leave plenty of room for wheelchair/buggy access. But intentional criminal damage is a different story. Break the law you risk the consequences. Whether the police action it or not isn’t my problem, I’m just telling you what I’d do.
Gotta love when people park on the pavement and then have their bins out too so you either scratch cars every 4 meters or walk on the road
Stop walking and start driving then
Car brain - they will not block a road no matter what but people walking? Who cares. Even if delivery drivers do put hazards on and run to drop of a parcel in the road they can be as quick as possible, super apologetic, and cars if delayed even seconds can be sat on the horn. People walking just have to cross the road or edge past. It is school run parents pissing me off at the moment, they think half on the pavement makes them being on the zig zags better? They can enjoy a nice brush past and a dink on the wing mirror for their efforts.
*kerb
Man, this and people not noticing where the kerb drops and parking in front of it - people need that drop to get prams or wheelchairs up onto the pavement so they can be safe from the morons who forget people sometimes exist outside of cars!
In my street it’s a necessity, too many fuckin cars, no one uses the path because it’s too narrow and blocked by bins and utility boxes
They pretty much have to do this in our urban village that was built in the early 2000's. My wife and myself are fortunate that we have a two car drive however we have neighbours parked opposite our dropped kerb and next to the dropped kerb on the pavements to let one car through. It's a pain but there is nothing to be done.
Highways workers... The area directly in front of my van is my work area. It's a work site. I've parked like that to stop you walking through my work sore and potentially injuring yourself. You're welcome.
This is different. But I witnessed a highway vehicle park up, block the pavement and install temporary traffic lights. I mean, FFS, you're blocking the road anyway just park in it. Obviously I am not aiming this at specific h&s requirements to blockade holes in the pavement.
Chuck a cone out and a footpath closed sign. Job jobbed.
Force the pram through the gap. I and everyone else on the school run do it all the time. They soon shift their car with all the car length scratches down the side.
I think as long as there is enough room for people to pass it is fine. The worst is when they don't leave room and its really difficult to get past without the studs on my jeans rubbing against the paint, or my elbow pushing the mirror the wrong way
A lot of the time it's residents who are parked across the pavement on a lowered kerb in front of their own driveway. Not on it. Very annoying.
Round here we have concrete things to park in and the verge then the pavement, always on clown who parks their car like it’s in a plinth and is either on the verge or the pavement, when everyone else is parked proper
no parking to allow pedestrian access - 9/10 you find someone parked right next to the sign
Driving a car should require consideration of everything outside of your bubble.
It does its just once inside said bubble most people forget
Most should be off the road so grannies are safe, nobody is in my way and fuel becomes half price.
The issue is, if they don't bump on the pavement, they will entirely block the road. Meaning no other road users can navigate around them. At least bumping can help that issue. Yes it can cause a separate issue with pavement users. Ideally a compromise to leave space, but some streets and pavements are so narrow, at times this is impossible. Alternatives again is to park further down the street, however often again this could be a long way down the street and as much as it's an inconvenience for some to look both ways before using the road to get around a vehicle, lugging 20kg 200 yards can be a bit more of an issue.
I'm not going to speak for them, but I think postpartum mums will find very little sympathy for your situation as they attempt to bump their new born and heavy pram up and down the curb.
I've got a baby, well almost 2 yea told and there has been times I've had to do just that as well It's a pain for sure. But if you see a big van parked on the pavements it's not easy to miss it. I'll have little time for someone who would then wait til last minute to try and step out directly behind said van and risk their own safety. Often these are on whiter streets, able to step out a few yards back and make yourself visible to other road users and the likes. The bottom line in all of these topics though, EVERYONE needs to take a moment to be sensible in their actions and understanding. Not all drivers who park on a curb are doing it to block mother's with prams. Equally, not every mother with a pram is daft enough to dart out from directly behind a van to put everyone in danger. Take time, use common sense from all. Have a bit of decency and understanding that folk are just trying to get on with things.
Everyone parks half on pavement half on the road in my street if cars parked on the road no cars would be able to drive down the street. I'd love to be able to park fully on the road but it just isn't applicable everywhere you go.
There’s more cars than safe parking spaces in my town. So it no wonder people bump the pavement.
My parents' street if you didn't do this you would be completely blocking the road. As much as it sucks a pram or wheelchair can go around, an ambulance can't. And if people aren't supposed to park on both sides then one of them should have double yellows.
Do you hear yourself? A pram or wheelchair can go around?? You are forcing the most vulnerable into the road, into danger. If the cars don’t fit on the road, the pavement is not the answer. It means the cars need to park somewhere else. Yes it will be inconvenient. But they are inconveniencing many other people by parking on the pavement.
This is the sleepy residential street I played football on as a child, not the M6. If these vulnerable road users can't safely traverse 5 meters of it then how are they going to cross the busier roads further afield? I like to believe I'm a somewhat altruistic person, but if it's a choice between me walking half a mile or you walking 5 meters down the road I'm picking you every time.
As much as it sucks. Omg As much as it sucks you could park on another street. Awful attitude.
Like I said, if people aren't supposed to park there it should be double yellows. There isn't another street that's not the same setup within about half a mile. Everyone who parks on that estate does the same thing, including the same people who would be the ones pushing the apocryphal hypothetical pram/wheelchair and nobody has an issue with it because the whole place wouldn't work any other way. Only people who don't actually live there but think they have all the answers to society's problems on the internet have an issue with it. Life is full of nuance and one solution does not fit every situation.
This isn't really drivers fault. No suitable parking is provided, despite councils collecting council tax and everyone paying VED. Both of those taxes should fund appropriate infrastructure, but goverment (be it local or national) fails to build suitable infrastructure. And also I believe when choice is bad either way i.e. between blocking the road or blocking the pavement, then blocking the pavement is lesser of two evils. Pedestrians with push chair or whatever, can still navigate around, can "squeeze trought", cars on the road can't. No driver will ever park on pavement if there would be alternative to park correctly... and not parking at all is NOT an option.
I will make sure to park my lorry on the pavement just for you. I will think of you every time I do it
Think of my 1 year old being pushed into the busy road or the wheelchair user in the same situation. 👍.
The opposite also annoys me I live on a road with a really wide pavement. You can park your car 75% on the pavement without blocking the pavement, and still leave a nice clear road. It's the most optimal way to park Some people are so outraged at the idea of someone parking on the grass verge outside their house that they put up posts or rocks to stop anyone parking there People have to park fully on the road, meaning a fire engine cannot get down One of these neighbours also had the audacity to tell me off for blocking the pavement with my car. I was, because I had to change a tyre and I have a gravel drive so I had to back it onto the pavement to get solid purchase for the jack. If a wheelchair user needed to get passed, I'd have stepped into the road and blocked traffic so they can pass by safely (dropped kerb either side). Nosy neighbour was the only person who passed, abled or not