Parking on dropped kerbs
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010For wheelchair and scooter users finding vehicles parked across dropped kerbs or blocking pavements is extremely annoying. Not only can it add extra time onto your journey but when you are forced onto the road it can also be dangerous. Although rule 243 of the Highway Code states: “Do not stop or park where the kerb has been lowered to help wheelchair users and powered mobility vehicles” it is not a rule that many drivers seem to obey. Rule 244 of the Highway Code also states “you must not park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it.”
In addition to this from 1 June 2009 all councils in England and Wales were granted powers to introduce blanket Special Enforcement Areas covering vehicles that park on dropped kerbs or double-park without a requirement to provide road signs or markings. As parking alongside a dropped kerb is considered to be a higher level offence any drivers caught doing so would be issued with a penalty fare of £120 in London and £70 outside (pre-discounted rate).
These powers currently don’t exist in Scotland but Ross Finnie MSP is keen to bring in a similar Bill. The Bill will seek to encourage local authorities across Scotland to put in place “no parking” restrictions at dropped kerbs or on pavements. Ross Finnie said “This is very important proposed legislation that will protect vulnerable members of society including older people, those with mobility or visual impairments, those who require wheelchairs and people pushing prams to ensure they have safe and easy access to pavements so they can walk around their streets and communities with ease.”
Mobilise is also in favour of this legislation and will be responding to the consultation accordingly. If you would like to respond individually you can find a copy of the consultation by visiting: http://scottish.parliament.uk/s3/bills/MembersBills/documents/20103009RegulationofdroppedkerbsandpavementparkingScotlandBillFINAL.pdf .
It is essential that there are as many responses to the consultation as possible. If you don’t have time, you can simply contact your MSP in 2 minutes to express support for the proposal, using www.writetothem.com The deadline for responses is 31st January 2011.
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From Disabled Blue Badge Holder and electric wheelchair user R D Boyle, 50 Parsonage Lane, Windsor, SL4 5EN.
Tel: 01-753-865-450. Email ron.boyle@virgin.net
In legislating on the protection of dropped kerb access it essential to differentiate between two purposes for which this method of construction is used, pedestrian access or vehicular access.
The essential fact for pedestrian access is that it is part of a facility provided at public expense as a pair of facilities necessary to enable a disabled person to cross a carriageway. They are usually applied either at street junctions or at designated and signed pedestrian crossings. It is obstructing the use of that facility on either side of the carriageway which constitutes the offence. It could also be an offence to obstruct only one of a pair if a disabled person had to load/unload into/from a vehicle parked on the highway and needed to use one of them to get from/onto the footway. Very occasionally there may be need to provided a ramp for disabled persons when there is no alternative footway for them to go to. We have such a case in Oak Lane, Windsor. This is a very narrow cul-de-sac with an exceptionally narrow footway that is difficult to get along in a wheel chair and a single ramp is provided at the end of the road for access into/from a pedestrian gate of the local recreation ground which is situated behind the footway.
There is another use for dropped kerbs. They form a vehicle access to property and are usually constructed at the expense of the owner of that property for their private use. There is no necessity to have a matching facility opposite to enable them to be used as a disabled crossing facility. Frequently there will be another one somewhere nearby which a disabled person could lawfully use but they are not provided for the purpose of that disabled person. The only offence that could be created is when an unattended vehicle is left preventing other persons wishing to lawfully enter/exit the property served by this access. In a street where there is a major parking problem it is not illegal for the property owner to use the vehicle crossing to get their first vehicle into the only place on their property and then to park a second vehicle across the entrance.
I consider that legislation should provide that the disabled crossing area, without signal control, in the carriageway should be coloured red to warn motorists that they are crossing a pedestrian route. This red strip should also extend across the ramps to the back of footway on each side of the highway. Many dropped kerbs in tarmac footways are very inconspicuous to the motorist and this would be a major safety provision. Also, to prevent drivers from using the ramps to drive up, there should be a post each side of the entrance of a type which will take a disabled wheel chair user symbol and this symbol should be facing towards the carriageway to make its use conspicuous. A white disabled person symbol could also be usefully applied to the ramp each side of the road.
in Spain where there is a dropped kerb they paint the disabled sign so that it is clear that you must not park there .I think that it would be a good idea to do the same here as most people do not realise that they should not park across dropped kerbs .
I belong to a local access group and over the last 10 years both the blocking of dropped kerbs and pavement parking have been regular topics of complaint. To my knowledge nothing has ever been done about the former while pavement parking has always been in the ‘too difficult box’. The Police have always said that they are too busy doing more important work while Police Support Officers cannot deal with offences of obstructing the pavement because of the potential difficulty of proving obstruction. The introduction of a civil enforcement area has also not improved the situation.
Blind and partially sighted people have to run the gauntlet of the large number of cars that illegally park on pavements. Wheelchair users sometimes have to travel in the main road to find alternative dropped kerbs because the one they wanted to use has been blocked by a parked car or van!
Now at long last there would appear to be legislation which could prevent these problems. All we now need is for Councils to invoke these new blanket powers and for someone to start issuing tickets! I suspect that we still have a long way to go before these problems go away but at least we can make a start!
Our council, Ealing, has recently “blanketed” all road junction corners, in our area, Perivale, with double yellow lines extending around all junction corners. This has effectively (almost) brought an end to parking across the dropped kerbs. Perhaps the idea could be expended nationally.