…but surely this is something most of us hate to see. I walk on this street near where I work a couple times per day. Granted, the sidewalk isn’t much to speak of, but cars park like this all the time. Sometimes people park utility trailers or campers covering the entire sidewalk. If I see someone doing it I will let them know they should leave at least enough room so someone in a wheelchair wouldn’t have to go out in the road, and this has been fairly effective, but for most this seems to be acceptable behavior around here.
My neighborhood is similar with actual good sidewalks. Every house has 4-5 cars and they block where the sidewalks meet the driveways.
Whoops, sorry, had to squeeze by and my buttons and keys scratched the shit out of the paint.
The thought crosses my mind, but I wouldn’t do that. What I do always try to make a point to do is walk on the sidewalk side, even if it’s really tight so that hopefully they will notice someone is uncomfortably close to their precious car/trailer/camper. Hopefully they will think it’s going to get scratched and leave more room next time.
Can you document this and present it to your town council? Give them your pictures and a brief write-up, and suggest a solution.
It looks like this is a pretty ambiguous sidewalk and could easily appear to be the verge of the street (rather than a sidewalk). A defined pavement with curbs would be a far more effective sidewalk, with the added benefit that anyone parking on it would clearly be in the wrong and could be ticketed or towed.
I agree with you wholeheartedly! I just moved into this town a year ago and there is a lot of room for improvement, but also some good to be said about some of the local planners. I really need to get more involved.
Is there a better place to park?
Turn the living room into a garage. Or the front yard. Parking a car in front of your house isn’t a right. In a perfect world: If there is no space for parking, then it should be considered to just not own a car.
That’s very dependent on there actually being another way to get around. Public transit isn’t good everywhere, people still need to be able to go get groceries and things. Most people are not trying to cause inconvenience to others, they are just trying to live their lives.
@Crazypartypony @glasgitarrewelt But if parking restrictions are enforced and people can’t park and thus can’t use cars then there will be political will for public transport. Public transport is cheaper to deploy than all the car infrastructure even for small townships.
A bicycle with panniers or a trailer is perfectly adequate to buy groceries for a family. Yes, even in winter.
This looks like an American neighbourhood. People there can’t just simply “not own a car” or afford a garage for that matter.
If they live in one of those suburbs they have plenty of space to park their car on their property. It’s just a matter of convenience, like the hole car problem is.
Yes, they can easily park 3 or more feet out toward the road. It’s like they park this way to protect their precious car by leaving it farther from the road, but it screws over pedestrians. As far as utility trailers and campers blocking the full width of the sidewalk, they don’t belong there at all, and since they are only there sometimes I can only assume that yes, they have somewhere better to park.
Edit: 3 feet is about 1 meter for folks using sensible measurement units.
Fair enough
Looks like a developing country…
