To think pavement parking should be banned

[HoustonBess]

There's a government inquiry into pavement parking, you can submit comments here

www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/transport-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/pavement-parking-17-19/

I absolutely hate pavement parking - it's someone thinking their car not being scratched is more important than me and DD's lives. I live in an area of terraced streets and especially on bin days, you basically can't go out with a pram because it's so bad.

Anyone else want to comment for the inquiry? Maybe mumsnet could submit something on behalf of lots of people?

YANU to hold that view if it causes issues where you live, but I don't think some kind of national ban makes any kind of sense, as there are many areas where there is plenty of room on a wide pavement for cars to come off the road, and there still to be a wide enough pavement for power wheelchairs or double buggies or friends walking side by side still to get through. I can think of many roads near me where leaving the cars on the road (built before most people had cars) would mean fire engines couldn't get through, let alone the buses, etc, but by parking them on the pavements, they can. It still leaves a wide enough pavement for all pedestrian traffic, including pushchairs and toddlers and wheelchairs.
So YABU to ask that MN submits something on behalf of you when not all MNers share that view.

My village has pavements only just wide enough for a buggy, the road is wide enough for parking on one side with room for a lorry to pass, yet peopledo park partly on the pavement. This is unsafe for pedestrians (esp with buggies or mobility issues or partially sighted) but doesn't help road traffic at all. Idiotic.

In some places maybe parking partly on a wide pavement would be ok if sufficient room is left for pedestrians. If the pavement is narrow and the road isn't wide enough to be parked on then really, it simply shouldn't be parked on.

YABVVVU if you live near me. Some streets were built before cars became anywhere near as popular, and historically cars were smaller. There isn't any choice in a road of terraces with no off road parking but to park on the road, and if both sides doing that means a car can't pass Doreen the road between them, one side must park on the kerb. That's how it tends to be managed around here, one side parks on the kerb, the other on the road so that pedestrians can still pass safely.

This is about to become a thing in Scotland by the looks of it.

I do appreciate the reasons behind it. However I’m not sure how realistic an outright ban is. Lots of streets are fine if cars park with two wheels on the pavement (both in terms of cars getting through and pedestrians on the pavement). Where are those many many many cars realistically supposed to go when they can’t park like that any more?

As a blind person that regularly has to walk into the middle of the road because my guide dog and I can't fit past parked cars I'm keen on a ban. Imagine being blindfolded and having to walk into a busy road to get round a car... it's fucking terrifying.

If pavements are genuinely wide enough for parking then they could have designated parking bays.

If parking gets more difficult maybe less people will have cars which will be much better for the environment too.

My village has pavements only just wide enough for a buggy, the road is wide enough for parking on one side with room for a lorry to pass, yet peopledo park partly on the pavement. This is unsafe for pedestrians (esp with buggies or mobility issues or partially sighted) but doesn't help road traffic at all. Idiotic.

This is a problem where I live. I do appreciate that an element of pavement parking is necessary in some areas, but a lot of pavement parking is done to the detriment of the safety of pavement users, when actually the car could park fully on the road without obstructing both lanes of traffic. Around here, drivers seem to prefer to inconvenience pedestrians rather than other drivers.

Surely the government could come up with a plan for a general ban, with certain roads exempted individually?

It entirely depends on the pavement.

I use a wheelchair now. Once upon a time I wielded a double buggy. It's dangerous when there's not sufficient room on the pavement.

OTOH, I live on a new build estate where one parking space per dwelling was allowed, and off road parking is en bloc and not disability friendly (steps, poorly lit, long way from homes), BUT we have thirty foot wide pavements outside, which everyone parks on (the outer half).

If I couldn't park there, I wouldn't leave the house now.

It's been a long ridiculous battle to prevent anti-parking bollards being installed on this veritable boulevard of a pavement.

Councils have no sense of moderation, it seems.

Where the pavement is truly wide enough for parking, it could just be marked as parking and a strict border drawn to protect the pedestrian area.

Most pavements aren't engineered to cope with vehicle use. So they tend to get damaged and destroyed by vehicle parking. It doesn't seem unreasonable to ban parking in those.

It should be a case of its fine if it’s wide enough for a wheelchair to pass otherwise they Should be ticketed

the trouble is people park on the pavement. then leave their wheely bins out as well. so we end up having to take the wheelchair in the road.
the safety of pedestrians should come first.

In my area there are lots of “No parking on verge or footway” signs. On roads where there aren’t any, the pavements are usually wider and if you don’t park on the pavement, you would be blocking traffic.

YABU
I live in a city full of Victorian terraced streets it is the only way to park

parking on the pavement is the safest option in some cul-de-sacs here. the roads are quiet enough to walk on the road, the pavement is so narrow that you can hardly get a buggy along anyway, let alone a wheelchair.

other places, pavement parking is a bloody nightmare. there are signs that can be put up to indicate which one is best.

If we didn't allow parking on pavements around here the bin trucks, ambulances, delivery vehicles etc would really struggle to navigate around the majority of the streets. The area was built with many of the houses having garages that are now too small for modern cars (can get it in but can't open doors) drives that are too short for modern average family cars, and an inadequate width in the road for current usage.

I would agree with making this a rule in suitable areas or where it's near a school, shopping street, or other pedestrian heavy place. That's assuming there's a cost effective way of delineating areas where it's a rule and where it isn't.

Pavement parking is banned here and virtually all roads are no parking, if you don’t have your own parking space that doesn’t mean you can put others in danger or inconvenience others.

YABVU.

One size fits all approaches very rarely work. What might work for you, may not work in say Esher.

Every road should be treated on its own merits

I know how you feel, on the school run on a morning/evening I have to sometimes put the buggy on the grass just to get around a car which makes the buggy tip and pisses me off soo much, now if it's tight and the cars in the way I don't give a shit wether I scratch it or not. The ars park on both sides so there is no getting around it , really really pisses me off

Did anyone see that parking program a few weeks ago? Basically people were complaining about this but then someone opposing them called for a fire engine which couldn't drive down the street with the cars parked on either side without mounting the pavement. They were saying you have to be able to get emergency vehicles down the street. There cannot be any arguments about that. And it can't be a case of everyone runs out and moves their cars either.
On the flip side, it drives me mad when I can't walk on the pavement. DS is only 2 and we are working on 'walk nicely' but he isn't there yet.
In my old house, there was a guy who parked his van on the pavement, the outer two wheels were on the road, only just. I used to walk on his garden to get past the van and he kicked off at me repeatedly. I just ignored him.

Was it in Yorkshire where the police/traffic wardens started walking around with a pushchair to check that cars were parked sensibly? Shame we didn't have enough resources to do that all the time!

YANBU. Pavements are for pedestrians and there should be no parking at all on them. If pavements are wide then parking bays should be cut into them but it should be universal that parking on pavements leads to a hefty fine.

People in wheelchairs and those with limited visions should take priority.

If traffic cannot get down the street without people parking on the pavement then drivers need to just not park there and find somewhere else to park.

If an emergency vehicle can’t get down the street unless cars both sides park on the pavement, that seems like an argument for putting double yellows on one side, not crossing fingers that everyone will park on the pavement without any specific rules saying so.

I would like it banned except for specific pavements that are wide enough to allow it. I appreciate it’s a pain when you can’t park right next to your house or your drive’s too small for your car, but that doesn’t mean you can make people with wheelchairs, mobility scooters and prams have to walk in the road.

pavement parking is already illegal in London and everyone seems to cope including those people that live in narrow streets of terraced houses

I live in London Zone 4 and we have to pavement park in within clearly marked out lines.

Depends on area. I totally get both sides of the argument. Where I live now it’s all on road parking and the road is wide enough to park on both sides without going into the pavement.

In my old town, it was norrower streets. On my street, there was an unwritten rule that on one side the cars were parked fully on the road, and on the other they mounted the pavement. This allowed enough room for emergency vehicles etc.

It’s all very well to say find somewhere else to park but the whole town was like this, there was nowhere else to park. Nearly all Victorian housing stock. So banning it there would have meant inadequate parking for an entire town. It would have been chaos.