To think that there are too many parked cars on the roads these days?

[JammyRedRooo]

Its absolutely ridiculous in my area. Whole swathes of road are basically one lane only due to the amount of parked cars. It makes visibility when driving really difficult.

Half of the houses have empty drives as well!

You can't turn into my cul de sac on the correct side of the road because of the row of parked cars all the way up to the junction, it's just so dangerous.

I know you pay a premium for a house with parking, or households often have more cars than spaces but I find it so infuriating and unsafe.

Anyone else?

It's not though cause I'm not doing it as well!

Oh I know, I'm just having a bit of fun as it did read a little bit like someone driving a car complaining about other cars but I know what you mean

I live on the outskirts of London. Public transport here is excellent, yet on their 17th birthdays all my neighbours' children seemed to lose the use of their legs meaning yet another car parked on the road because they can't possibly share (do none of these kids drink?!). My two immediate neighbours have six vehicles between them, five of which are parked on the road.

We have one

Yanbu especially in the instances where people actually have driveways but still park on the road, I just don't understand it.

To be fair this is us. But I need to knock a wall down to make the drive bigger because its wayyyy too tight.

I would just take a sledge hammer to it. But appreciate thats irresponsible as its then unsupported one end and worst case could crush a small child. Best to wait for brickie I think!

It's like that where I live too. There's one road in particular with massive Victorian villas with loads of driveway space with cars always on the road making it one lane and really tricky and stressful at busy times.

My neighbour has 5 or 6 cars (depending on bf status of the grown up DC!) including a huge van for an average 3 bed semi so the whole of our end of the street is taken up with their parked cars which makes visibility getting out of our drive awkward.

I can just about cope with cars parked on the road legally, but what drives me absolutely insane is the number of cars parked on the double yellows outside the chippy every evening when there is a car park maybe 1 minute's walk away 🤬

People just need to sometimes accept they have to walk a little further rather than parking like t**ts.

My real bug bear is the people who park blocking the pavement so that i am my child have to go into the road rather than walk down the pavement. I have given up caring if they park illegally that take the risk of my pram scratching their car.

There just aren't enough private off road spaces to accommodate all of the cars.

I currently have a driveway so I park on that, my husband who I'm separated from also parks on the drive when he's here and we have done since we moved in. Any visitors have to park on the road because there is no room on the drive.

However, trying to find a house that is affordable with off road parking in the area you want isn't that easy. I've been looking because I need a driveway because I now have a hybrid so I need to have the ability to charge my car. It's surprisingly difficult to find, a lot have "driveways" but actually it's just grass and if it's rented there isn't a lot you can do but park on the road.

Prior to living here we rented a house with a 2 car driveway. The issue being that the driveway could only accommodate the 2 cars if we were parked behind one another. That was a big issue for us because our timetables never matched up. He would get home before I went to work so park first. I got home later and park second but he needed to leave before me in the morning so would be blocked in. If I was on a late shift I would not be happy to be woken up early to move my car so in the end I just parked mine on the road.

Our current next door neighbours are renting and their driveway is half drive and half grass so they can only fit one car on the drive. They can't park on the grass because it will ruin it and it's not theirs to ruin so they park on the road.

My mum lives opposite a row of terraced houses with no parking. There are 12 houses so if each house has only one car that's 12 cars to find parking for somewhere on the road. To be fair these houses have been there forever so parking isn't to be expected but if a couple with 2 cars bought one of those houses because it was perfect in every other way then they have to find parking somewhere.

It's not my idea of fun but I'm realistic enough to know that off road parking is a luxury and sometimes it's that that has to give.

I get very annoyed by the people in the next road. It’s an access road to the main thoroughfare and all of the houses either have a driveway or a car barn behind the terraced houses. You can see all the car barn spaces are empty as you drive past and the cars are parked outside the houses. It’s a matter of 20 paces or so from the car barn to the front door. If they have heavy or bulky stuff to unload, why not do that outside and then put the car in its space.

I know that it was made very clear to everyone buying the houses, what the parking arrangements are, but people just ignore the fact that they have three cars and one space (which they don’t use anyway)

Those that have garages say that they’re too small for a car. They aren’t; it’s just that people have so much crap in them, there’s no space left. We have a fridge, freezer, shelving, a bench and DH’s tools and there is still space for the car. It’s very selfish.

I really do think this. I don’t see a solution and am not going to give up my car but I do think it’s a shame! I live around some really lovely villages but they are all chock full of parked cars.

Do you drive, and in a car?

When 60% of us use a car for journeys of 1-2 miles, it's hardly surprising there are so many cars on the road - we all feel we can't live without our car. Let hope chris boardman and the new Active Travel campaign are actually going to make some changes so walking & cycling become the norm for short journeys

There are some roads like this in the town I grew up in. The worst is a busy road but there are no parking restrictions, no yellow lines or anything. It's one of the main roads in to the town, lots of different buses use the road and one side of the road is full of cars, right up to the junctions for the little roads which come off it. A number of the houses have driveways (which are empty), all have front gardens. It's a horrible road.

The village in which I live I'd pretty good for parking. There is a car park in the village fir the older properties which don't have their own driveway and most of the cars are parked in there. The newer houses nearly all have drives.

I would never buy a house without a driveway (but houses are reasonably cheap where I live).

My next door neighbour has 4 vehicles, a van and 3 cars. It is a 4 adult household and they all work/go to college in different areas. However, we all have parking for 4 cars on our driveway and there’s no parking on the road. The next road is a differs kettle of fish as they’re all terraced houses with no parking. Cars double parked all the way along the road.
Tbh, the transport system sucks. The buses come when they please, the trains have a service, but is expensive.

@lechatnoir

When 60% of us use a car for journeys of 1-2 miles, it's hardly surprising there are so many cars on the road - we all feel we can't live without our car. Let hope chris boardman and the new Active Travel campaign are actually going to make some changes so walking & cycling become the norm for short journeys

I think it depends on what your short journey is for. I drive 30+miles per day for work. Public transport would be 3 hours. Childcare drop.off not included. I am not rural. But I also drive ds (12) to scouts ( 5 min drive/25 minute walk), because I wouldn't feel safe walking him there. Certainly wouldn't let him do it alone, although he walks further to school in the daytime.

I like the idea of walking and cycling everywhere, but can we stop people having their bikes stolen at knifepoint and being mugged first, please?

Room for 2 cars on my driveway.

School I work in doesn't have staff parking. So we park on the road. Probably looks like the houses near school have lots of cars.

Well, my whole area is on street permit parking only so can’t do much about that. But I do think it’s a bit ridiculous when you think about what a tiny percentage of time most cars are actually in use - what a waste.

Not everyone can afford a house with a drive

I just don't understand why you'd buy a house that doesn't meet your needs immediately

In our case because we chose to live in a 400 year old house, rather than a modern box and we put other factors ahead of parking. Strangely there wasn’t much call for off street parking when our house was built.

YANBU OP! There are so many more cars on the roads than when I started driving - 18 years ago

Every household needs 2 cars?!? I get scoffed at because I walk 3 miles to work, as though it's unthinkable to some people. We really need some incentive to walk or cycle.

I was thinking about this the other day. A council tax reduction for households without a vehicle registered to them?

Round my area there are multiple households with two or more cars - and no off-street parking. Parked on junctions and causing an absolute nuisance. But 'I need a car to take the kids to school/swimming/dancing' - impossible!

Presumably you need a dropped curb for that so if anything you've basically just ensured your parking space whilst making 1 less for others when you aren't using it

I completely agree, I also think that parking sensors make people not park as close to each other as they used to so fewer spaces, more teenagers have their own cars than previous generations & multi generational household often mean loads of cars so that even with a driveway road parking's still needed.
However I don't see an obvious solution......tax on household with more than 1 car? What about people in rural areas who work in different directions for example.

It's a city thing.

Towns, suburbs, villages snd rural not the same issue.

@MajorCarolDanvers

It's a city thing.

Towns, suburbs, villages snd rural not the same issue.

I live in a town in the countryside in the middle of nowhere - we also have cars parked all along the road

@Drywhitefruitycidergin

I completely agree, I also think that parking sensors make people not park as close to each other as they used to so fewer spaces, more teenagers have their own cars than previous generations & multi generational household often mean loads of cars so that even with a driveway road parking's still needed. However I don't see an obvious solution......tax on household with more than 1 car? What about people in rural areas who work in different directions for example.

Good points! We were a two-car household for a year or so, both working in opposite directions snd living rurally due to cost. Public transport was unreliable, inconvenient and expensive. Maybe that's why? If there had been a bus that picked me up from my house and dropped me off outside my work, I'd have got rid of the car without a doubt. But I don't see how it's doable.

Where I live, the school is a 10 min walk away. Next door drives their kids every morning. Just no need. And the idea that people can't walk when it's raining?!?

I think we are all just too comfortable and not really interested in the impact our conveniences have on others. Doubt there's anything we can do about that.

When 60% of us use a car for journeys of 1-2 miles, it's hardly surprising there are so many cars on the road - we all feel we can't live without our car.

The thing about this argument is, that probably isn't the only journey.
So yes, if I am going to my High Street (a mile away) on a non working day, I will walk, but, at other times I will drive that mile because I need to call in for something on my way somewhere else.
Ditto when the dc were little.... I would put them in a car, drive a short distance, let them out at the CMers, then drive on to work. Then do that in reverse in the evening. Then, more than likely be going somewhere else in the evening. So, statistically 4 or 6 x short journeys - all these journeys of 3 miles or less that are talked about, but add them together over a day, and around work, and around getting the meal ready and maybe getting them to cubs or swimming or whatever, you would end up walking half a marathon or considerable more in a day which isn't realistic for most people in the time available.