AIBU to think cars don't need to be parked on the pavement

[KaraJS]

im sick of having to take my pushchair onto the road as cars are parked so far on to the pavement I can't get past, I've found the worst offenders to be those doing the school run

It is a pain in the arse and when I walked everywhere with a buggy I would berate car drivers who were parked on the pavement. But now that I am a car driver, if I park on a narrow residential street I have to park half on the pavement just to stop crap drivers from taking off my wing mirror and scraping the side of my car. Also I consider emergency vehicles and the extra width they might need to get through.

So on wide roads, yes you have a point, but on narrow residential streets they don't really have much of a choice if they want to avoid damage to their cars.

This pisses me right off too.

I've got half a mind to carry an old lipstick around with me so I can write across their windscreens "Pavements are for people not cars!!"

I've had a couple of unfortunate incidents where the buggy has scratched the side of cars that are parked across the pavement...

So what are you supposed to do if you live somewhere with lots of narrow streets. I used to live in a 1920's terraced house. The roads - both mine and those round about - were very narrow. If you didn't park partially on the pavement, you either wouldn't have been able to park or you would have blocked the road to any other vehicles.

My point exactly Lesley.

Yes there are cases where it is unfair to park on the pavement and therefore making parents and those with wheelchairs walk into the road to get around them. But you have to take the circumstances into consideration.

I live on a narrow street with no allocated parking spaces. There are no yellow lines so people can park either side of the road. If you don't park on the pavement even on one side then you are blocking the road for everyone else and risk having your car damaged. Not to mention blocking access for emergency vehicles.

If someone with a buggy scratched my car in that instance then I would be completely unimpressed. Sometimes we have no choice.

When dd was little and people were parked on the pavements, I used to squeeze past with the buggy, and Sod them if I scratch their precious car. Niway would I go into the road it's my right of thoroughfare

In this Borough you have to park on the pavements because the roads are so narrow.

The council have painted parking bays on the pavements...even outside the school. I've seen some very near misses with small children whizzing along on scooters while cars are trying to park.

What about damage to my child when I have to walk into a busy road! A car can be replaced a child cant

piglet, there is no easy answer. I'm only offering the alternative view. Drivers are forced onto the pavement sometimes because of narrow pavements.

I understand what you are saying, but I think targeting car drivers and their cars is wrong. Target the council and make them do something about it.

Right now my car is outside my house half on the pavement and even now other cars have to drive slowly past to get through. If I don't park on the pavement I will cause a blockage which means cars will have to drive onto the other pavement to get past.

And what about fire engines or ambulances? What if your house is burning but the fire engine can't get through because cars on the road have only left a narrow gap that they can't pass through?

It's not that black and white an issue. And deliberately damaging a car will land you a hefty fine if you are caught. The court won't judge that the car is in the wrong, but you will be.

narrow roads that should say.

Agree it depends on the road and pavement. In most places I won't park on it (even when most others do, for no apparent reason) but in some places you have to, otherwise cars can't get through. However, I always get out and check once I've parked that I've left enough space for a double buggy or wheelchair. If I don't think they could easily get past, I don't leave my car there.

Also I know of definitely one road at least where they have painted parking bays half on and half off a pavement. Right outside a school, which seems a little bizarre, but maybe you can't park during school run times or something.

Well Rubarhb we live Milton Keynes and on a newish estate. The roads are wide, the pavements are wide ( not when they have half a blooming 4x4 on them). The houses are large detached with parking fir two cars, no excuse! Cars can come quizzing by at breakneck speed, better a damaged car than a child I say!

I suppose if there are parking bays painted on the pavement then at least it warns pedestrians to beware.

In some places, really there is only one solution - double yellow lines on one side, residents parking bays on the other. There might not be enough room for one each (let alone more) - precedence based on need (now there's a minefield!)

It wouldn't be popular with residents, but if you live in an environment which was designed before cars were invented, then you can't expect your wish to park nearby to take precedence over everything else.

Good on you glitter, wish other drivers were as considerate

This drives me nuts! Ok,I know that in some situations you have to park on the pavements to avoid blocking the road. But,I walk up to get dd from school and have the boys in a double buggy. The road is wide (although there is a primary and high school on same main rd so traffic does get heavy), but people still insist on parking half on half off the pavement rendering it impassable..utterly infuriating!!Pavements are for pedestrains you complete fuckwits!
I never have the chance to say anything to the owners though as they are usually visiting/working in one of the houses lining the road..I just seethe silently as I try to navigate around the car into busy bloody traffic..aaarrrgh

ive got a tank double buggy and ive got to walk into the road all the time because people park on the pavement :(

YANBU

I don't understand why people think it's so important to park outside their house if the road is too narrow, we can't park outside our house but it doesn't hurt us to walk up the road to the car, it might on the otherhand hurt my children if I wheel them onto the road and they get hit by a car!

Your new BFF Kara.

Annoys me. The worst ones near me are the 'Brownie run' parents who just zoom up the pavement with their big 4x4s without a care in the world if they almost hit your kid. As long as THEIR kid is OK that is alright. My kid's new school is OK but at their old one people did it all the time. One of the PTA mums expected me to walk in the road with my baby in his pram just so she could get her precious to school a few seconds earlier then parking in the car park 20 feet away!! i politely asked her to move and she swore and cursed under her breath!!! I couldn't believe it but people are so selfish these days, it's me me me...

'I've had a couple of unfortunate incidents where the buggy has scratched the side of cars that are parked across the pavement...'

I don't mind if they are on the pavement and a buggy can get through but if they block it entirely and there is no reason to (ie other spaces further up, nearby car park etc-NOT narrow crammed streets where there is no choice) then that is their fault if they get it scratched. I have a single buggy now but when my twins were little it was a nightmare. These people had driveways yet still blocked the pavement as they couldn't be arsed using the driveway. I spent half of my walking life in the road. Nightmare. I often take pics and email the council if a car is blocking the way.

We have a huge problem with this, not because the roads are too narrow, but because neither the Police nor the Council can be arsed to do anything about it and it's now become the norm to park half on the pavement.
If the coalition want to get some extra votes from, um, the disabled, the elderly, parents and everyone else who actually uses pavements then some national legislation on this would be a good start.
I have printed some stickers (have a look at the Avery website which has templates and does everything for you). I stick them on the windscreen of every car that blocks my route. I don't bother for those where there's enough room, but my double pram is the same width as a wheelchair (but even so, only 30 inches wide!), so I reckon if I can't get by then many others can't either.
Those stickers are shipping labels (Avery L7165) and a bit of a git to get off. I make sure not to block or hinder the driver's view though.
The stickers say: "For our sake [picture of pram and wheelchair] please don't block pavement or dropped kerbs."
Works a treat on the repeat offenders as they take at least 5 minutes to remove properly, but don't cause any damage at all.
Someone else I know sticks them right in the middle of the windscreen, which is a bit of a no-no in my view, but then, it's a very big problem round here.
The other additional problem are the overhanging hedges, bushes and plants that make the gap even more narrow!

HOLY BALONEY.

WILL YOU ALL JUST BUY HANDCREAM?

Cars park on the pavement outside our local primary school too. Drives me feckin nuts. I make a point of showing my kids the stupid car parked by the idiotic driver who thinks that it is sensible to park on a pavement when kids are going to school and speak in a very loud voice. Several people have gone very red as I say it loud enough for them to hear through the car windows. I've tried reporting it to the council and the school but no one seems interested. I suspect no one will do anything about it until a child is hurt. Oh, and the idiotic car drivers don't leave enough space to get even a fairly wide singe buggy (Phil and Teds) past either, let alone a double one.

YADNBU - and all those people saying that sometimes drivers are 'forced' to do this, that you have 'no choice' - I'm sorry, but unless you are talking a gun-to-the-head situation you are lying. You are never forced to park a car anywhere. (I say this as a driver with two under fives to transport, too).

Pedestrians, however, are forced to require access to their own homes and amenities. I find this a nightmare too, and the Council and the Police are no help. My local traffic wardens take the attitude that they police the road, not the path - so as long as a car has all four wheels off the road they just walk past. The council say that they don't own the pavements in our town, so it has nothing to do with them. The Police only care if traffic is impeded dangerously (vehicular traffic, of course, not pedestrian).

I had an awful situation once where I had to sit and wait hours for a driver to return because they had parked a avan across the end of the footpath to my house. The set up is a bit hard to explain, but basically 20+ houses had no access for 5hrs just because a workman had sauntered off on an extended break and didn't give a damn where he parked, so long as he didn't get a parking ticket

Grrrrrr. rant over. I am soooo with th OP on this.