On 10/02/2024 05:59 pm, Simon Mason wrote:
Councils have called on the Government to ban pavement parking across the whole of England - not just London - and punish motorists who block footpaths, especially for vulnerable and disabled people.
All any council has to do it promote a private Bill in Parliament.
The Local Government Association (LGA) says more powers need to be given to local authorities to enforce parking to make our streets safer and 'tackle the scourge' of drivers who prevent access for those in mobility scooters, wheelchairs and children
in buggies.
The demand for enforcement powers comes more than three years after the Department for Transport wrapped up a consultation into pavement parking, which has seen no action taken as a result.
Often, when motorists park partially - and sometimes fully - on the pavement, it is due to how narrow a road is.
By putting at least two wheels on the footpath, drivers provide more room for other motorists to pass through tight spaces, reducing the likelihood of vehicle-to-vehicle damage as well as traffic delays.
However, this often has a detrimental impact for pedestrians - especially those with mobility issues.
And PARTICULARLY for the chav-cyclists who are displaced from the FOOTway.
The LGA says older and disabled people, as well as parents with pushchairs and younger children, are regularly forced to navigate around vehicles which are mounted on the kerb or across the footway.
And the chav-cyclists who are displaced from the FOOTway.
By doing so, it puts these pedestrians at greater risk when stepping into the road and oncoming traffic.
And the chav-cyclists who are displaced from the FOOTway.
The association says this presents arguably the greatest hazard to blind and partially sighted people.
Yet, there is a secondary impact resulting from heavy vehicles parking on footpaths that are not designed to take such loads.
It can cause pavements to crack and damage the surface, which in turn creates trip and injury hazards for pedestrians.
As Rod Speed says, often, elsewhere: Bullshit.
You, May Sun, are ONLY interested in the fact that FOOTway parking
creates difficulties for you and your fellow chav-cyclists in that you
are not given a free run along said FOOTways.
Can you pronounce "hypocrite"?
Pavement parking is currently only banned in London, where councils have powers to exempt certain roads.
Following call from various groups, in 2020, the Government launched a consultation to look into extending the ban to across the whole of England.
However, an announcement has yet to be made regarding the findings and what changes could be made to legislation to help councils crackdown on pavement parking.
In the meantime, Scotland has this year introduced a nationwide parking ban. Local authorities as of January 2024 can now dish out fines of £100 if they identify drivers parking on pavements and blocking the footway for pedestrians. The fine amount is reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.
A consultation is also set to take place in Wales on introducing restrictions on pavement parking.
The call for pavement parking to be outlawed across England comes weeks after green transport campaigners warned that new models are getting wider on average by 1cm every two years - and many cars are now too wide for on-street parking bays.
Transport & Environment blamed the rise of 'mega SUVs' for taking up more of our streets, bulging out of parking spaces and 'bullying cyclists off the road'.
Haha!
You obviously meant "bullying cyclists off the FOOTway"!
The LGA, which represents councils in England and Wales, said a change in the rules is 'now long overdue'.
Get to to it, lads. Promote your private BILL through Parliament. It'll
only cost you a few million a time.
It says more enforcement powers will help councils meet national targets to encourage more walking and cycling, while protecting older and vulnerable people from injury.
That's exactly what it WON'T do. "Older and vulnerable people" will be
at risk of even more injury by chavs like you on chav-bikes.
Cllr Darren Rodwell, transport spokesperson for the LGA, added: 'Pavement parking is one of the biggest complaints from pedestrians,
What? Bigger than the number of complaints about chav-cyclists on FOOTways?
No-one sensible believes that.
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