Would you like a ban on cars parking on pavements?

[StarsBright]

‘MPs call for blanket ban on car parking on pavements.’

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/car-parking-pavement-ban-britain-uk-government-a9096991.html

Having needed to use a wheelchair recently I’d really like to see a change in this behaviour. It makes it difficult to get around when cars park on the pavement without leaving enough of a gap for a wheelchair to get through. It’s also frustrating and dangerous for those with prams, the partially sighted and pedestrians.

I do understand that it’s not an easy issue to solve and some roads are very narrow, however there has already a ban in place in London for decades.

I’d be interested to hear thoughts on this!

The irony is that those complaining they can’t manage without a car and couldn’t walk a few streets to work or home are blocking those that can’t drive. People who are blind have to manage without driving and those that can drive are happy to make it harder for them

I have a garage but it's not big enough for anything bigger than a Smart car. The house is only 20 years old so it should be no shock to the developers that the average car (say a Ford Focus) should fit.

Quite aside from the incentives for property developers to squeeze as many houses in to as little space as possible, there's been an overall policy of not promoting private motoring since the 80s. Decent garages being a part of that. The result being the toytown "garages" that inevitably just become outdoor storage.

It's fascinating to speculate how different things might have turned out, if the presumption that the public road can be used to store personal property had been nipped in the bud before motor cars became more common.

DW had a doctors appointment on Friday. The surgery is a 3 minute walk away. I pushed, and we had to deal with 2 cars that had parked on the pavement at the end of our cul de sac, and a van that had parked against the dropped kerb meaning it was impossible to see the road to the right if you wanted to cross. (If anyone is suffering some constipation that just won't shift: get yourself a wheelchair. Strap yourself in, and see how long you can hide behind a van trying to cross the road realising that your front wheels have to stick into the road before you can see anything).

If I hadn't been to hand, the journey would have needed a 5 minute detour to the next crossing (if it was free). Not fun in a manual buggy with an inflamed shoulder.

I remember the wonderful and much missed CatThiefKeith the week she started helping a neighbour with a wheelchair.

It was around her usual familiar streets, but she'd just never been aware of the rubbish parking... because it hadn't affected her.

The shock of suddenly having to navigate all these unnecessary obstructions with a wheelchair was a revelation, and she started an excellent thread about it.

I forgot to add, on rubbish collection days, bins are left all over the pavement so it's a bit like doing a slalom. It must be a complete nightmare if you are blind, as if it wasn't hard enough.