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)

Pavements are for people. You should never obstruct, which most police forces seem to interpret as - you should always leave enough room for a double buggy to get through.

You should park on the pavement to allow room for emergency vehicles to get through provided you can do so without obstructing the pavement. If you have to obstruct the pavement to park, then you should park elsewhere. Obstructing the pavement doesn't have a definition, but in practice it tends to mean not leaving enough room for a double buggy.

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. That's crying out to be designated "shared space" and paved accordingly, Too many drivers take the view that if it's tarmaced, it's for cars, and they should drive as near to 30mph as possible, which means it's not safe for pedestrians to walk in the road.

Or if you can't park to allow space for both vehicles and pedestrians you should park elsewhere.
Quoted wrong post, but you get my point.

It says that the ambulance was at her address within 11mins.

I wonder how many were wasted waiting for a car to be moved?

They will forever be wondering.

What a tragedy.

That's fair enough. The pavement is wide. There's still room to get down it.

This ^

When we moved to this city 30 years ago we were surprised that everybody parked on the pavement. Our new neighbours explained they you had to park on the pavement to allow emergency vehicles and bin lorries through. The pavements are plenty wide enough to ensure that wheelchair users and pram pushers are also able to get by unimpeded.

And as in your case there is nowhere else to park - the whole area is like that.

We've lived opposite a NHS hospice for 20+ years and on that side of the road people park with all four wheels on the pavement. It's never been an issue for all the wheelchair users who use our road. If it had been, I'm sure we'd have known about it.

A lot of people don't seem to realise that parking wholly or partially on a pavement does not necessarily mean that wheelchair users and prampushers must automatically be obstructed or inconvenienced. It ain't necessarily so - it depends on the circumstances.

When a blanket ban on pavement parking was introduced in London (in 1974?) it was acknowledged that one size does not necessarily fit all by allowing local authorities to permit pavement parking in specific areas. Obviously such permission is only given where necessary and where it won't obstruct or impede pavement users.

I imagine it also depends on size of the car. Fiat 500 can probably leave enough space for both, Range Rover not so much. Too many entitled drivers about think they should be able to park anywhere they like. Even if it is technically allowed, if you don't fit properly you still shouldn't park there.

If only self-drive cars were a bit nearer reality. That would remove the need for many people to have a car, if you could simply tap on your phone and have a self-drive car turn up on your doorstep. Then send it away when you got to your destination. That would hugely reduce the on-street parking (bearing in mind the average car is parked for about 80% of its life).

Meanwhile, I'd settle for narrower pavements, defended by bloody big bollards.

In lots of Spanish towns there's a carpark underneath each apartment block, for example

The trouble comes in places where there is a lot of rain, though. And we do tend to have a lot of rain (and underground rivers that like popping up to say hello during storms).

Cue a flood of posts from people whining how it doesn't work for them.

Technical innovation is one thing, but sometimes it has to wait until it's time comes.

Really ! As long as you people only have to step out of the house and straight into their car, sod the disabled, mothers with buggies, toddlers etc but as long as the driver is okay dont worry !!

Indeed - blind people get clobbered by cars parked on the pavement.

Our street is narrow and cars park all along one side. Normally that creates enough near misses. We are currently the diversion for the A road roadworks so we have buses and trucks coming along this week. They're all driving with one side on the pavement to get past - not slowing down either!

People like you are the reason people like me have to step out into the busy road with children, push chairs etc. You are also the reason that people with wheelchairs have to do the same... and lets not forget blind people...

If you can't fit don't park it's dangerous

ETA To be fair as some PPs have pointed out some pavements are very wide and that's a different story but I'm sick to death of the selfish idiots who decide that the narrow pavements make a good parking space

ETA To be fair as some PPs have pointed out some pavements are very wide and that's a different story but I'm sick to death of the selfish idiots who decide that the narrow pavements make a good parking space

In many cases, it's expected by the council and there are signs to say as much. It's not happening because people are being selfish, it's because there's genuinely no other choice and the council has told people to do it to keep the roads clear.

Common sense still has to be applied. Just because you can doesn't mean you always should. If you don't fit, you can't park there.

There are a couple of streets in my town where officially marked parking bays are half on the pavement.

It's a town of narrow streets and old buildings, and most of the town centre was built long before the invention of the car.

As has been said several times, there often isn't a choice because there's genuinely nowhere else to go.

Where I live, every single street is the same. To park somewhere without pavement parking, you need a residents permit (which you won't get unless you live on that street - living nearby doesn't count). In the town centre, there's only disc parking in place so you can only stay for an hour. We don't have any public car parks in the town either - you could park at Tesco but you're restricted to two hours, so it's not very useful.

It's all very well saying "if you don't fit, go elsewhere" but that only works when there's actually somewhere else to go, and in many places, there simply isn't.

I am currently legally parked fully on the pavement.

It is actually a wide road however on the streets where I grew up and another where I previously lived you also legally park half on the pavement but the roads are narrow.

I'm in London where parking on the pavement is legal if indicated to do so by the council. If you actually park fully on the road you get a parking ticket. Some councils where the roads and pavements are narrow allow you to only park on one side of the road while others don't appear to care.

Oh and a lot of people can't actually park near their home due to the number of cars. So it is normal to see people with buggies wheel their kid to their parked car whether they are half parked on the pavement or fully parked on the road.

Some pavements around here (wide) are signposted up to allow half the car to be parked on them.

Personally I believe you should park on driveways/car parks only.
If you have neither of the above, don't have a car.

Unfortunately that just isn't possible given UK infrastructure.

It is often possible. See the example of London above. Why do they need cars at all?

Thankfully private car ownership is declining in citues like london, where pay as you go car sharing is an option, as well as good public transport

Some people who live in London work outside London where there is no reliable public transport, or work the other side of London to where they live doing shifts.

Oddly was just having a conversation about this with a colleague. My colleague lost a job due to transport issues.

At a previous workplace, which was outside London, any one who could afford to take the train and worked the times of the mini-bus to/from the station so they didn't have to drive was considered privileged.