Parking on pavements - AIBU

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

Evertime I take DS out in his pushchair for a walk I have to walk in the road at least a few times to get past cars that are obstructing the pavements. Today I counted 8 times, on a walk of about a mile. Now, it's my choice to take the pushchair out so that's not what I'm griping about. It's just that it's made me notice that the cars are blocking the pavements, meaning anyone in a wheelchair or with limited mobility will have to go in to the road in order to get past. AIBU to think this is wrong?

I get what you're saying but I try my best not to whinge about it actually because I feel less justified than a wheelchair user whose life is far more inconvenienced by it than mine. Not sure if that makes sense? Yes it would be MUCH easier if inconsiderate arse holes just parked properly in the first place, but tbh I usually thank my lucky stars I'm not in a wheelchair and cross the road.

I did say in my post that I wasn't griping about having to go in to the road with the pushchair, I said taking the pushchair out made me realise just how many cards block the pavements, meaning wheelchair users can't get past.

It pisses me off too.

I got to the point where I just push past, if I scratch their car so be it. Shouldn't be on the fucking pavement, assholes.

YANBU

It's awful for this where I live. Issue is that the roads are narrow and curved, so people can't park fully on the road, and people have more cars than the developers made parking spaces for (and there's no convenient public transport).

I think that people should have consider the parking situation before they moved there, but I don't think most people care about other people being able to walk on the pavement...

I hear the government is putting together a fine for vehicles who park on pavements. Not sure how true though.

This makes me so angry. I am able bodied and don't use a pushchair but it annoys me how little consideration some people have for others, like wheelchair users, who have no bloody choice about having to use it. What are they supposed to do? Just forget the rest of their journey and go home because they can't pass on the pavement or get up and down the kerb onto the (dangerous) road?

We have to park on the pavement or else farm and emergency vehicles can't get through.

Cars have to park on the pavements in my area, because the roads are so narrow.

There are even parking bays marked out on them.

It does make it difficult to get a wheelchair or buggy along the pavement, especially on bin collection day, when the friggin refuse collectors don't bother sticking the bins back on driveways.

YANBU. A resident near me has recently decided to start blocking the entire pavement with his car instead of using his allocated parking space. I have a toddler in a pushchair and DC with SN who I have to keep safe, I'll be damned if I'm walking in the road because he's a selfish prick. I've started walking across his front garden, buggy and all.

Zilpha exactly. I feel bad that I never noticed before the pushchair...until I had something inconvenience me, I didn't stop to think about the inconvenience caused to people who have no choice in the matter. So I guess that's what the people parking the cars are doing - not thinking about the inconvenience to others because it's not affecting them.

It used to be one of my pet hates when the kids were small and I was pushing a buggy with one hand and holding onto DS1 with the other. Quite often there wasn't enough space to get past cars parked on the pavement so we were forced to walk out on the road. I wonder if the car drivers realised just how much they inconvenienced pedestrians.

It's so inconsiderate, I used to take my late grandmother out in her wheel chair every now and again and it made it so much more difficult for her to safely get from A to B.
I now have a double pushchair which I use daily and it's really opened my eyes to how inconsiderate people can be. The road leading to mine is wide enough for cars parked both sides with enough room for an emergency vehicle to get through easily but still people do it.

People who park on pavements and leave no room for wheelchairs or pushchairs are special kinds of arseholes. They know what they are doing but they don't give a fuck.

Selfish cunts.

No one should park on a pavement. Roads are for cars, pavements are for people. A member of my family is in a wheelchair and it scares me to death when they have to go out onto busy roads because cars have blocked the pavement. The same problem applies to baby buggies.

If the road is too narrow, the car should be parked on another road and then walk to where you want to be. I hope it becomes illegal to park on the pavement, the drivers fined and the car towed away.

Our 'safe' route home from school is blocked by parents parking on the pavement. So far on to the pavement that you can't walk single file past them. Forcing us to walk on the road. Not a chance of getting a buggy or wheelchair down there and they park over the sloped access points too.

It's also a nightmare for anyone with a guide dog.

Please pardon my ignorance but I genuinely don't know. What would a guide dog do in that situation? I'd never thought about that

If the road is too narrow, the car should be parked on another road and then walk to where you want to be. I hope it becomes illegal to park on the pavement, the drivers fined and the car towed away.

There are no other roads that aren't narrow around here. It's the whole area basically.

Mind you, you can be fined if your car isn't properly inside the parking bay.

Be completely flummoxed and thrown off their stride initially, then try and find a way round ('Find a way' is a guide dog command) which would involve guiding their owner into the street.

Guide Dogs have actually been campaigning on this issue recently and if the government do actually tackle it, it will be largely due to them, so feel free to make a donation when the law is passed :)

As a user of a mobility scooter I know just how awkward it is when there's cars parked on the pavement. It's very scary if you have to go in the road as you are low down (unlike an adult pushing a pushchair) and on more than one occasion I have had a near miss because drivers simply haven't seen me. It's also not that easy as just crossing the road either as you need a dropped curb to be able to get off the pavement 😔

Yeah sorry op if that came across wrong. I wasn't having a go, I just feel bad that I hadn't really noticed until I started using the buggy what a pain in the arse it is.

Thank you silver that's really interesting and thought provoking. These threads usually get into wheelchairs and pushchairs but I've not seen guidedogs mentioned before and thinking about it now it's a really real and important thing to consider.

Pavement parkers (when there's absolutely no reason to do so) are a special kind of selfish cunt. I'm sure half of them have got 'issues' about actually parking their cars fully on the road but choose not to consider the fact they are inconveniencing pedestrians by blocking the pavement instead. The rest are just thoughtless arseholes.

It really annoys me. It is common in some local roads to park on the pavements leaving enough space for a pedestrian to get through but not enough for anything else. What makes it worse is that these houses have driveways but they park on road/pavement because it is easier.
If the gap is big enough I squeeze through without touching it but I am unable to stop ds giving a car that close, a kick or a bang.

It sounds like a perfect subject for a tv advert. I get that lots of people just don't think past their own nose about how their parking/driving can inconvenience others so I think an advert showing real life wheel chair/pushchair/guidedog users having real trouble getting on with their day might make a lot of people think better.