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)

Very good point.

We have a site at the side of the road that used to be a school, has had outline planning permission since the school was knocked down for 80 houses & flats. It's been laid to waste over 20 years & owned by the council, they won't even build on there. It only needs a 6 foot wide strip for the pavement to be moved, we don't even have dedicated parking next to the flats for disabled people & no dropped kerbs for wheelchair users. They can afford millions for repaving the City Centre when the old paving had nothing wrong with it but anything to do with council housing they don't want to spend money on it, every time it rains our block is like Niagra falls because the windows in our stairwell are rotten & have brought down the ceilings in the communal areas, we have blocked drains in our drying yard & have to live with shit floating around stinking.

Yes, exactly.

Our local area has just re-introduced a bus service for the first time in 20 years - which sounds great, but the timings mean that it's actually completely impossible for anyone to use it.

The service goes from X (small rural town) to Y (large local town where lots of people work and kids go to college) - except the first bus doesn't leave X until 10am and the last return service of the day from Y is at the incredibly useful time of 1pm

The council is now complaining that nobody is using it...

I live in an old 1900s terraced area. People park on the pavement outside their back yard. Some don’t and that then means emergency vehicles can’t get by. Bin Lorrie’s only manage as most are out at work. When we moved in we had frequent flyers from fire service through the door reminding of the need to leave the road wide enough. Most people do but there’s always one or two and we sometimes struggle to get the car down.

The reason it’s not an issue for disabled led or people worn buggies on areas like ours is that all the terraced houses have fronts which face the next front with a massive pavement down the middle and grass outside each house. So if people are walking down the road side they’re choosing that over the safe paths. They all lead the same way. The terraces are in blocks with a line of houses then a gap and another line. So the gap means people can cut though safely as well across the rows. If we didn’t drive we would use the front. Most use their backs as they park cars. Some of the back yards have taken off their fences and gates and their cars park on their yard as a kind of driveway. Those people have private larger front gardens. Others have gates for private back yards. in an emergency the ambulance or fire engine would need to pull as close down the road side as possible to the joist having the emergency.

There are some streets nearby set up the same but the road past the back yards is literally a tiny lane and those houses have cars only parked on one side so that cars can get down. again plenty paths for walking safely in front of the houses.

Also where I drop my child off for an activity there are some houses, more 1930s style who all have driveways but all also have an allocated parking space on the road. However if someone parked in the spaces outside opposing houses then no car would get past. There is a sign on the lamppost saying they need to park half on the path and half on the road. This does make the path very narrow for safely walking down. These people also get very territorial over their space which isn’t residence permit parking, it’s a public highway. But they out comes out when they know the venue has an event.

It is illegal to park on any footpath, unless there are actual signs saying it is permitted.

When my youngest was in primary school, a young boy had an accident and ended up with a head injury. An ambulance was called, but was delayed 10 minutes because of all the inconsiderate parents parking, both sides, all the way down the road to get to the school. They had to find all the parents, and tell them to move their cars!

No it isn't.

There's a loon who lives down the road from me who parks their car on the pavement. The house has two cars and a big driveway with gates. Red car parks outside the gates, grey car parks on the pavement. Then there's the idiot who parks next to the temporary bus stop next to two big driveways, one with a double garage. People are unhinged. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Find somewhere else to park. Parking on the pavement is never acceptable. Pavements are for people so parking your car/van whatever on them is just selfish.

Same where I used to live, cars parked irresponsibly on both sides of street, fire engine just carried on through, lots of damaged cars, but they managed to save the lives of a family whose house was on fire,can't imagine the tragedy that could've been if the fire fighters hadn't made the right choice at that moment.

To be clear I'm not arguing against driving, just that all street parking should be chargeable - a residents permit type scheme is the easiest way for where you live, with app based parking like Ring-go etc when you're parking away from home. This should just be part of the cost of owning a car like VED, insurance, servicing etc.

It would raise an enormous amount of money which could be invested in improving public transport.

You clearly haven't looked it up!

No, you haven't looked it up.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/legal/parking-on-the-pavement/

We don't all live in London.

Parking on the pavement isn’t illegal in England outside of London. Driving on the pavement is illegal, so video evidence could be submitted from a dash cam I guess and drivers would get fines

You're the one that hasn't looked it up!

Parking on the pavement is not illegal outside of London.

As others have said, you are simply wrong.

The only place in England & Wales where parking on the pavement is illegal is in London. And even then the local authority can authorise it in designated streets, which many have done.

[Edit: I believe parking on the pavement has also been unlawful in Scotland since 2023]

It's rule 244 in The Highway Code - Waiting and parking (238 to 252) - Guidance - GOV.UK

The significance is in the use of the words "MUST NOT" in relation to London and "should not" in relation to everywhere else. There's a very important distinction between the two phrases

I'd be very surprised if any of those 548 deaths had been caused by stationary parked cars - which this thread is about.

As the context of that link shows they've been caused by drivers losing control of their vehicles and running off the road. Or other dangerous driving.

That's about adequate and effective separation of pedestrians from the carriageway. Not about pavement parking.

As a pedestrian, cyclist and driver myself I think cyclists and e-scooters on pavements pose a greater threat to pedestrians than parked cars.

How does a parked car get on the pavement to begin with.
They don't magically float do they. They get driven there. On the pavement. That's when drivers lose control and people get hurt.

Another really annoying thing is when you are walking along a pavement and someone comes to park on it with no care to you being there. Or starts their engine to move off as you approach.

I hate it when the council just sticks some blue signs on the pavement and claims the grant funding. Build proper bike lanes!

Lots of London councils have permit parking.

The money doesn't go into public transport. It goes to the fix the roads that have been trashed not fixed properly by the utility suppliers who have dug it up and street lighting.

Not one of those shitty apps! I hate them an won't park anywhere that I have to use one I can help it. They don't work half the time and you have to sod around downloading the app and creating an account if it's not one you already use. If we have to have them at least only have one.

Once they're set up, they're generally fine to use

It depends on reception. I had to try setting the stupid thing up in an area with poor reception. It involved a lot of effing and blinding and ended up with us parking elsewhere as it wouldn't work!

"Generally" is a weasel word here.

I have had more than one app suddenly decide (obviously when it's actually needed) that it needs to be re-logged in. Plus over-paranoid banking services deciding that NOW is the time they need to re-verify my card details.