Would you ban parking on the pavement?

Car drivers do tend to forget that larger vehicles may also need to use the streets.

(“It’s all about me and my car”)

Yes, it’s not just buses that will be affected.

Apparently it’s quite common for buses to be held up on this route and the danger is that the company could withdraw what is a useful service. The bus will stop outside your house if you are on the route.

There needs to be room for emergency vehicles – fire engines are quite big! But who parked there last to create the obstruction

I don’t know, but probably the driver who parked on the pavement. Obviously they did not think of fire engines, etc. The driver of the white car could have parked on the drive.

There is also the danger of the introduction of parking restrictions that will make everybody unhappy. Something similar happened near me and now there are very few spaces to park for shops and residents although there were plenty before the restrictions and local buses could still get through.

Councils tend to go too far when they have the chance to impose parking restrictions.

If there is a local residents association, perhaps they could ask residents and their visitors to park more considerately if they don’t want parking restrictions introduced.

I agree, and have seen examples of how restrictions have exacerbated problems, but in this example there is no shortage of parking at any time of day.

I live on a narrow lane with just enough room for cars to pass. Sometimes tradesmen will park on the drive but they usually have to be asked to move their van.

That’s a major problem, Vincent; the cultural normalisation of aberrant driving behaviours. Sadly, you’re all too right. In many places, motorists have simply come to accept parking half on a pavement as normal.

In many of Gloucester’s old Victorian streets, cars are parked half on the pavement on both sides of the road. Without that, residents would not be able to park all their cars.

That’s true of any town or city.
It’s not going to change overnight. Parking on pavements as standard practice has been going on and getting more prevalent for half a century or more in areas of terraced Victorian housing. People living in such areas (I used to) acquire one or more cars with no thought of where they are going to park them, while the authorities just look the other way and do nothing as pavements and other public land get taken over for parking. The Guide Dogs Association’s solution – to allow controlled pavement parking in specified locations – seems to offer the best way of dealing with the issue, though it won’t please everyone.
My point remains – a lot of pavement parking arises merely out of laziness, thoughtlessness, bad habits and a copycat mentality. You don’t need to go to the Victorian streets of Gloucester to see pavements covered with parked vehicles. Go to post-war housing estates where everyone has, or could have off-street parking.
Most of it could be eradicated without really inconveniencing anyone. Sadly polite requests won’t work. A parking ticket on the windscreen will help some motorists to rediscover their empty driveways, or help them realise that the road is wider than they thought.

Hi Vincent – This is a B-road where traffic speed frequently exceeds the 40mph speed limit and I have never seen any speed checks. If the Royal Mail van had stayed on the road any following vehicle would have to stop until there was no oncoming traffic.

I am strongly opposed to parking on the pavement but in this case it might be the best option since the van is only there for a matter of minutes once a day. Cycling is permitted on what looks like a pavement so pedestrians already have to be careful. I would have no objection to stopping as you suggest.

Hello Wavechange,
I think we broadly agree.
The proposed legislation allows some latitude for delivery vehicles – I understand this mimics Scottish legislation. However if I had the technical skills I could share photos from my “Royal Mail collection” – they show Royal Mail vans parked fully on the pavement when there are acres of available space on the adjacent road. (Some would say I should get out more. But then I’d probably take more photographs). I do understand that people making deliveries cannot always observe the letter of the law, but the problem is many motorists automatically default to pavement parking. This leads in some cases to an ever more “liberal” attitude to driving on the pavement – I occasionally see vehicles mount the pavement to get past someone turning right ahead of them, rather than waiting for the right-turning vehicle to complete its manouevre.
In the case of the van in your photograph, the ideal solution might be for residents to agree to the van parking on their driveway, assuming they have one (of course in practice life is rarely that simple!)
I

I sense ‘pavement envy’ will soon become a thing for those of use who live where there are no pavements.

The post van in wavechange’s photo seems to be considerately parked, leaving enough room for pedestrians and prams while obstructing the road and view of the bend as little as possible. Nor do I imagine it would stay there for long.

Its obviously parked on the pavement because of the bend ahead. If it were fully parked on the road, traffic approaching from behind it presumably would be forced to blindly overtake with no view of oncoming traffic. A dangerous manoeuvre.

Malcolm and Beryl – I hope you are both right in attributing such positive motivations to the driver of this van. In this case you may well be. And this driver is likely to benefit from one of the exceptions in the proposed legislation (all delivery vehicles would be allowed twenty minutes and I believe Royal Mail may receive additional allowances).
As I have said above – I sometimes see Royal Mail vans (besides all sorts of other vehicles) parked on the pavement for no better reason than because it is there. (If you saw my photos I think you would agree). Sadly, an increasing number of drivers think that’s what pavements are for. And on other occasions I see their vans parked sensibly, considerately and fully on the road, causing no apparent problems for anyone.

Thanks for the comments. The road narrows to some extent for the bridge, the railings of which can be seen in the photo, but the curve is not sufficient to prevent drivers from seeing oncoming vehicles.

I had a chat with the owner of the first cottage this evening and apparently the RM van always stops in the same place. The sensible solution would be to do as Vincent has suggested and park on one of the drives, do the delivery, turn round and go back onto the road. At least two of the six cottages have large enough drives for vehicles to turn round.

Vincent – You are welcome to post photos here if you upload them to a photo sharing site and post the link. My photo was on Imgur. To start with, any post containing a link will be delayed for checking by a moderator but if you log-in and don’t post anything dodgy, posts will eventually appear immediately. Another benefit of logging in is that you get 30 minutes to correct errors.

Many years ago I would sometimes park with two wheels on the pavement but a neighbour pointed out that this could make life difficult for partially-sighted pedestrians.

Ian – Our lane does not have a pavement and if vehicles park on the road it it makes it difficult for vans and impossible for bin lorries. I don’t know why most tradesmen are reluctant to park on the drive.