Pavements are for People

 

.Article is a resident’s personal opinion.


As a parent, I enjoy walking around our lovely local area with my children. Walking is a free and easy activity and being outdoors is great for our wellbeing and our physical health. I want to encourage my kids to spend time outside in their local area as much as possible and to build their confidence and safety skills so they can play outside independently when they are old enough.

I constantly reinforce to them that pavements are for people, so we should always stay on the pavement to stay safe. We should look around carefully, listening and checking for moving vehicles any time we need to cross the road. “Roads are for cars, pavements are for people.”

My 2-year-old asked me the other day why a car was parked on the pavement - “Why car pavement?” And why did we have to walk on the road to get round it? “Why walk road?”

I struggled to give him an honest answer as I truly didn’t know.

Why do people park their cars on the pavements?

Is it to be of benefit to the other road users? To create more road space? Is it to increase visibility for other road users? Is it to keep the car safe and off the road? The only benefits I can think of are for car users.

Pavement parking is not good for pedestrians. It forces people off of the pavement and onto the road. It causes a challenge for many people walking in our local spaces:

  • Parents and carers trying to squeeze through tiny gaps with pushchairs and possibly even an older child learning how to use their bike.

  • People with mobility problems, perhaps using a walking frame, a wheelchair or scooter.

  • People with visual impairments, perhaps using a cane or with a guide dog.

  • Older people, who may fear leaving their homes as they feel slower or less steady than they used to.

As well as making it difficult for people to use their streets, it can also cause substantial damage to pavements, which costs councils tens of thousands of pounds each year to repair. Our pavements are designed for walking on, not for parking on. Community street audits often reveal pavements that have been wrecked and the prime suspect is parking by vehicles. Damaged pavements create trip hazards that lead to trips and falls. This not only puts pressure on the NHS but puts people off walking.

Stopping parking on pavements will give many vulnerable people the confidence to walk on their local streets.

The next time you go to park on a pavement, do you think you might be able to stop for a minute and think about why you’re parking there?

Photo credit: www.thescotsman.com

Thana Mitchell