On The Pavement

Let's get this straight, right from the outset -

Pavements Are For Pedestrians

Motorists often criticise cyclists for riding on the pavements. Quite right too. You shouldn't ride bikes on a pavement. Personally, I haven't seen any cyclists riding on the pavements. I have seen people riding bikes on the pavements, but they're not what I would term cyclists. They're people, usually youngsters, who happen to be riding a bike. Whatever, they shouldn't be there.

Motorists should however stop and consider why those people are riding their bikes on the pavements in the first place. Often it's because the roads are perceived as being dangerous places for the cyclist. Big, fast moving lumps of metal in close proximity to vulnerable cyclists do not make a safe combination, and the rider will often retreat to the perceived safety of the pavement. Sometimes local councils encourage this by providing shared-use paths (see Cycle Lanes. But riding either on official shared use paths or on regular pavements brings light, fast moving lumps of metal into close proximity with pedestrians - and bikes can be just as dangerous to pedestrians as cars are to cyclists. If cyclists and other bike riders are to ride exclusively on the roads, then the roads must be made safer places. Motorists must be alert for cyclists. They must not overtake us and immediately turn left across our path. They must learn to give as much room when passing a cyclist as they would when passing another car.

Okay, enough about bicycles on the pavements, what about cars on the pavements?

Cars don't drive on the pavements, there's not enough room. But you still find cars on the pavements every day.

One hundred metres from this location, there is a near-empty car park. Do the motorists use it? No, they park on the pavement because they are too lazy to walk the short distance. This pavement is the only pedestrian path leading to the main hospital entrance, and is used by wheelchair users to gain access to the hospital's orthopaedic rehabilitation unit. But the selfish driver has parked across the pavement, forcing the wheelchair user out into the road, amongst the traffic, to gain access.
 
 
 
 
 

More car drivers who are too damn lazy to walk. When this photograph was taken, the hospital car park was admittedly full. Eight hundred metres away, there is a public car park which was near empty. Why not park in that car park, and walk the short distance. Laziness, plain and simple.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Motorist can be their own worst enemies. Here cars wait for parking spots to become vacant, blocking the road to all other road users. This was taken on a good day; usually it's much worse than shown here, such queueing often blocks the road completely, even preventing access to the hospital for ambulances.
Motorists expect parking to be provided for them, and complain vociferously if it's not available. Why should parking be provided though? Sure, parking should be made available for disabled drivers, but for able-bodied drivers, why not use other modes of transport. Try walking, using the bus, the taring, the tube, even try cycling. Use other modes of transport and perhaps they'd be fitter, healthier, and have less need to visit the hospital in the first place.
 
 

By parking here, motorist have blocked a shared use pavement / cycle path. Once whilst waiting for a bus, I watched a mother forced to walk along this busy roadway, pushing a pram with an infant whilst a child of about five or six walked along side her. The selfishness of motorists had placed this family directly in a place of danger. I couldn't sympathise with her though, as just minutes before hand she had herself parked on the pavement, contributing to the danger in which she now placed her own chidren. Pedestrians are regularly forced out into the roadway by the thoughtless actions of selfish and lazy motorists.
 
 

This as I mentioned is a dual use cycle path / pavement, and by blocking it the motorist have obstructed what might be seen as a safe route for cyclists. Here, a cyclist has been forced into traffic-calming chicanes, a pinch-point between two converging traffic flows, and again being placed in a dangerous situation. This discourages people from swapping to a more beneficial, less polluting, healthier form of transport.
 
 
 
 

Off-roading, Buckinghamshire style! Well, it's not on the road. To avoid parking on double-yellow lines, this driver has just driven up onto the pavement.
Not only is it blocking the pavement, but you can see the clever way in which it has been parked across the dropped kerb and stippled strip designed to guide wheelchair users and the visually-impaired to a safe crossing point.
 
 
 
 
 

Time for a quick pint at the pub across the road. Such a quick pint in fact, that the driver can't be bothered to find a legal parking spot. But not to worry, double-yellow lines obviously don't apply if your vehicle is parked half on the pavement. Don't worry about the pedestrians though, they've got plenty of space to get by. Unless they're in a wheelchair. Unless they are visually-impaired and don't even see the car before they walk into it.
 
 
 
 

Why experiment on Animals when there are so many Lawyers?