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)

If you park on the pavement you not only prevent pushchairs and wheelchairs from accessing the pavement- you also block access to their homes, they can’t get back into the pavement between the cars.

pavements aren’t for parking or storage of cars

So leave the roads free for the people that really need to drive, and that's not everyone

It's a shame the consultation on pavement parking has been gathering dust in a government drawer for a couple of years.
Those of outside London would like to see a pavement parking ban too.

There is lots of unused space (including supermarket / office car parks) that could be used for parking overnight and as pp said, underground parking could be built for new houses.

Commuting out of London is rather an odd choice to make, I can't imagine it accounts for much of the London traffic. Those who need to fine, but that's not going to be the majority of London car owners.

Again it depends. In my road we park on the pavement on one side but it's nothing the like the one in the picture, if it was I agree it wouldn't be suitable. There are some roads, like mine, that have very wide pavements and I would like to see it marked for parking.

decide that the narrow pavements make a good parking space

because there's genuinely no other choice and the council has told people to do it to keep the roads clear.

The council will not be telling drivers to store there cars on a narrow pavement and consequently block the pavement in the process, the police can ticket for motorised vehicles blocking a pavement

Intriguing. Family blames parked cars. Possible. My late DH had a cardiac arrest at home. The ambulance arrived within 4 minutes of my call - but I was not in the room when DH had the arrest, which later caused problems, as we did not know for how long his heart had stopped and one minute is sufficient to cause irreparable damage (he was 78). He died eighteen days later.

My DD spoke continuously to her uncle, a GP, running past him all that was done. He's an experienced GP with lots of contacts in the NHS. His opinion was that given the arrest took place at home the chances of surviving it at all (let alone in any meaningful way) were very poor (DD did not tell me this until after DH's consultant had also told me). Even had the arrest happened in hospital, the survival rate is in single digits.
So, I think the parked cars made little difference to this poor woman's chances of survival, sadly. That does not mean people should not take care to park bearing in mind emergency vehicles may need to get through.

I didn't say anyone was told to block the pavement, though, did I? I said people were told to park on the pavement. There's still plenty of room for pedestrians etc. to get past safely.

I live on such a street and there are wheelchair and pushchair users going past everyday with absolutely no issues.

If you park boot to bonnet you will block access for people getting on or off pavement. This does happen and people have found they’ve not got access to get back to their front door, as they use a wheelchair.

You did, the person you replied to said narrow pavement, that would block the pavement and access

I'm with you OP. I don't drive, and the pavements around here are all taken up by cars. I often have to walk down the middle of the road. It pisses me off. An ambulance wouldn't be able to fit down some of the roads with parking on both sides.

I didn't realise you knew where I lived and what happened on my road.

My bad

As always with these threads, people seem to have no idea what parking etc. is like outside of their own area, and are super quick to criticise anyone who tries to explain that many people have no other choice.

Ultimately, the issue is with poor infrastructure and a huge lack of public, off-road parking - not with people who are just parking their cars where they've been told to park them.

It’s not about where you live, it was about narrow pavements

Yes, and where I live does have narrow pavements, but there is still enough room to fit a wheelchair down them - I know because I see it happening every single day when our disabled neighbour goes out.

I'm sorry that doesn't fit your narrative of selfish pavement parkers blocking access for people though!

The cars aren't wedged in that tightly and we have front gardens so no front door issues.

I'm not disputing it does happen but I'm saying that in certain circumstances it's possible for the pavement to be wide enough for cars and pedestrians. As I said upthread I have parked with all four wheels on the pavement and it's still possible to get past. I appreciate not everywhere is like that but you seem to think all pavements are narrow and right against the door.

It’s not narrow if it fits a car and a pushchair, even half a car and a pushchair wouldn’t be narrow.

Please don't park on the pavement, it's a nightmare for people who have disabilities or are visually impaired. The answer is that we don't have parking on both sides of narrow roads. This had to happen in the city where I used to work. It was only when the fire engine could not get down the street that people understood why it was so stupid.

Except that nobody is leaving their entire car (or even half their car) on the pavement, they're literally just putting their wheels up on the curb to make space, which is what they're told to do by the council, otherwise the road would be impassible to anything other than a normal car.

The same applies to every single other road around here, apart from the ones with residents only parking, which are out of bounds to everyone else anyway.

There's the option of parking in a different street of course, and walking.

I saw a thread here recently filled with hatred for cyclists holding up drivers. Will these drivers be prepared to drive at walking pace behind the pedestrians who have to use the road?

A blanket ban is pointless as not every road is too narrow, if changes are going to be made it needs to be reviewed road by road. Where I live we park with two wheels on the pavement on the wide side and completely on the road on the narrow side. There's still more room on the side where cars are parked on the pavement so what would be the point of banning it?

Because people with visual impairment find it hard when cars are parked on the pavement. My oldest is registered blind and cars parking on the pavement causes issues. I'm sorry you don't think it causes problems , but it really does.
Most pavements on narrow roads are also narrow.

Edited to add I understand that which is why I said it needs to be reviewed road by road rather than a blanket yes or no. There are pavements near me that are marked out for parking, they obviously work as they've been like it for years with no issues so it can be done elsewhere where the pavement is wide enough. It would require the council to actually do something useful for once so I won't hold my breath.

The problem is with new builds estates in my area is that it’s a good half an hour walk from
the nearest bus stop.

One estate I drove past over the weekend, about 4 miles from here, has been up for 6 years and there is not much of a pavement between the entrance to the estate and the village. So the pupils have to walk on a dangerous A road to catch the buses for the schools. Very stupid idea not to build a pavement.

Tradesmen also have cars.

They tend to have larger cars if they can get away with it rather than a van as the locks are more secure.

Edited to add:
Nope not really. London is large and depends what you do for a job.

Also there are some people who commute from North to South London or East to West London to work.

Plenty of medical professionals I know have done this before they get promoted enough to a more senior role.