Park and hide

< 1 minute read  |  May 4, 2017

Local authorities should be given greater power to ban drivers from parking on pavements and causing an obstruction to pedestrians the Local Government Association have argued. Outside of the capital, parking is generally allowed anywhere that doesn’t cause an obvious obstruction or where there are restrictions such as double yellow lines.

The dangers of pavement parking

In an effort to back up the danger of pavement parking, the Association referred to news reports to strengthen their case. A child minder from Worcester, claimed that children are at risk as they are unable to ride bikes on the pavement. She also lamented the lack of space to navigate her pushchair, forcing her onto the road.

The other side 

So now that you’ve read the hard hitting dangers of pavement parking and how evil those people are, I’ll present the other side.

It’s easy for the Association to chastise pavement parkers but for many there is no other alternative. For example, many estates in England and Wales have terraced housing with the only parking being available on the road outside the property. This makes the roads narrower, forcing people to park on the pavement to enable cars to pass safely.

Until local authorities provide better parking options for residents then they will struggle to implement a ban. Using examples such as children being unable to ride bikes on the pavement is hardly enough to dissuade drivers who would prefer children didn’t ride their bicycles on the pavement regardless of space.

Considering the amount of money drivers pay for the privilege, it seems crass to accuse them of damaging property and leaving tax payers to foot the bill. Perhaps local councils could use some of the money they obtain from drivers on a daily basis for parking, taxes and congestion charges.

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