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!

In an ideal world.yes but in reality no.

There would be nowhere to.park. roads would be blocked. We already don't have ambulance access up our road with everyone on the pavements. There would be no access at all if everyone parked on the road.
It's a bit like shutting the stable.door after the horse gas bolted.

We've converted our front garden to a 3 car driveway but with 6 adults in our house and 4 cars plus visitor's I've no idea what we could do. Most houses on our street have already optimised garden space for parking year still it's cars solidly parked up and down.

People parking on pavements will contribute to them being cracked and not level, HuffPuffle.

Obstructed pavements might be the least of your worries, but that’s not the case for @perkingfaintly is it?

@GinandManic I’m confused. You tell us that ambulances can’t get down your road because the road is choked with cars parked on pavements. How would you be worse off if cars were forbidden from parking on the pavement? If so, some residents would have to park their cars somewhere else, or decide not to have a car, because from reading your post, nobody could get down the road at all if you all parked on it.

It reminds me of Nessa from Gavin & Stacey explaining why she got rid of the two lorries that were a parting gift from Eddie Stobart: “they were a bugger to park in the streets of Barry”.

This 'if you can't park on the street you'll have to park somewhere else' talk is nonsense

Where exactly would you have me park?
I'll park on the next street? The one that's exactly the same as mine? What about the one over from that? Or that?
You'd have to go about 15 streets over to find somewhere you can park without being on a kerb in some places round here.
And even then there would be space for about 5 cars - what about all the rest of the people on all those streets?

Ok so why is it quite ok to block access for pedestrians inc kids and disabled, but not other cars??

Yes. People shouldn’t buy a house without thinking about where they will park it

Yeah, it would be nice if enough affordable houses with off-road parking existed, wouldn't it?

But as it doesn't, that's hardly practical or sensible advice

And what would your practical and sensible advice to me be?

Just exactly?

Two cars isn’t impossible if one is on a drive and the other parks on the road in front of it.. assuming your own partner can help you decide who leaves first in the morning

There’s multiple car homes here with 5+ cars.. Mum, dad, kids car, work van, family car or nice car. Usually mum and kid/dad or mum, dad and kid all work in the same town within reasonable distance from each other but they all go individually.

The lack of affordable homes with off road parking is a supply and demand issue, people buy silly small boxy new builds like they’re the best things they’ve ever seen and moan about them for the next 30 years.

I’ve no idea what the solution is although the ban has been in place in London for years so don’t really think about it. Priority on the pavements has to be given to no road users so that wheelchair users and those using service dogs have access and are safe. We can’t have a wheelchair user or guide dog having to onto a road because cars are parked partly or wholly on the pavement.

Perhaps let people park on the pavement and reduce the speed limit to 5mph in those roads as it’s shared space for pedestrians and motorists- that way pedestrians get to use the roads and drivers have to slow down to their speed. Then at least people won’t be keep prisoner in their home

Perhaps there is a call for much smaller vehicles that take up very little space, so many cars never use more than 3 seats yet they have 5 seats.

A modern mini is enormous compared to an original - you’d get two old minis in the space of a new style mini - same with a few other cars

The entitlement of car owners and drivers is astounding really. Imagine just blithely assuming that the storage of your private property is something someone else should provide for free. You know those threads where people go “well why did you have another child if you didn’t have another bedroom” etc etc - well why did you buy that house without parking for two cars if you knew you needed parking for two cars? (General you, not specific you.)

And the ambulance argument - using that argument cyclists could claim cycling on pavements is better because then they’re staying out of the ambulances’ way. The mass of private vehicles is what blocks rescue vehicles - if people really cared they’d consider sacrificing comfort and convenience and not driving - in a country clearly not built for this as many PP have pointed out, but as an argument for parking on pavements.

Unless the pavement is one of those fecking boulevard sized pavements I cannot imagine why someone would assume it’s ok to park on one. So incredibly selfish and rude. Does no one look out at the throngs of traffic, narrow roads and narrow pavements and think hang on, maybe there actually isn’t room for me as well?

Perhaps there is a call for much smaller vehicles that take up very little space, so many cars never use more than 3 seats yet they have 5 seats

The boot space is the biggest plus for us. There’s only me and DD in a 4x4, I’d be loath to lose capacity though. I do, however, have a house with off road parking bought for that purpose.

Yes. Too regularly lately I'm having to take a pram and two small children into the road to get past some lazy selfish arses car that's parked too far on. Park somewhere else people

Banivani I agree with your post, it’s the entitlement that they don’t notice, to the point they’ll even complain about traffic congestion holding up their journey 🤣 unbelievable

Fifteen streets away?? You’d have to park 15 - FIFTEEN! - streets away?

How would you ever cope? What did you do before you could drive?

I don’t understand why anybody would buy a house without proper parking then expect to park a car on the pavement, which is designed for pedestrians.

I have lived in two rented flats with no parking, they were my only affordable options in a place with very little rental property. We parked about 1/4 miles away with the first one and over 1/2 a miles away (uphill) with the second one. It was a pain in the backside but we managed.

What did you do before you could drive?

There used to be far better public transport.

There used to be local shops.

There used to be local firms where most locals worked.

There were more smaller/local schools.

Unfortunately, the world has changed. Lots of people literally have no choice but to use a car to go shopping, go to work, take their kids to school, etc.

How about a new "localism" movement to reduce the distances people have to travel for their everyday lives??

Of course not as it would leave the road too narrow to drive along.

Yes definitely. Cars parked on pavements are a nightmare - I have two disabled children and it is very difficult and sometimes impossible to get past cars. When they were smaller and I used a double buggy for them it was even worse.

Everybody has a choice. Very few people have ‘no choice but to use a car’ for shopping or taking kids to school. It sounds like an excuse. You can shop online or take a cab home from the supermarket with heavy shopping. You can send your kids to a local school that they can walk to: I’m 48, so not ancient, and very very few kids were driven to school then.

Your choice can be exercised in buying a house you can park at, instead of blocking the pavement for wheelchair and scooter users.

I get that for some people there is no alternative to driving to work: see my previous post about business parks with pitiful public transport. So I’m with you on the localism thing, but if you have to drive for work, you are responsible for finding somewhere to park the car that doesn’t infringe the rights of people who need to use the pavement. Your car, your problem. Not theirs.

Everyone saying, ‘but it would make the road too narrow to drive along’: don’t you see that you already have a problem with too many cars in your road? It is already too narrow to drive along, because you and your neighbours have more cars than your road can accommodate.

As a previous poster wisely noted, you have unilaterally decided that keeping the road clear for cars is more important than keeping the pavement clear for pedestrians. Your cars, your responsibility. Why do the rights of cars trump the rights of people like @MyNewBearTotoro and @PerkingFaintly?

Precisely, Iamwonbat.

Clearly some sort of control of the situation will be necessary, since common sense isn't working (you have a real tragedy of the commons situation on your hands here). This might be a blanket ban on pavement parking (so ridiculous, this shouldn't have to be banned, it should be obvious because it is a pavement). It might be that councils start forbidding free on street parking - either completely or by starting to charge money.