Parking on the pavement
I walk to work most days and something that annoys me cars half parked on the on the road and half parked on the pavement. It seems worse when the vehicle in question is a van or some kind of massive suv or 4×4. I took the picture on the left the other day on the way to work. This shows a classic example of what I am talking about. Not only is the vehicle the size of an elephant it is virtually parked on the pavement. One other thing you might notice is the childrens crossing sign, this is because just around the corner there is a primary school – hence all the other traffic at this time in the morning. For those parents who do walk their children to school and might have a pram or pushchair I can see this vehicle parked on the pavement being a bit of problem.
I can understand why people might park on the pavement. The road where this picture was taken can get quite busy particularly in the morning right next to the school. People do it because they don’t want their wing mirrors knocked off or wings being scraped by the other cars that are driving by too quickly and thoughtlessly.
So which comes first? I think attitudes need to change towards cars they need to treated as luxuries rather than essentials. I think drivers need to treat all road users with respect even when their car is parked and they’ve forgotten about it.
The yellow lines match his car beautifully!
On a serious note, I often have to go off the pavement and into busy roads with my daughter in her pushchair to get around cars parked on pavements because these plonkers don’t leave enough space to push a baby buggy through between their car and the hedge/wall.
I always give the wing mirror a good bash as I walk past a car parked on a pavement. Maybe the odd broken mirror will keep them off the pavement.
I have to say that your post shows incredible narrow mindedness. If that truck was parked fully on the road, thus turning the road into a single lane and causing tailback, you would be complaining at that too. In fact it would not suprise me if you just complain about everything as you feel the need to express your anger and lack of content with life.
As far as cars being treated as luxuries; wake up and have a look at the world around you! People NEED cars to get to work etc. i’m sure your not so naive as to suggest that the public transport system is sufficient and we can all discard our cars?!
Tandy, I would like to point out that you are intentionally causing criminal damage, and you obviously think a lot of yourself that you can take the law and justice into your own hands. Remember an eye for an eye leaves us all blind, but i suppose we’re not all brought up like that; are you a teenage chav by any chance?
Tracy, I do sympathise with your situation and agree that it is unacceptable. What we need is compromise; If it is neccessary to park on the pavement to avoid blocking a road, it has to be done only if sufficient space can be left for pedestrians and buggies etc.
Tracy,
I can see how parking on curbs is a problem in situations like that shown above, but in a large number of cases, there is more than enough room for part of a car and pedestrians, and it is in these cases where it seems stupid to block a road unnecesarily.
TANDY,
I happen to live in an area where I have to slightly park on the curb in order to allow traffic past, I don’t see it as a problem because the pavement is almost the width of the road, and so there is still plenty of room free for people to get past. Maybe your just really fat and clumbsy, and accidentally bump into car wing mirrors and say it was deliberate to avoid embarressement, or maybe you are just so important that people wont mind spending the odd £100 on fixing thier cars because you decided to be a moron.
Get a life you sad gits. HAve yuo gto nothing better to do than moan about tihs. I always park my car 3/4 on the pavement outside my house. Its a lot safer, it keeps the traffic flowing and there is still plenty of room on the pavement.
To be honest everyone who has posted so far apart from Tracy is missing the point. Why is it that we take it for granted that it’s OK to park on the pavement? Why is it that cars play such a large part in our lives?
I don’t think I am moaning or complaining when I say this – I just think it’s something that needs a bit of thought.
Right on Matthew…I hate people who use cars, I personally make my 30 mile trip to work in my flying saucer, which because of its vertical takeoff system, means it can be conviently stored out of the way in my back garden.
I know a lot of my friends are against cars get up at 4am to make the walk into work, which i think is great. Think of the excercise they get walking 40 miles a day.
And it would be even better if nobody went to work, because that way people would hardly need a car.
I know that some people seem to think that they “need to work to earn a living”, but i think that is ridiculous, everybody should just bum around at home and watch tv.
Thanks Billy it’s nice to people can approach these ideas constructively!
BTW – I don’t hate anybody!
If the people who park on pavements were ever to become disabled / blind then they would know the problems caused by their selfish, inconsiderate behaviour. It isn’t just a matter of complaining for the sake of it.
I don’t see a problem with people parking halfway onto the pavement like that, so long as they’re not blocking the path up so much that a wheelchair or pram etc. could not fit through. The gap there is more than big enough for a wheelchair or pushchair to get through. I should know, I’ve work with disabled people in wheelchairs for the last 3 years.
I also disagree with the way people won’t think twice about causing damage to people’s cars. It’s not your property to damage and it’s against the law to do so, no matter how angry you may be. He isn’t even parked illegaly, he’s not on the double yellow lines and has left enough room for vehicles to pass one side and pedestrians to pass on the other.
Although having said that, someone who drives a bright yellow Dodge Ram probably deserves everything he has coming!
It’s not really a question of whether you would like to park up a pavement, it is actually in the highway code that cars should not mount curbs! When did this rule ever change? If you have no where to park your car, don’t buy one! The world doesn’t owe car owners a parking space!
Another stupid set of people ‘contemplating’ if it’s right or wrong to break the law. Sheesh.
It is illegal to park on the pavement and you can easily be ticketed for it. As far as I remember, you are even well within your rights to climb over an obstruction on the pavement (providing you can muster the guts, of course). Knocking a wingmirror is irrelevant — you do not have to actively avoid the vehicle if it’s causing an obstruction on the pavement, so knock it if it’s in the way. If it busts there is naff all the person can do, since if they really wanted to do anything, they’d need a photo of you doing it, and then you’d be able to prove they were causing an obstruction, not to mention the fact that if you genuinely did hit it by accident there’s really nothing that can be done anyway. Surely you can claim injury off a vehicle parked on the pavement too?
Parking on the pavement also can (and does) damage curbs and the pavement itself. So another reason not to do it.
With respect to the above picture and the stupid response posts, the matter of whether the vehicle “had to” park on the pavement is irrelevant. You find somewhere else to park rather than ignore the rules because you *think* you have ‘no choice’.
I drive daily, never park on the pavement, park where it’s safe rather than being a ‘park outside my house/workplace’ wimp, and if the road is too narrow to park safely I find somewhere else to go rather than being blatently bloody lazy. If you park on the pavement you take the risk on what pedestrians want to do to your vehicle. End of story.
What did the world do before the car was invented? Certainly not spend time justifying why life is not possible without one. It is – if you want it to be.
Some alternative (unaccepted) thinking:
• Work near to home or move near work
• Walk, cycle or use public transport
I have been doing just this for the last 34 years and have raised two children and did not own or use a car.
Perhaps the problem is too many cars and the notion that most of us can do what we like regardless of others present and future.
As a cyclist I find parking on the pavement causes huge problems for me – narrowing urban roads to single file fast moving, bombing-straight-at-you on your side of the road motorised traffic. Just enough room left for one car at a time forcing bikes to pull in.
“So – it’d be worse if all the cars parked in the road,” Plonker!!
Too true!
So how about getting rid of some of them before the whole country grinds to grid lock and there’s hardly a front garden or patch on the planet that hasn’t been invaded by a car?
Everyone agrees there are too many cars and something should be done about it – just as long as they can keep their car because they can’t do without it, eh? So that leaves just me in the rain on my bike or using public transport.
It amazes me that cyclists on pavements attract such venom but motorists have the legitimate right to be there. Do they?
We will all continue to complain and argue and blame someone else until there’s no more room to move then we can sit in our cars and moan at each other through the windscreen while we wait and wait and wait for the traffic to move.
Alternatively: On your bike!
on saturday 11am 24/10/2010 I found my way blocked by a van which had parked with its fours wheels on the pavement-this was up against a housholders gate and when I foolishly asked him if he thought this was necessary to park there,he immediately ran at me threatening to give me a f@@@@@g hiding for daring to question him,becuase as he said “he can park where the f@@k he likes”
It appears that few people know the reason so many motorists park on the pavement is because they are taught to when they learn to drive!
[img]http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/images/forums/motoring/get-in-gear-section/aa-driving-school-on-pavement.jpg[/img]