Pavements are for people

I was visiting relatives in east Lancashire today and I had a look at this week's Accrington Observer. The first letter is about parking on the pavement and the author is not in favour. He mentions the possibility of arrest if a blind person decided to walk down the centre of the road with their guide dog and I heard similar stories when I was knocking on doors in the first few months of the year.

I knocked on nearly two thousand doors and while it may not sound very many, around a dozen people brought up the issue of parking on the pavement. My feelings at the time were that drivers were breaking the law but this particular law was not enforced because the offence is widespread. If nobody parked on the pavement it may mean some drivers having to walk considerable distances to get to their house.

My opinion is now strongly on the side of those who want the law upholding. A blind person and their dog may be able to get around a parked vehicle but they shouldn't have to. I was told about one blind person who was injured because of a parked car. I was also told by one resident that their services were provided under their grass verge and cars had caused damage.

Pavements are for people and roads are for vehicles. If this is a problem then it may be possible to decrease the size of the pavement but breaking the law is not the answer. This is an issue that is important to many and it is surprising that their is no initiative to do anything about it either in Morecambe or in east Lancshire.

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