Do you mount the pavement?
Do you mount the pavement?
Author
Discussion

Thin White Duke

Original Poster:

2,422 posts

189 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
Do you when parking on a street mount the pavement?

I think that mounting the pavement safely should become part of the driving test.

Where I live and in most towns and cities that I drive in - if cars did not mount the pavement then there would
be no chance of getting through many streets.


Jasandjules

72,589 posts

258 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
Not unless I have to.

RobM77

35,349 posts

263 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
It's not only illegal but it obstructs pavements for pedestrians and especially disabled people in wheelchairs or elderly people using mobility scooters, so no.

Pavements are for pedestrians, roads are for cars - simple as.

Thin White Duke

Original Poster:

2,422 posts

189 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
I try not to obstruct the pavement for pedestrians. However as I'm sure you're aware with so many cars on the road and with many households having more than 1 car it has become the norm for people to mount the pavement when parked up.

robsco

7,875 posts

205 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
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I'd mount a lot of things, but the pavement is not one of them.

JonnyFive

29,897 posts

218 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
RobM77 said:
It's not only illegal but it obstructs pavements for pedestrians and especially disabled people in wheelchairs or elderly people using mobility scooters, so no.

Pavements are for pedestrians, roads are for cars - simple as.
On narrow paths.

The paths in my road are more than wide enough for atleast 3 people to walk side by side comfortably.. So I do park on the curb, a little bit, maybe a foot on the curb. If we didn't down my road you'd never get past.

Its quiet though no one walks on paths anyway, usually up the middle of the road.

WalterEgo

86 posts

193 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
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You can be ticketed for parking partly on the pavement. Plod usually turn a blind eye where it is done for sensible reasons (narrow streets) and it appears to be causing no hindrance to others (wheelchairs, pushchairs etc), but it is illegal, and hence a driving test fail if at any point during the test you mount the kerb. Even a couple of centimetres during a reverse park and then removing it is a fail. Harsh, but fact.

W00DY

16,723 posts

255 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
Mounting the pavement was part of my driving test.

Not to park though, it was to avoid a head on with a Police car. Otherwise I'm unlikely to mount the pavement unless lot of other cars have done so and there's nowhere better to park.

Thin White Duke

Original Poster:

2,422 posts

189 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
If the police decided to prosecute this, then 70% of the town where I live would be included.

Thin White Duke

Original Poster:

2,422 posts

189 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
I'm not saying by the way that I go out of my way to mount a kerb. If the road is wide enough then I won't.

With the advent of the motor car in the 50's/60's you'd have thought the government would have made provisions for more parking for residents in particular terraced housing.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

313 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
No. I park on the road.

Thin White Duke

Original Poster:

2,422 posts

189 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
jmorgan said:
No. I park on the road.
What if you arrive at someones house you must visit and it's a two way street but with cars parked down either side (albeit with enough room for you to park) and if you do not mount the kerb, you will block the road off?

jb9193

809 posts

196 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
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jmorgan said:
No. I park on the road.
+1

jmorgan

36,010 posts

313 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
Thin White Duke said:
What if you arrive at someones house you must visit and it's a two way street but with cars parked down either side (albeit with enough room for you to park) and if you do not mount the kerb, you will block the road off?
I park where I do not block the road. I have a pair of legs and been trained to use them....

mrtwisty

3,057 posts

194 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
I live on a very narrow edwardian era street. If everybody parked fully on the road there would only be room down the middle for cyclicts, and skinny ones at that!
As long as everyone applies some common sense (which is surprisingly most of the time) it doesn't obstruct the pavements too much - plenty of room left for pushchairs and wheelchairs for example.
Give-and-take and consideration for others. Better than a rigid rule obsessed approach in my experience...

Thin White Duke

Original Poster:

2,422 posts

189 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
What we also have now due to more cars per household with no off road parking is the fact that once of a day two way streets have now become single file streets.

As per the post above!

WalterEgo

86 posts

193 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
Thin White Duke said:
With the advent of the motor car in the 50's/60's you'd have thought the government would have made provisions for more parking for residents in particular terraced housing.
Yeah, let's use tax-payers money to buy up land for state-owned free parking spaces, and compulsory purchase housing to demolish it and make way for more parking-friendly estates. How inconvenient that this country developed housing before the car was invented, and that we are all crammed in so tight on this little island that it has become a major issue in the last 50 years. What the government does try to do however, is deter private car ownership through excessive taxation, making more room for the rich elite to own and run cars unhindered by the poor getting in the way.

RobM77

35,349 posts

263 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
mrtwisty said:
I live on a very narrow edwardian era street. If everybody parked fully on the road there would only be room down the middle for cyclicts, and skinny ones at that!
As long as everyone applies some common sense (which is surprisingly most of the time) it doesn't obstruct the pavements too much - plenty of room left for pushchairs and wheelchairs for example.
Give-and-take and consideration for others. Better than a rigid rule obsessed approach in my experience...
I agree with that - I've always been one for shunning rules for common sense. However, parking on the pavement as I've experienced it is just dangerous and annoying for pedestrians and especially wheelchairs etc. Obviously in individual cases it can be a net benefit (as with speeding!), but in my experience the average motorist is not intelligent enough to realise the difference, thus the need for rules.

Thin White Duke

Original Poster:

2,422 posts

189 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
As I've said if you look down 70% of roads/streets in the town where I live you'll see cars mounted on the pavement.

If they did not do this, no car or emergency vehicle for that matter could pass through.

mrtwisty

3,057 posts

194 months

Sunday 10th April 2011
quotequote all
RobM77 said:
agree with that - I've always been one for shunning rules for common sense. However, parking on the pavement as I've experienced it is just dangerous and annoying for pedestrians and especially wheelchairs etc. Obviously in individual cases it can be a net benefit (as with speeding!), but in my experience the average motorist is not intelligent enough to realise the difference, thus the need for rules.
When I moved into this street I was a little concerned about the rule of the lowest common denominator and the parking situation, but I have been pleasantly surprised!
We have a special needs centre at the top of the road and I regularly see the residents up and down the pavements with no problems.
Perhaps I'm living on the last street in Britain with decent people living on it?