I think Philomeena was referring to the potential damage to the car's steering, wheels and tyres from bumping up the kerb. Yes - this practice can cause considerable damage. It can cause misalignment, hidden and dangerous damage to tyres, and damage and distortion to alloy wheels.
More serious though is the damage caused to blind people, parents with pushchairs, the disabled, children with heads at door mirror height, and then of course everybody else who has to negotiate the cracked and uneven paving slabs that result. The practice is illegal and should be stamped out.
When I lived in London and had to squeeze past a pavement parker with a wheelchair I took especial grim satisfaction if I accidentally scraped a door. Also offenders should be aware that it is perfectly legal to walk over the top of a car that is obstructing the pavement.
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" Also offenders should be aware that it is perfectly legal to walk over the top of a car that is obstructing the pavement."
And, presumably, sue the owner if you fall off and injure yourself?
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We have two contrasting examples of kerbing idiocy in my street. My neighbour's daughter's boyfriend delights in coming screaming in to the street, thumping up on to the kerb and parking with about 1" of tyre on the kerb, the rest hanging in free air. I only hope she is not in the car when the tyre or suspension fails at speed.
We also have someone who insists in parking a large box-van in the street who seems incapable of parking within a foot of the kerb. Indeed, one day you could only just get a car through the gap and the bin motor was unable to collect our rubbish. I hate to think what would have happened if anyone had needed an ambulance or fire engine... The one time I have seen him park on the kerb, he chose the part where the path is very narrow and he was actually touching the hedge...
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In our town, some months ago the council marked parking bays along the side of a long straigh 30mph stretch trying to encourage people to park in them, instead of on the grass. The idea was to use parked cars as an obstruction, to reduce speeding.
Hardly surprisingly, few people took the bait.
Now I notice, the grass is a designated no parking area, patrolled by wardens day and night, and the road a cluttered mess as a result.
Has it slowed speeds?
No, not a chance, and as a pedestrian I have seen two very near misses with puchairs being pushed out in to the traffic ahead of a mother. How the second one missed I will never know, because the driver (not obviously speeding on this occasion) had to jink to the right just as a juggernaut was rumbling along in the other direction.
Having parked cars as an obstruction also sometimes encourages drivers to speed up, to nip past before whatever is coming the other way.
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I hate to think what would havehappened if anyone had needed an ambulance or fire engine...
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Precisely why we actually have to park on the kurb where we live at the moment. It's a complex of blocks of flats which must contain around three hundred flats, with access roads running through and around it. As it was built in the 50s when not so many people had cars, there are only about 10 parking spaces, which are almost permanently occupied by people who never actually seem to use their cars so the spaces are never free! Due to the fact that most of the lower levels are owned by social services, the chances are much greater of an ambulance, fire engine or hearse needing to get through, than a buggie, pram or wheelchair.
But am I right in thinking that the access roads and those which run around the complex would actually be classed as private roads and I couldn't be prosecuted for parking on the kurb there anyway? Hmm.
To answer the original question - I have to get my wheel alignment and tracking checked much more often then I did when I parked on my parents' driveway! All that bumping up and down the kurb isn't doing Polo any good but there's no other option, as I've seen first hand that fire engines will just attempt to drive through anything in their way, and I would hate to think that preserving my car's tyres had caused an obstruction to an ambulance.
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why is it then that certain borough's in London (and I am sure elsewhere) paint parking bays half on the road and half on the pavement. In particualr Wandsworth are quite keen on this.
One thing that really gets my goat is people parking & driving on grass and churning it up.
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The pavements (technically - footpaths) are quite wide in my road whereas the carriageway is only just enough for two average car widths so all us residents parked half on the pavement for years. It must be for at least the decade I've lived here.
Council said it was illegal. Residents make a fuss.
3 months later and for goodness knows how much money, we all still park just as before but we now have little white dotted lines all over the place and sign posts telling us where the permission to park on the pavement starts and where it finishes.
A few thousand pounds well spent! Really good value there don't you think?
Then, whenever the footpath is dug up for cable TV or whatever they come back to join up the (missing) dots with white paint.
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Precisely why we actually have to park on the kurb where we live at the moment
Is the wrong answer!
You don't HAVE to park on the kerb, because it's an offence and especially because it inconveniences people who are supposed to be on the pavement. There's lots of talk about keeping people off the roads where they are a danger to motorists, but if you don't allow people on the pavement either where can they go? For an answer to this, look at Los Angles...
If the road isn't wide enough to park AND accomodate traffic, don't park there.
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