Parking on the pavement

[David George 1Participant @davidgeorge1]

Where I live there are many people who have a drive and still just abandon their vehicle with two or all wheels on the pavement although some people only have narrow roads and no no garden. I know London already has a ban on this practice how do people or the authorities manage or react to this enforcment there.

David

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I know quite a few roads in London where pavement parking IS permitted, they even put up signs to tell you to park that way rather than block roads. So nota blanket ban. Some pavements are marked for two wheels up, others for the complete car.

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

It happens where I live as well. I’ve just stopped driving and got a mobility  scooter. The state of the pavements is disgusting. Tree rooots, lamp posts, post boxes etc.

Even obstructions where the pavement is dropped at crossings.And that’s not counting parked cars.

Roy

[JohnFParticipant @johnf59703]

Quite a lot of chat about this and a suggestion of a nation-wide ban !  Another sledge hammer to crack the nutshell !

Personally I don’t think one size fits all is sensible, there are situations where the pavement is wide and it make sense to park with two wheels on the pavement common sense should prevail but unfortunately in many cases it does not.  However why not have a rule that if you do deem it necessary to park in such a way then you must ensure there is a minimum distance left for pedestrians including mobility aids and prams etc.

We have a rule about passing cyclists with a minimum distance.

Thoughts – John

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

No easy answer but let’s face it there are already rules in place that covers obstructing the pavement but they are not enforced.

I live in a cul de sac and parking spaces are not there are two individuals who visit a neighbour will just pull up outside his house park on the path in such a way it’s impossible to get past

H

 

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

And they have the cheek to park on the pavement and leave the driveway empty!

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I think the proposal is that you have to leave 1.5m clear pavement, but if you do you can put 2 wheels on the pavement, (or 4 if the pavement is really wide). This seems reasonable to me

[wayne ollerenshawParticipant @wayneollerenshaw89933]

Its the way of the world today, more and more idiots and ignorant morons. I live on a wide road where you can park both sides and leave enough room for farm vehicle to get down and  for the life of me cant understand why one family park half on the pavement.

Its down to common sense and decency, which there is a lack of.

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Near me you can often see cars parked on the pavement and not on the drive but this is usually when both the drive and the pavement are used in the evening and the car on the drive has driven off first.

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Yes, in some situations, parking on the pavement may be inevitable, but why on earth do the morons park on the pavement when it doesn’t allow two vehicles to pass, but parking in the road still allows adequate space for passing vehicles.

Also, apart from more properties/plot, what’s the thinking behind only pavement on one side of the road and in some cases, no pavements at all?

It’s unbelievable to look at new developments (residential, commercial and industrial) where little consideration has been given to vehicle parking.  More buildings means more money for the developer?  Perish the thought!  Many of the light industrial/commercial areas near me are choked with employee and customer vehicles.

I think it’s high time that the planning consent included more sensible residential parking provision.  Say, off-street parking per property for two and one visitor.  Lets face it, roads are for driving on, not parking.

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

I think it’s high time that the planning consent included more sensible residential parking provision.

I have a vague recollection that planning rules were changed some years ago to reduce parking provision on new residential developements, on the misguided basis that this would reduce car ownership. The same woolly-headed thinking that local authorities use around here WRT town centre parking – reduce parking availability but, when challenged, trot out the nonsense that “cycle routes have been improved” as some sort of excuse.

Parking control is something that appears to have been devolved from the Police to local authorities. Local authorities are not interested in controlling anything they can not make money out of, so problem parking is allowed to run riot. The Police will only get involved in situations that are deemed to be “dangerous”. Been given the run-around by these two organisations regading the problematic parking of a works van near a junction by someone who didn’t live in the area – neither would get involved.

I would favour a system similar to that I understand to be used in Japan  – you need a certificate to show that you have an adequate off-road parking space before you can purchase a car.

Nigel B.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

If such legalisation is ever passed it will need to make money in order to get it policed ! I’m unfortunate to live by two schools and more so on a afternoon I seen the pavement blocked by cars waiting to pick up little Johnny or Jane and mothers with pushchairs having to walk in the road to pass. Not only does the traffic warden ignore this but I have seen the police drive past more than once and take no action.

H

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

It is illegal to drive on the pavement so de facto illegal to park there. Some areas have by-laws that provide for enforcement with fixed penalties. Seems to be about rasing funds easiy. Certainly in my area they can’t be bothered with enforcement outside the area covered by the by-laws. most parking on pavements is lazyness and selfishness. Also here the number of parking spaces at offices is limited by the council depending on floor area. So one occupant of a building that has a lot of equipment has lots of parking spaces and few people another has lots of people and not enough spaces. And no you can’t trade them.

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

I think most drivers who park on the pavement in residential streets do so from a sense of trying not to obstruct the road, which would prevent emergency vehicles getting through.

This is coupled with not wishing to obstruct the pavement too much either – I think most drivers will park this way in an attempt to allow passage on both the pavement and the road.

Drivers on the school run however, seem to just park willy nilly and don’t care. We were never driven to school – I walked a mile and a half to and from infant and junior school in all weathers, including the 5 year experiment when they didn’t change the clocks, and it was still really dark walking to school in winter. We all had reflective armbands for visibility.

As well as people using their cars as raincoats, another problem is building houses on such narrow streets. Streets could be spaced wide enough to allow parking on both sides, and still leave two lanes free. Why are they laid out so close ?

 

 

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Given that vehicles are generally a lot wider than they were when most of the roads were designed, it’s not surprising there’s a need to get two wheels up onto the pavement to avoid blocking the road.

I think there should be tougher limits on the overall size of cars, and a stricter enforcing of the regulations covering positioning and spacing of lights – how often these days do you see vehicles where you cannot tell if the indicators are flashing because they’ve got their headlights on and the indicators are pretty much in the headlight?

Rob

 

[Grindstone Cowboy]

On Grindstone Cowboy Said:

I think there should be tougher limits on the overall size of cars, and a stricter enforcing of the regulations covering positioning and spacing of lights – how often these days do you see vehicles where you cannot tell if the indicators are flashing because they’ve got their headlights on and the indicators are pretty much in the headlight?

Rob

And in a similar vein – modern headlights are far too bright as the receptor cells in the eye saturate and so there is not only an inability to see something of lower luminosity near them such as an indicator but there is a delay before any other image can be captured.

Perhaps an automatic town/country setting where the ambient light level controls the brightness of headlights – which are often scarcely needed, though legally necessary, in urban settings?

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

I think the increase car size across the board, is largely because we’re getting more porky and the inclusion of side impact bars, side curtain airbags, etc.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Nick, you are absolutely right and you would think they could could have narrower angle beams instead of chucking the light all over the place some of them when seen on a beam setter are appalling. but they think brighter is better so who are we to complain, we know nothing.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Cars are getting bigger because people like to show off. Many owners of Chelsea tractors seem unable to manoeuvre them in car parks or to move to the side on narrow country lanes. Perhaps there should be a different driving test fot larger vehicles.

A lot of the problem with dazzling lights is the self levelling thing having gone wrong. When my wife’s car headlights were pointing one full up, one full down she didn’t notice. It would have been very expensive to fix, replace both headlight assemblies, not repairable, so I adjusted them with a screwdriver and cut the wires to the motors. Had to convince the MOT man that self levelling is not required.

Police seem to have given up on this kind of thing, loads of cars with only one headlight or rear light, and I can’t remember when I last saw a cyclist with lights, most seem to prefer dark streets, dark clothing and no lights

[VicParticipant @vic]

Everyone that parks in my road has either two or all four wheels on the pavement. An adjoining road has a local bylaw precluding it (and signs every 100 yds to that affect) and everyone is happy to abide by it. Both roads appear to be the same width. I’d like to see this bylaw applied to my road, not only for the benefit of pedestrians but also because it may have a side effect of slowing traffic – most drivers break the limit by 50% – 100% at times it seems.

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