Woman’s death could have been due to parked cars

[MikeRafone]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj6k7n734jgo

something should be done to prevent drivers blocking emergency vehicles

lines in red on narrow roads to show width of vehicle and if if your car doesn’t fit park elsewhere ( not on pavement)

You should park on the pavement in order for emergency vehicles to fit down certain streets. There are areas where you should and areas where you shouldnt.

You should not park on the pavement if it forces pushchairs, people with disabilies, the elderly, into the street.

You should park on the pavement if its an area where you should.

Are there areas where you "should" park on the pavement?

I don't know, I live in a country where parking on the pavement is banned, but I've never seen anything anywhere that says that's what you are supposed to do. What's the point in a pavement if you are supposed to park there?

I know there are places where you 'can' park on the pavement. But that's not quite the same thing.

Near me some streets have markings half on the pavement to park

Its very sad but all part of motornormativity, there are far too many cars on the road, we just think the chaos they cause is acceptable and normal

And then people in wheelchairs, with buggies and assistance dogs can't get by.
The answer is less cars and not using pavements to store personal property.

I knew somebody who parked badly on a narrow street and the fire engine just went through anyway and left streaks of red paint along their vehicle with the scraping (good enough). This was a couple of decades ago, I expect they’d be sued these days though, and I suppose a fire engine is more robust to be able to do that.
Some roads should be banned from having parked vehicles if they are narrow. There are lots of roads with houses that have double yellow lines, they should be standard on narrow streets.

More likely,parking will be banned on one side of the road. Then people will complain over lack of parking...

I presume this is an area where the streets predate every household having a car, and both the pavement and road is narrow.

I sometimes drive down roads near me and think to myself 'how on earth would a fire engine get down here'. When I was a teenager my next door neighbours house caught fire and it's left me very aware. Some people are just dicks with their parking.

Yes, there are signs on the lamposts. It often doesnt leave enough room to walk past certainly not with buggys or mobility aids or sometimes walk easily with shopping, which also affects me as a pedestrian but thats how you should park on that road. Its a difficult balance

Correct, we have to walk on the road but if the balance is that, or an emergency vehicle not getting to an emergency then Im afraid parking on the pavement wins over that

And of course others have made the argument too that there are too many cars but unfortunately life isnt black and white, huge swathes of the country dont have useable and viable alternatives for car use, particularly for those with mobility needs and buggies so by being very anti car, it disadvantages those as well.

That's desperately sad. Obviously no one should be parking anywhere that blocks emergency access.

Pavement parking is too subtle for one size fits all rules. Off the top of my head I think of:

• Our road, which is reasonably narrow but with wide footpaths. Everyone parks with two wheels on the pavement and there is still loads of room for a wheelchair.
• The road around the corner where one family insists on parking right outside their house, blocking the pavement entirely for any pedestrians - even though there's ample parking on the other side of the street.
• My parents' road of 1930s semis, lots of cars to park but not much traffic, where the path is narrow and badly maintained, so everyone parks on the pavements and walks in the road.

Only one of those scenarios is actually bad, the others make sense but it's tricky to legislate a law that essentially says "Open your eyes and don't be a dick".

And how as a hearing and sight impaired adult do I walk on the road safely? And more to the point, why should I? Instead of people finding somewhere to park?

If there isn't space to park without blocking either ambulances or wheelchairs you should park somewhere else. Sorry, you don't have a right to park wherever you like.

I think it's good that this is finally getting publicity. When the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods were getting loads of publicity about allegedly blocking emergency services, everyone was outraged. And even then the police, ambulance and fire service were saying that all their data showed that cars (traffic and bad parking) are a much, much bigger problem for response times.

Motor-normativity stops people from seeing the obvious harm caused by cars, car parking, and infrastructure being all about car ownership.

There is no area where you should. If the road is that narrow then simply you should not park there. Even if it does mean you aren’t directly outside your house. Your car does not take priority over wheelchair users and buggy’s

I live in an area where there are tons of terraced streets and as much as some people like to bang on about getting rid of cars, in reality public transport is so poor here that most people would not be able to get to work. Someone opposite had regular ambulance calls for a while, so they could get through, but I do think if people were not careful when parking it would have been hard to get a push chairs through. But what is the answer? Cars are a fact of life, people need them. Unless you knock the houses at the end of each road down and make it into parking for the residents.

That is absolute nonsense and you are the sort of car driver that gives others a bad name. The answer is to ban parking there. The height of selfishness expecting disabled and vulnerable children in buggies to walk on the road so you can be a lazy arse and park practically in your living room rather than walking a few minutes or shock, horror using public transport.

Smaller cars are needed. Far too many stupidly big cars on the roads.

You make the assumption that car drivers are also not wheelchair and buggy users?

What a ridiculous post, and a way to show lack of knowledge and privilege. Try living on a terraced street somewhere with no good public transport and then explain what people are supposed to do. No everyone lives in nice middle class areas well served by public transport and has drives to park on.

Well I have a drive way so this doesnt apply to me

What does apply to me is that I struggle with mobility at times (its not consistent) and have to walk in the road on local streets to me quite often. Its hard, but its not black and white.

No one likes a pedant