I don't have all the answers either. Just suggestions.pwa wrote: ↑11 Feb 2024, 5:59pmIt is a messy situation and I wouldn't claim to have all the answers. On a positive note, even in the area from which I took my two images, streets where the cars don't have a real reason to be on the pavement tend not to have cars on the pavement. The default does seem to be to leave the pavement clear if it can be done without blocking the street for the bus. But in the street I showed, which is exceptional, there is no real alternative to pavement parking along most of it. And it's no use saying people shouldn't have cars, because that community is not in a town and most of the jobs are miles away. If you were doing a shift in Port Talbot that started at 7am you might not be able to do it by bus. To get to a lot of employment from there is not practicable by bus, and a bit of an athletic endeavour by bike. I have cycled up there and a few of the hills have had me seeing stars. For a lot of people up there in that relatively remote location a car really is essential.Mike Sales wrote: ↑11 Feb 2024, 1:31pmI used to live on a narrow street in a small Welsh town. It was built in the nineteenth century. The frontages were (are) narrower than many cars, and front doors most often opened onto the pavement.pwa wrote: ↑11 Feb 2024, 12:51pm
It is highly complicated in Wales due to the legacy of streets never designed for high levels of vehicle use, and the need (outside cities) for people to have access to cars to go about their daily business. An outright ban on pavement parking sounds great until you see real streets where it just wouldn't work. Perhaps a ban with signposted exceptions would be practical.
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.6593837 ... ?entry=ttu
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.6615237 ... ?entry=ttu
This is what that street looks like in the middle of the day when most of the cars are not there.
Usually cars were parked on one side, leaving the narrow pavement clear. This was insufficient parking for the number of car users. So, often there was an outbreak of both side parking. This would have left the road unnegotiable for motor traffic ( fire engines especially) unless these cars were parked on the pavement.
Sometimes I had to lift my bike over my head in order to sidle past the car blocking my door.
There was an informal attempt, backed by the council, to give residents permits, and discourage outsiders parking. It failed. There was insufficient free parking close to the town centre, so these non-residents invaded our street.
An old man a few doors up called to me to take a cuppa, or panad, to the builder working opposite. He could not deliver it himself because the builder had parked across his door. I made sure to explain to the builder why it was that the sweet old man could not deliver it himself.
I would say that the present situation does not work. Short of rebuilding the town and many others, how can we continue to adapt our environment to suit the motor car?
We all, car owners or not, suffer from the problems mass motorisation brings.
The external costs need to be born by those who benefit, so that they can make more social choices.
Unlike you I have seen many motors with at least two wheels on the pavement when there is no obvious need. I have seen this even in a line of cars parked correctly! I surmise that for many drivers it is automatic to park thus.
We live in a society where many decisions about home and employment have been made on the understanding that driving and parking will be easy, with no reference to external costs to others, and no consideration as to whether a different mode of transport might be available. This has been going on for about a century. We are now beginning to see that there are serious difficulties with this. Naturally an abrupt switch to a more rational, less destructive arrangement will be difficult.
If we are going to reach a better way of moving about, then the pressures need to be changed. Instead of 'predict and provide' we have to stop favouring motor vehicles, make drivers pay the full external costs of their choice, and make a real effort to improve public transport and make roads safer for the unarmoured.
This analysis should not need to be restated: it has been stated again and again, but no progress has been made. We know why. Any attempt to make motor travel less attractive is met with squeals of various intensity.
The necessary changes will take time, but they are necessary.