Parking -- we love and we hate it: survey
Give streets to the kids -- but what about parking?
The RAC Foundation has released the results of a survey it conducted among drivers in response to a Department of Transport report into "attitudes to streetscape and street uses".
The results were frankly contradictory. A majority agreed that that streets should be safe for children to play in, as well as being a good place to stop and talk to neighbours. But when asked if they would be prepared to park 50 metres further than normal from their houses in order to facilitate these lovely things, a the majority reply was that no, they jolly well wouldn't. And 46 per cent reckoned that the priority issue in any future redesign of their streets would be resident parking - not children's play or friendly discourse between neighbours.
Still, as anyone who has ever tried to park in a major UK city will already know, Something Must Be Done. "Parking should form an integral part of transport policy," says the Foundation's Executive Director Edmund King. "Car ownership is due to increase by 45 per cent by 2030, and yet local authorities are not providing enough parking, both for new developments, and for existing built-up areas. Current policies do not meet either current or future needs.
"This research clearly shows people value their local street environment, and local authorities should take this into account when looking at parking provision. By restricting people's access to off-street parking, the problem will only be transferred onto the street, causing problems for child pedestrian road safety and for obstruction of traffic.
"Seventeen per cent of people already find it difficult to park outside their homes, and this situation will only get worse as there will be more vehicles on the roads, chasing a similar amount of parking space as there is now.
"Local authorities need to consult local residents, businesses and other users of the roads when preparing their Local Transport Plans. Novel solutions such as fully-automatic underground silos for cars should be considered if we are to resolve future parking shortages."
- If you haven't had enough survey form filling in, there's a survey asking what you think about parking in London here.
The slower I go the more bad I do . . . 2 dents due to parking - but in 7 years . . .
In the more rural community I live now - before 9 years of Amsterdam - it's so relaxed to have space when parking . . .
www.patrickvonarx.ch/Unterhaltung/Pictures/parking.jpg
www.yetanotherblog.com/blogfiles/american_car.jpg
www.tribalsland.de/Fun1/parking-donkey1.jpg
www.capital-rodders.org.nz/Fun%20Stuff/porsche_parking.jpg
Sorry, can't help it . . .
jezzaaa said:
"Car ownership is due to increase by 45 per cent by 2030"
Where do they come up with this?? I thought that the huge majority of adults owned 1 or more cars already - so how come we're going to increase by 45 percent??
J.
A couple of figures:
JD Power reckons there will be another 265 million vehicles on the road in the next 15 years. This would take things from 835m now to 1.1b. Of this increase, 68m will be in China, 14m in India and 30m in USA.
Cardiff Centre for Auto Industry Research (Garel Rhys) says that there were 1.8b vehicles manufactured in the last 110 years, and there will be more than that made in the next 20 years.
Whether all that translates into a real 45% increase in car ownership in UK is another matter altogether!
The council plans dictate the amount of parking that should be provided in planning applications. The rules for ones I looked at stated that parking should be included for between 0% and 50% of the 'standard'. That's right, you can build an office and not provide any parking. You won't get planning permission if you want to provide parking for the 'standard' figure (whatever that is), and must ensure there are not enough spaces.
Byff said:
Lets provide more parking spaces by making it harder to own a car. Not by taxes or hitting us in the pocket, but by making it harder to pass a driving test and to introduce 5 yearly retests. This will also help get rid of useless drivers off the roads making the roads safer for us all and maybe the government can stop harping on about speed kills and instead tackle the real problem, shite drivers.
Couldn't be more spot on Byff!!
Matt.
Byff said:Unfortunately parking is generally provided by private companies and local councils, neither of which central government has much control over. They are often lucrative sources of revenue, so neither want to reduce the number of parking users.
Lets provide more parking spaces by making it harder to own a car. Not by taxes or hitting us in the pocket, but by making it harder to pass a driving test and to introduce 5 yearly retests. This will also help get rid of useless drivers off the roads making the roads safer for us all and maybe the government can stop harping on about speed kills and instead tackle the real problem, shite drivers.
Often policies conflict with each other. Take rural train stations. Often they have no public transport services to connect with trains for commuters so only option for them is to drive and park at the station, or drive all the way and park at work. When stations (managed by local train companies) put parking prices up by 44% it doesn't exactly encourage people to use train services.
For us, it would be by far cheaper for us to drive to work. The thought of that is not very appealing.
Let's not mix arguments but deal with each issue rationally and sensibly. Improve public transport, provide safe and secure parking, improve road safety and driver education. Some way you'll get more people off the roads or on to public transport.
MC
mutant_matt said:
BTW, I encourage anyone living or working in London to fill out the parking survey mentioned above ( http://optima.benchpoint.com/optima/SurveyPop.aspx?query=view&SurveyID=138&SS=YxAMobBOv ). It only takes a couple of minutes and we need to balance out the anti-car-nazi's that are bound to distort the results otherwise....
Matt.
Dun dat.....
In the majority the only parking available is on the street outside of the house. Very often this type of parking on busy roadways in dangerous and a potential hazard, not to mention the cause of road rage with drivers forceing their way through a road that should be two lanes but know one because of the parking.
In south Wales this type of parking is common and often illegal with cars being parked close to junctions and mounted on pavements.
However, Mr. Plod appears to ignore the illegal factors given the paperwork involved. It is far easier to mount a camera and let the centralised office deal with all paperwork.
On the other hand when purchasers buy these properties they are aware of the problems that exist with parking and must suffer any consequences their local authority impose such as a communial car park up the road developed by the authority to rid the areas of potential dangers.
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