Tax on Cars parked on Pavements

[Snadger]

I am quite lucky in that I have offroad parking space and I use it. I recently returned to the place I was born (a 1930's council estate) and found it very hard to manouvre through the parked cars on either side of the road even though they were parked half on road half on path.
I would imagine that automotive technology has moved on making cars affordable for all, but streets/houses older than 10years old weren't designed for the amount of traffic they have now.
In my old street if someone had parked on the road only, traffic would have been blocked completely. People don't enjoy parking on the path, it's circumstances that make it necessary.
Cycle lanes are cropping up all over the place on roads which are too narrow to accomodate them. as the road narrows further the cycle lane stops then starts again when it widens causing blackspots in these areas. I wonder whether the occupants of the houses which are ajacent to cycle lanes are askked or told this is happening and whether alternative parking is given to them.

I have a bike, but I wouldn't dream of riding it in rush hour for safety reasons.

There are no easy answers but councils could put a bit of thought into it and with minimal upheaval could surely keep everyone reasonably happy instead of restrictions,restrictions and even more restrictions!

[pigletwillie]

Fair shout Shirl,

we both have a car to get to work and as a restoration project I have an ex military lightweight landrover. When finished it will be used on occasion. It is however garaged. If I want to collect stamps, goldfish or indeed cars, its my choice and as long as it doesnt intrude on anybody else the rest of the world can swivel if they dont like it.

Too many people want to tell other people how to live their lives, perhaps they need to get on with their own and not be so judgemental of others.

[nick the grief]

I'm not actually sure that prams are allowed of a footpath - maybe wrong but they are classed the same as Bikes I think so should be on the road ..... mind you the law was passed when a man ran in front of the vehicle with a red flag

[shirlthegirl43]

Thanks Piglet. I changed the post in case I offended anyone though. However, that is playing according to the new rules - don't breathe in case someone gets upset. Envious of the lightweight!! Our 'new' riot van is a V8 with LPG conversion - that makes 3 V8 Rover engines in the collection - wahey!! (and for those who are about to comment on my 'green-ness' - they give out way fewer emissions than some of the modern cars - after all the engine is not working so hard to push the car along).

[Snadger]

Fair shout Shirl,

we both have a car to get to work and as a restoration project I have an ex military lightweight landrover. When finished it will be used on occasion. It is however garaged. If I want to collect stamps, goldfish or indeed cars, its my choice and as long as it doesnt intrude on anybody else the rest of the world can swivel if they dont like it.

To many people want to tell other people how to live their lives, perhaps they need to get on with their own and not be so judgemental of others.

My sentiments exactly piglet!

[Pottypotter]

Tell me about it, theres a bike lane all the way to my allotment but you can't use it, its full of cars and glass.

[rustylady]

I was not criticizing anyone for the number of vehicles they own, that is obviously their own business, merely questioning where they are parked and whether they are obstructing the legal right of way of pedestrians on footpaths

[madderbat]

I
I think houses/estates should be designed with communication with ones neighbours in mind - not as little stockades. That's my beef, not with density but with pseudo-privacy. I've always enjoyed living in places where street design encourages people to meet...because I'm a friendly and lighthearted sort of guy....

Quite agree with you JG. We live in a terraced street and four houses share our entry to the back gardens. Our kitchen door is bang opposite our neighbours and we speak most days. Everyone in the block of four gets on well, mostly because of BW and my attitude- we are all in it together, let's get on.

Lady two doors down moved in recently. When I told her to put her extra rubbish in our 1/2 full bin she was surprised: said that it had been so different in her last house.

... designs are encouraged such that parking is round the back (although this does reduce the amount of garden you have to actually garden in).
I quite JG, houses are built far too close together - but when we live on a small island with a huge demand for housing, there has to be a compomise on 'footprint' unless we all want to live in high rises, I guess.

Friend of mine bought a part share in a new build in Leicester. It is smaller than our 19C band A terrace, and the garden is pokey. There are no buses nearby and she doesn't know her neighbours. Horrible.
Part of the problem is that people all want to live single lives these days. What happened to families all living in one house? I lived in shared flats when I left home, and only had bedsits of my own. It seems like we are being isolated from each other one way or another.

Most of what is being built round here now are flats, plenty of them for rent or for sale. No takers for over a year on one block, and still they build more. People don't want to live in flats when they have a family, but developers don't understand.

My Golf is my pride and joy.... Old cars are our interest as well as old (1950's) jukeboxes.

No problem with that Shirl, my beef is that our street leads to the station and people park outside our house for weeks when they are too tight to pay for parking at the station. I wouldn't mind so much but there was one car left there recently value £30,000! If they can afford that, why can't they afford the parking??

Some of you may know that I was going to part with my car at the beginning of the year. Events overtook us and I still have it which has been useful while MiL is ill. I still like to park outside the door though!

[dexterdoglancashire]

OWG we are in exactly the same position as you. Our two cars are our lifeline to work, therefore money, to pay for lifes essentials. We, like you recycle everything we can lay our hands on including freecycle, stuff for lottie, using council recycling scheme. Wish it could be different but we are doing the best we can in the circumstances. Bernie aka Dexterdog

[nick nack]

Shirl

It is not a particular offence to obstruct a footway, the offence is to obstruct the Highway. Any vehicle parked on the highway is guilty of that offence but case law has diminished the law ie a vehicle parked on wide road is not the same as a vehicle on a narrow street? The police have powers to take action in this, most Local Authorities have now taken over the responsibility to enforce Traffic Regulation Orders ie yellow lines etc.

Vehicles parked on footways are a particular bug bear of mine, it is not only nuisance to pedestrians but the damage caused is the major cause of accidents claims made against local authorities which ultimately reduces the amount they can spend maintaining the roads etc and causes increases in council tax.

hope this helps.

I shall now get off my soap box.

[nick nack]

Sorry Shirl that was meant as a reply to Hazel.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Sorry Shirl that was meant as a reply to Hazel.

That's all right, NN! I do take your point about the erosion of the obstruction of the highway law. The thing is, that if people see that you can get away with illegal/inconsiderate behaviour without getting b*llocked for it somewhere down the line, the attitude is then 'why should I obey the rules if the others don't?'

We have a 'flying traffic warden' in our town too, JG, which means that there's rarely anyone parked on the double yellows down our street - however his remit doesn't seem to extend to sort out the wily-nily inconsiderate and illiegal parking down at the local station. Shame, really.

[nick nack]

Hazel

Cars don't get parked anymore they get abandoned!! The attitude of some of them is the general behaviour of 1 to 2% of the population, they just don't give sh*t.

NN

[Two_Sheds]

Too many people want to tell other people how to live their lives, perhaps they need to get on with their own and not be so judgemental of others.

Hey guys, calm down dears! I started the thread to discuss pavement parking, not how many cars you have...that's irrelevant (unless you park them on the pavement )

I have been a motorist, a public transport user, and am now a cyclist/pedestrian, so I see all sides. Motorists are obviously a fairly hefty and vocal majority.
I just get a little tired of hearing how irresponsible cyclists are for riding on the pavement & endangering pedestrians, but nobody seems to accept the dangers caused by selfishly parked cars.
I don't accept the point that roads are too narrow to park on. There's just the one road in this town that has no pavement parking...yes its narrow, with cars parked all up both sides, but you can still get an ambulance down it. The residents still don't park on the pavements.
Most pavement parking is on wide roads (i'll pop out and take some photos if i get a minute to show you), and nobody has so far convinced me why this is necessary... and wing mirrors are as likely to get bent by a passing ped as by a passing car, no? Also, I think if cars were parked on the roads this would be a more effective traffic-calming measure than speed cameras.

Please, keep your replies polite and not personal attacks

[Two_Sheds]

I just found this website, thought some of you might have a chuckle (apols for the language, it's US)
http://www.youparklikeanasshole.com/....php?g2_page=4