Pavement parking

[Si]

Quiet news day: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26806722

Cycling link being two fold: first that so many cycle paths have cars parked in them and thus become unusable. Second, if all these cars that are partially on the pavement were placed fully in the road how would that affect cycling? On the negative side it'd create more pinch points, on the positive it'd probably slow traffic and make driving less convenient, both of which may reduce car numbers and increase cyclists.

Oh, and the back lash has already started: well if I can't park on the pavement then cyclists shouldn't ride on it....afterall it's the cyclists who are mowing down the small children and old grannies by the thousand!!!!!!

[tatanab]

People do not even weigh up any reason to park on the pavement. It just seems routine and normal regardless of the width of the road or pavement and the amount (even lack) of traffic. I've even seen driving instructors do it, indeed on a TV programme a few months ago about driving instructors coaching poor or nervous drivers there were scenes showing the instructor driving on the pavement and also scenes of them reversing into the flow of traffic. Highway code - what's that?

Strange that my neighbours can mount the pavement at a dropped kerb and drive a ton and more of metal along the pavement for 100 yards to park outside their house, yet I am sure that if I did the same with a pedal cycle I'd attract comment.

[Bicycler]

Like pavement cycling, I really don't care if it's done with consideration at appropriate places where it doesn't affect the use of the pavement. I think Tatanab is right, the problem is that it is done without thought. Particularly annoying is the claim that it is necessary to block the pavement "because we live on a narrow road"

[Ellieb]

Interesting. I thought parking on the pavement was already illegal.

[Bicycler]

We've had this before. It's illegal to drive on the pavement and it's illegal to obstruct the pavement but the act of parking on a pavement is not illegal by itself. They could enforce the existing laws regarding obstructions or introduce a new offence but it's unlikely that the police would be interested in enforcement.

I think it would be better to hand councils the power to issue tickets to cars parked inconsiderately. The sight of traffic wardens would encourage more considerate parking. But then that would be just another injustice in the war on the motorist...

[MikeF]

Interesting. I thought parking on the pavement was already illegal.

It seems within the GLC area it is, and other places with local by-laws, but not necessarily so elsewhere.

[gaz]

Lot's of useful material on pavement parking and the law here: http://pedestrianliberation.org/the-law-2/

[thirdcrank]

gaz

Another good link.

I think the law in this area is in a mess and there's absolutely no political will do do anything effective about it.

[reohn2]

We've created a monster,the monster is now taking over the country.the country is accommodating the monster,instead of taming it.
We live in a mad country run by mad people where the tail wags the dog,the dog is sick by the constant wagging it has to endure,but lacks the courage to 'unwag' itself and become in control again .

[cjchambers]

I think the problem here is that the horse has bolted. A huge number of people (aka 'voters') live and park their cars on streets which would be impassible without pavement parking - this is why nothing will ever be done about it.

The only way to solve the problem would be to go back to the 1910s and make access to off-road parking a legal prerequisite of car ownership.

[Mick F]

They're doing away with yellow lines in Torbay to allow more parking on the streets.

"Parking spaces created as Torbay scraps yellow lines"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-26774534

[Cunobelin]

We've had this before. It's illegal to drive on the pavement and it's illegal to obstruct the pavement but the act of parking on a pavement is not illegal by itself. They could enforce the existing laws regarding obstructions or introduce a new offence but it's unlikely that the police would be interested in enforcement.

I think it would be better to hand councils the power to issue tickets to cars parked inconsiderately. The sight of traffic wardens would encourage more considerate parking. But then that would be just another injustice in the war on the motorist...

My favourite was this regular occurrence:



Parking Office cannot deal with the double yellow lines because it is an obstruction and therefore the responsibility of the Police
The Police cannot deal with the pavement parking because parking is decriminalised and the responsibility of the City Council
The parking office then points out that the crossing offence however then puts this firmly with the Police as it is the biggest offnce
Except that the Police feel the double yellow lines and the pavement parking are the easier ones to deal with as they are fines, so the Council is the one that needs to act.

It eventually took six months of correspondence and over 100 reported offences with the Police and Council passing the buck and denying any responsibility before the matter was dealt with.

... and that was by complaining to the Licensing office who would issue "points on the Hackney Licenses each time they offended and this solved the issue


Illegal parking is becoming endemic, and with a disabled wife and elderly relative with partial sight it is an issue that really needs to be addressed with urgency

[Cunobelin]

As for the "motorist", we need to look no further than Hugh Bladen of the Alliance of Bad Drivers with typical ABD hypocrisy!

Mr Bladen feels that cycling on pavements was an especially dangerous habit which more cyclists needed to dealt with by the full pressure of the law

Yet this is the same Hugh Bladen who considers a clampdown on illegal pavement parking as being an infringement of motorists freedom and a "Jihad against motorists"

In other words get cyclists off the pavements as they get in the way of our member's parking!

[ArMoRothair]

I come a country where pavement parking is considered perfectly normal, often with all four wheels up on the pavement.

I moved to London and it took me a whole two minutes to understand that's not the way things are done here.

If the most congested part of the Kingdom can manage to eradicate this menace it bemuses me that the rest of the country can't.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

They're doing away with yellow lines in Torbay to allow more parking on the streets.

"Parking spaces created as Torbay scraps yellow lines"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-26774534

Torbay is very good at "U" turns.