To think the pavement is for pedestrians

[Whiskeyjar]

Why do people park their cars over the pavement? I genuinely want to understand this better as I think there surely must be an reason for this that I am missing. Example - I live next to a busy main road which is very long and I need to walk up this to access DS1's school and DS2's nursery. Since having DS2 I have walked everywhere with the pram and have came up against this problem almost every week- majority of the time it's different cars but some are repeat offenders. They don't just park slightly over the pavement but over enough that you can't pass with a pram which then forces you to have to cross the road which is really busy and no proper crossings on it. I get so annoyed that I'm being forced on to the road and putting my kids in danger because people do this- but why? What's the purpose of it? It's a wide road so if you parked entirely on the road cars would still pass with ease and even if they didn't, you could still do single file to get round a car that's parked? I have knocked on doors and asked people to move their cars on several occasions and never had any push back luckily. Is it just thoughtlessness?

I agree, cars (and bikes) should be on the road. Pavements are for pedestrians and for people in wheelchairs etc.
My niece had twins and fixed keys to the sides of her double buggy and if those keys accidentally scratched a car she was not to blame she is not a nice gentle girl

I think that some drivers have a misguided belief that they are being helpful in allowing more room for vehicles to pass on the road. As it is illegal, in most cases, to drive onto a pavement, there is no excuse and people should not be doing this anyway.

@John4703 omg 😂👏🏼 honestly I have felt tempted to take my anger out on the offending cars before but so far resisted

If it's a tight road there's always the worry other cars might struggle to get past. Wide road not to sure why anyone would. Blame poor infrastructure

It’s dangerous, with a few children having been killed by motorists driving onto the pavement 😥😥😥

I'm a runner and the amount of times I have to run in the road! I've been very tempted to carry a key also.
There is a woman who cycles with her children to school every morning on the pavement, she will not move or stop so you have to walk In the road. It's like she's in her own little world and doesn't even see you. I'll knock her off one of these days!

YANBU. It should be illegal to park on the pavement because it obstructs wheelchairs, mobility scooters, prams, and generally causes danger when people have to step out into the road.

Do you drive OP?

Cars, bikes and horses should be on the road, not the pavement. Mothers cycling with their children should not be on the pavement - take them to the park, mothers. It's annoying when they do those things but they don't care. Totally entitled.

Because people are lazy entitled fuckers who need to park as close as possible to their destination. Twenty feet along the street where there are spaces won't do, they need to be right outside their gate.

It's irrelevant that to convenience themselves they inconvenience every pedestrian that comes that way. They are more important than people who travel on foot.

Can you tell I live in an area riddled with pavement parkers???

@Popc0rn yes, I drive

If it's a tight road there's always the worry other cars might struggle to get past.

But no worries about pedestrians who might struggle to get past?

@Moominfan even if it's not an extra wide road - there would still be space for single file? I don't get how a normal or narrow road would then mean pedestrians become a lower priority than the cars?

I agree!! I have a car and have the added issue of parking but would never block the pavement as I have seen first hand the struggles this can create for someone in a wheelchair!

I remember once when I was little I was walking along the pavement between my best friends house and my house and there was a bin lorry blocking the road so a car just came speeding along driving on the pavement and nearly took the two of us out!! We were so scared that we always had an adult walking us between the houses after that!

I have a handbag with little metal skulls on it and I make no effort whatsoever to prevent it scratching them. What are they going to say? Officer a lady scratched my car with her handbag while I was illegally parked like a cunt on the pavement?

Agreed, I don't give two shots if people in cars have to queue and wait to pass the car parked on the road.

I'm a pedestrian. I would like to walk on the pavement, designed for me, without any instructions that cause me additional risk to life. Thanks very much.

Just wondered. I've never found it a problem tbh, the pavements must be pretty wide where I live.

If it's a tight road there's always the worry other cars might struggle to get past

Much easier to fix a car than fix a life

If I can, I force my wheelchair down the side. It's electric and leaves quite the mark.

Not sure what difference it makes whether or not the op drives.

When DS1 was in yr 1 at school I was walking along the path in front of school to go home with him and DS2. A car was parked over half of the path just past the zig zags at the crossing. As we were going past it the car started pulling away right beside us. Thankfully I was beside the car and the boys were on the grass verge to the left. My reaction was to batter on the rear passenger window to warn the driver I was there. Probably gave them a shock, they wouldn't have expected that. Turned out it was another parent picking child/ren up from the same school, idiot wouldn't have been happy had it been them walking along beside a moving car with their child.

Didn't see them doing it again, but if I had I would have had a word with them about the dangers of driving along the path. The school were always having to send letters home about the parking/driving on paths outside.

The crossing did get a crossing patrol person eventually, I think they reported a lot of parents and helped make things a lot safer as things improved greatly.

Some people are not considerate with where they park or who they inconvenience, they just do what they want. It can be even harder for wheelchair user etc as they can't jump out of the way as easily as others, or find it more difficult to cross to get past cars on paths as there will generally not be dropped kerbs behind and in front of the badly parked cars.

If it's a tight road and parking on the road means cars squeezing past then you've not left space for emergency vehicles. That still doesn't make it OK to park on a pavement. You just need to find a safe, legal space which may be a short distance from where you are going.

"Not sure what difference it makes whether or not the op drives."

Because I'd be suprised if anyone who drives could honestly say that they've never parked partially on a pavement before.

There was a youngish woman on a bike on the pavement, holding a dog on a lead. The whole pavement was full of her wobbling on her bike, the dog at the end of the lead which was stretched across the pavement. Busy road with buses. Everyone, mothers and buggies, pedestrians even builders, all had to step in to the road. She looked so upset when I suggested she should not be on the pavement.
It drives me bookers that people can be so entitled, even if it means endangering ordinary pedestrians.

The only times I really see this in our area is near schools at pick up and drop off time. Yanbu op