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?

I completely agree. Parked cars are the thing Is dislike most about cycling. Our so-called cycle route into town is along a road parked up on both sides with cars going both ways down the middle.
I am hoping that it won't be too long before self-drive cars take off and rather than owning a car people will just order a car for that journey. It could massively reduce the number of cars on the road.

PinkSparklyPussyCat

Your council tax is what pays for the local roads for you to park on, you stated you pay enough so you’re going to park on them. General taxation pays for motorways.

Your light hearted comment came across as entitlement to something that you think you should have but we all pay through taxes . Others have also pointed out we don’t keep personal belongings on the side of the rd just vehicles

I am hoping that it won't be too long before self-drive cars take off and rather than owning a car people will just order a car for that journey. It could massively reduce the number of cars on the road.

You can do that now. They are called taxis.

@HomeHomeInTheRange perhaps but there arent very many of these crossing points (at least in my area). I go out walking with my baby regularly and find it difficult to find dropped curbs where I can safely cross without someone parked across them.

And the road in front of my drive CAN be used. As a road, for driving, which is its intended use. So no I don't think I'm part of the specific problem this thread is about. If anything my dropped curb is reducing it

I definitley don't see public transport as something 'other people' should use. I get the bus frequently where I can and pre baby I cycled a lot too. If public transport was more accessible in my area and I knew I could reliably get around for the most part I would get rid of my car in a heartbeat!

YANBU. Our neighbours driveway is the same size as ours ( plenty of space for 3 cars ) but they park 2 of their 3 cars on the road, for ease of use i guess. It means that it blocks up the road, creates more pollution from cars stopping and starting and is less safe for children crossing the road.

@goawaystormy

What do you propose?

The Japanese system seems to work.

To register a car, or when changing address, you need to prove to the local police that you have a parking space for it.

So essentially, poor people shouldn't be allowed to have a car? If you aren't rich enough to have a house with a drive you shouldn't be allowed to have a car? And therefore are limited in both job and travel opportunities, thus perpetuating the cycle of inequality. If you're too poor for a house with a drive you have to spend more money than you'd spend on a car on extortionate trains, buses etc.

I've just checked and an annual bus pass for the main operator in my area costs £630. That covers travel across five counties, more than 80 miles east-west.

That's a damn sight less than it used to cost me to run a car when I had one (a fifteen year old Fiesta).

For example near me is a kids football field. The number of parents who clog up all the cul de sacs in the area with their cars, block driveways, park on private property when I'm pretty confident most of the kids who play live in our (walkable) town is just silly.

Well, I suspect at least half the players will be the away teams, so they might not be a walkable distance away ?

In @ivykaty44 's examples (at 15:58) of course, the cost of public transport compared with car use would be double, or even quadruple if your family or a friend were going with you, whereas the car remains constant. Plus, you have to be able to leave at the time the train goes, and return when it returns, and hope that it isn't cancelled.
Plus, most of us don't live in areas where a high% of the route to where we want to be, could be off road.

My DS just couldn't have a car - simple - as there was no space to park it. I knew the limitations when I bought the house. No way was i going to model selfish behaviours in allowing my son to park where it took away from others.
Well, that's lovely that your ds can manage without. Presumably he doesn't work shifts, as my ds does, where the early shift starts before the trains start running and the late shift ends after the trains have stopped ? Or work in a job where he has to carry his trade tools with him to each job ? Or a job where each day is at a different site ? Or a job where he has to make 4, 5, 6 calls a day which might be 10 miles from the previous one ?

SO many people on this thread seem unable to perceive that other people's lives might be different from their own.

Well I pay enough each year to use the road so I'm bloody well parking on it!

I pay council tax too, so I'm bloody well going to put a shed on the street.

It remains a fact that a dropped kerb essentially becomes a stretch of road ‘bagsed’ by people with drives, a stretch of public road that can’t be used by anyone else. So for a one car family with a drive they are as much part of the problem as people without drives.

• Section of road with dropped kerb. No cars can park there but there is room for traffic to pass through.

• Section of road without dropped kerb. Parked car (which would otherwise have been on the drive). Fire engine can't get through.

So either way, the number of parking spaces remains the same but at least the road (and pavement) are clear for passing traffic if a drive is present.

@Zazdar

I am hoping that it won't be too long before self-drive cars take off and rather than owning a car people will just order a car for that journey. It could massively reduce the number of cars on the road.

You can do that now. They are called taxis.

Taxis are too expensive for most people to use as a day to day transport. Most of the cost, however, is the driver's wage. A taxi that drives itself would be far cheaper.

I only have space for one car on my drive so my son has to park on the street. People on my street are either a 2-3 car family (2-3 adults) and or they have work vans. Not much anyone can do about it...suppose I could empty my garage?

My parents live in a village. There wasn't a problem with parking until a nearby business decided to build flats on their parking lot, so now all the cars from the business park on the street sometimes for weeks on end and it's driving the locals crazy.

In Japan, there are a lot of car parks, even in built up areas, there are car parks where people can rent a space monthly, but I think in the UK, people don't want to walk a few blocks and the public transportation sucks. Also, many families have multiple cars.

I've just checked and an annual bus pass for the main operator in my area costs £630. That covers travel across five counties, more than 80 miles east-west.

That's great.

My town of 5,000 people doesn't have a bus service. At all.

Onstreet parking is prohibited in most of my neighbourhood and its bliss. The houses mostly have driveways, but there are also mini-car parks dotted around and some of the newer blocks of flats have underground car parks. Previously lived in an older city with permit parking only (and where the price increased for each additional permit per property), which would be my preferred solution for older neighbourhoods.