Friday, 25 November 2011

Pavement parking: time for windscreen stickers?

Living Streets pavement parkingAs a pedestrian and experienced buggy-pusher living in an outer urban area that has a high car population, I'm pleased to see this: the good folk at Living Streets are cranking up their campaign against pavement parking.

I know parking options are a problem for a lot of people - inadequate housing supply often means several people in the same household who depend on their car (or think they do) for work, living in houses not designed for multiple car ownership. But there are two far worse problems I suspect - unnecessary use which suggests possible unnecessary ownership, and downright inconsiderate parking.

Because authorities have been so slow to crack down on the habit, it is seen as acceptable. What effect will the campaign have?

I suggest it needs universally available stickers issued to all buggy-pushers, wheelchair users and pedestrians with mobility problems, with a legend saying 'please show more consideration to pavement users'. The stickers could be applied to the windscreen and should not be too easy to remove: it should take at least as long for an inconsiderate driver to remove the sticker as it does for a buggy-pusher to wait for a safe moment to go into the road, around the vehicle and regain the safety of the pavement.

Another option of course would be a website with geo-located and time-stamped images - and forget that stuff about blanking out the registration plates.

 

25 Nov 2011 16:02:50 | Mobility and change, Space and place

1 Comment

While I can fully understand what you're saying in our country it would be illegal to put a sticker on another persons belongings / car. And what if the sticker for some reason wouldn't get off completely? Either because of hot or cold weather. So while I agree with your I see a few problems. But rest assured: your problem is not unique to your town, it's universal. Which doesn't make it any better, though.

Posted by: Ralf Meier | Monday, 09 December 2013 at 10:30

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