A trend I and others have been noticing lately is an ever increasing number of vehicles parking on the kerb or footpath – and it’s really starting to annoy me. It ranges from a couple of tires up on the edge of the kerb to full blown parking over footpaths and blocking pedestrians. From what I can tell a couple of common reasons seem to be
- the presence of yellow no park lines where it seems that some drivers think that if they mount the kerb it doesn’t really count as parking
- trying to take up less space on the road, perhaps trying to give other drivers more space to reduce the chance of their vehicle being side-swiped (I can’t imagine this happens often).
Or course in both situations the result is it’s primarily those on foot who suffer, sometimes even having to walk out on to busy roads to get around the vehicle. For someone like me able bodied like me that’s primarily an inconvenience but for other segments of society such as some of those with prams/small children, those with disabilities or the elderly it can be a real safety risk, especially if the vehicle also blocks ramps on to the road.
Here are just a few examples I and others have seen recently however there are likely to be multiple examples every day where this occurs.
Outside Countdown Takapuna, it’s not like there wasn’t a near empty parking lot 10m away (just to the right of the image. I’ve also regularly seen small trucks in the same spot delivering things.
These guys couldn’t find a carpark so they made one up (they were also sitting in the car and weren’t too polite about me pointing out they were blocking a footpath)
This driver and their boat blocked not just the footpath but the cycle lane too.
“Its ok, the hazard lights are on” This was another driver who was very abusive at the suggestion he shouldn’t have been parking here.
And a few examples from twitter
High St footpaths are narrow enough without this happening
High St parking @AklTransport pic.twitter.com/BL5aAwuorO
— Su Yin Khoo (@ksuyin) July 19, 2015
High St parking. @AklTransport @AklCouncil pic.twitter.com/j4ctxFrJLG
— Su Yin Khoo (@ksuyin) June 29, 2015
High St everyday pic.twitter.com/jgc0HfnA9L
— Su Yin Khoo (@ksuyin) June 8, 2015
Trailers seem to be a common occurrence
Trying to exit left out of my vocal cafe, can't, obstructed. @AklTransport ref 28726 pic.twitter.com/vw6CV2SAZk
— Andrew W (@aw_nz) June 23, 2015
As are couriers
https://twitter.com/aw_nz/status/608871069793976320
Looks like a ladder on the roof, tradie?
@aw_nz: A mother had to push a pram thru muddy grass while I was reporting this to @AklTransport. Stoddard/Richardson pic.twitter.com/AZliqLoxgb
— Andrew W (@aw_nz) May 27, 2015
Deliveries here are obviously a challenge but perhaps not delivering at 8:30am when people are walking to work might be a good idea.
The loading zone was full so the driver decided to wait, blocking the footpath – again Countdown Takapuna.
5 Star removals, 0 star parkers
@aw_nz: But they can't remove their own truck from the footpath. @AklTransport about to get a call pic.twitter.com/ktUwLeiRCq
— Andrew W (@aw_nz) July 19, 2015
To their credit when the cases in the CBD at least have been raised on twitter, Auckland Transport have been fairly quick to say they’ll get a parking warden out as soon as possible but my concern is the hundreds of other times these situations aren’t reported and/or they are in areas without parking wardens nearby. AT seem more than happy to put on advertising and gimmicks encouraging pedestrians to cross the road safely so there should be no reason they can’t also put effort into stamping out this potentially dangerous practice.
Are you noticing an increase in kerb/footpath parking and what do you think needs to happen to address it?
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I’m going to start ringing the police when it’s blocking the footpath on a busy road, major safety issue and needs some attention from plod.
From past experience you’ll find your average plod will be disinterested, unless, of course, you’re in a car and have been inconvenienced. Pedestrians are generally considered by those charged with the supervision of our transport infrastructure to be at the bottom of the pile of privilege.
It’s probably worth ringing the police even if they say they won’t do anything. If anything happens later, the report is on record.
There is also the problem with parking on the kerb in relation to kerb discharge of storm-water. In many of the older parts of town SW goes to the kerb in a plastic pipe under the footpath. Vehicles parked on the kerb are heavy, and can crush the pipe to the point where the water backs up along the pipe and overflows onto the property.
I’m becoming increasingly aware and annoyed at the number of cyclists running red lights and not indicating.
Two weeks ago I followed a cyclist who ran 2 red lights and failed to indicate at a roundabout in the space of around 200 meters.
I hope that AT and the Police will be as vigilant in this area as they are with other modal types.
Cyclists are not required to indicate at roundabouts if it is not safe to do so, New Zealadn Road Code for cyclists.
Roundabouts
You must use hand signals before reaching a roundabout and at the
roundabout. Once you are in the roundabout you may need both hands
on the handlebars to keep control of the cycle, so it is okay to only
indicate when you are able. For more information on indicating at
roundabouts see page 53.
There are also other situations
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/roadcode/cyclist-code/docs/cyclist-code-2013-low.pdf
Page 23
Red light running shouldn’t be allowed (although many saunter through a pedestrian phase). No where near an issue as motorists running red lights though which is happening on most phases at busy intersections now.
Signalling: Not legally required and often not safe – it’s impossible to use the primary (front) brake and signal a right turn at the same time. Unlike cars you need hands for steering and braking over signalling.
“I’m becoming increasingly aware and annoyed at the number of cyclists running red lights and not indicating.”
Nice bit of whataboutery there. Any chance of you addressing the point of the article without introducing a different subject? Or is any criticism of motor vehicle drivers of such horror to you?
I have called AT several times lately about illegal parking on Waterloo Quadrant; it is become endemic. Anzac Avenue is a joke. I have never walked down there without some vehicle parked on the footpath.
If I take photos of offending vehicles and send them to AT, will they be prosecuted?
Evidently no worse than any other mode – http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-18/survey-finds-bicyclists-and-motorists-ignore-traffic-laws-similar-rates
“I hope that AT and the Police will be as vigilant in this area as they are with other modal types.”
There might be a (very) few red-light cameras, but I’ve seen bugger-all enforcement of “not indicating” from any type of vehicles…
It’s just shocking how much red light running goes on. They had an article in Stuff last week talking about the countries worst intersection: “The Wellington camera caught 276 red-light runners in its first eight weeks, after going live on April 30. It cost $60,000 to install, but has almost paid for itself already, with $41,400 in fines issued to the end of June, at $150 each”.
You’d think having to obtain a drivers licence and registration would make them aware that they’re supposed to stop for red lights… It’s very dangerous. “The Wellington intersection has New Zealand’s highest injury crash rate from red-light running. In the five years to April, there were 19 injury crashes involving red-light running, including one death”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/70495798/camera-stats-show-wellingtonians-are-still-the-worst-redlight-runners
start policing and fining people, they will soon learn. only do it because they know the chances of being pinged are minimal
It’s been frustrating me recently too, but I know there are two sides:
I walk up Union St on a daily basis, it’s all dashed yellow lines. The new Sugartree apartment building has recently opened up, but the basement car parking is not tall enough for moving trucks to enter. Fortunately the pavement is huge, but still an inconvenience. This is poor planning on the part of the council planners and the architects, and certainly makes avoiding vehicles leaving driveways more fun.
I live in an apartment in town and have often found the gate to my carpark blocked by delivery drivers for the neighbours, or just the neighbours who just don’t give a crap. Until yesterday there was on street parking (now removed for the Nelson St cycle way – YAY!) which they could have used. My wife has been abused for asking people to move, so she could leave. I’ve had to go door knocking to get offenders removed. And certainly when walking around town I’ve noticed it a lot more too.
Keen to see enforcement doing more about this, but within reason. It could be excusable if time is kept to a minimum, not peak time, and if there is no alternative, and alternatives do include circling rather than waiting and being a dick about it. Perhaps with some hefty fines some buildings (i.e. the Resene example above) could be persuaded to rethink their access and facilities.
“poor planning on the part of the council planners and the architects”
Way too much of that going on – almost like the building and transport planners/consenters do not talk with one another.
It might just be a Devonport thing but numerous people seem to think they own the footpath in front of their garage https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-36.826025,174.810521,3a,90y,169.23h,69.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sg6U5gqdIUPfw7L3RCfGCSg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
It’s a pain if you’re pushing a pram – you often have to detour onto the road.
It’s not just Devonport – Meadowbank suffers from the same issue. It is frustrating as a pedestrian to be dodging cars parked across the footpath when the Council provide free parking on the streets.
If they come back and their bumper or panel is scraped against by a pram or maybe the postie or other bike well it’s their fault for blocking the footpath. I like to push in their passenger mirror so they have to reach over or get out to put it back, so they are inconvenienced in a tiny way.
Some people have a total lack of common sense and courtesy.
Ah pushing in the passenger mirror is a clever, non-damaging way to exact retribution, I like it.
‘scraped against by a pram or maybe the postie or other bike’ overlooking the rule that says the ‘other’ bike should on the road not the footpath.
Also people seem to think it is ok to park in a clear way as long as they have their hazard flashers on.
Get used to it. Its going to happen a lot more if MPRs are removed…
What a weak argument. Doesn’t have anything to do with MPRs as in many of the cases above easy parking was mere metres away. It’s a lack of enforcement and in the case of Countdown, not giving a crap about customers
I’m being hopelessly pedantic here, because I wholeheartedly agree with the article. But the first example (Takapuna Countdown) isn’t a great one because that’s not a public road or footpath. I assume there’s no laws that say you can’t do what that van driver has done, although the owners of the supermarket might object.
Yes it isn’t a public road but it does have marked yellow lines which all drivers should know the meaning of
It may not be a road but there is public access. Another piece of legislation may come into effect ie. Health & Safety. The property is a place of work and the actions of the vehicle driver has made it unsafe.
If we could convince people that neither they, their job, nor their activity is the centre of the universe, perhaps they would be more understanding that we call it a footpath for a reason, i.e. so that our left foot and right foot might have a relatively safe path to follow. How about we start walking on the road and see what the vehicle people do about it, and we could have actual urban planners designing our city as well.
I carry a few copies of this from Living Streets Aotearoa, and leave on the windscreen. I’ve noticed on my street that they’re really making a difference, and the usual offenders are changing their ways.
http://i.imgur.com/8njRI7p.jpg
Brilliant exactly what I’ve been looking for!
Now to get a bunch printed onto extremely sticky-backed paper …
And here is another way to stop people parking there…. http://www.rt.com/news/185112-bentley-russia-bucket-challenge/
Thank you stranded, I have saved that picture and printed a couple of copies to carry with me. I like it. Maybe you could pass it onto CAN as well.
If your driveway is blocked I thought you were within your rights to smash a windows if it aids in moving the car. Maybe it is only in Australia.
You can’t in general, but if you’re doing what you need to do to avoid loss of life or injury, there’s a general defence of necessity.
If they’re blocking a fire hydrant, and your fire engine needs to use the fire hydrant because something’s on fire, for example.
Straight off the Cycle Action website:
Parking Enforcement
Spotted someone parking obstructively in cycle lanes or on footpaths? Call Auckland Transport parking enforcement on (09) 355 3553.
They aim to have a parking enforcement officer there within the hour. Just tell them the address and a licence plate number; a description of the vehicle if you can. (NB no need to put yourself in a situation where things might get aggro.
Simply note the details, and move away from the vehicle to make the call).
Keep that number as a favourite in your phone!
And yes, I’ve noticed this type of “parking” occurring more frequently. Really irritating for pedestrians and cyclists. I have visions of AT producing an IOS/Android app where anyone can snap an offending vehicle, upload it to AT who will then issue a warning or perhaps a fine for repeat offenders. A bit like Police Roadwatch but easier to use.
No need to produce their own app; just subscribe to the SnapSendSolve app service that Chch and a bunch of Oz councils are already using – http://www.ccc.govt.nz/report/snap-send-solve/
There is the ‘towit’ app which is available in NZ. not sure if it is used or helps with AT at all. It’s quite a cool app to use, not helpful without take up by AT though.
Most footpaths are not built to carry loads (between crossings) so you get footpath failures that are expensive to fix. The main causes of footpath failures are the parking of heavy vehicles and tree roots, not pedestrian and cycle traffic.
Would it be permissible to lean against these vehicles when passing and perhaps damage their paintwork or mirrors?
I have found that a strawberry milkshake that I just happened to have in my hand, makes a thoroughly satisfying statement about “don’t park here” when poured over the car that was parked over the footpath near me…Waste of a milkshake, yes, but nicely gooey and hopefully a bugger to get off.
Please don’t. Vandalisem / willfull damage doesn’t help our case, opens you for risk of prosecution, and increased odd of a violent confrontation. Just call the council, and they will send a trained parking warden with legal authority to deal with the problem.
Pictures with identifying features with time and place sent to local authority can also help reduce the frequency of these inceidents, particularly where a new path has been installed.
I notice for the most part it is couriers and delivery trucks. Removing the odd car park and replacing it with a P10/loading zone would make sense. I don’t know where you expect a truck to stop to deliver its goods? Not allowed to stop on the road.
As for cars etc parking on footpaths this does need to be enforced. It also damages the footpaths themselves.
Speaking of damaged footpaths a lot of developments seem to damage the paths but will only replace the driveway area. Same goes with the road being torn up by trucks for construction.
Although there are laws against parking on footpaths, they are widely flouted and the authorities show little interest in proactively enforcing them. In Wellington the council has a policy of not being too hard on footpath-parkers on account of the many narrow streets. They hate to see other cars obstructed so are happy if they “park them safely out of the way on the footpath”!
The other day I was slowly cycling along a footpath beside Wellington Railway Station, which is regularly used for picking-up/dropping-off, stopping to answer phone, crossing to access adjacent parking etc. And two women blocked my path and remonstrated with me about what I was doing. A few minutes later their ride arrived and drove right onto this “footpath” to pick them up!
It feels like a losing battle at times!
Here’s one person’s solution to the problem 🙂
https://nz.totaltravel.yahoo.com/news/a/29078865/video-cyclist-lifts-a-car-out-of-his-way/
I would like to blame the Muppets that use the wrong truck for the wrong job. There’s a fascination for the Toyota hiace in NZ that I can’t comprehend. Too small to load much stuff big enough to be a pain to park. Or oversized trucks clearly not designed for city deliveries. Ever heard of the ford transit or fiat ducato ffs
We want people to live in high density dwellings, we have to accept that they are going to require services that necessitate deliveries and accommodate that. All but two of the photos are delivery drivers or trades. We need these people to be able to access the urban environment with ease. Rules that work for low density suburbia need to be revisited in an urban city.
In the case of the high street ones the solution is a shared space. Gives a lot more space for pedestrians and the outcomes from the other shared spaces if that they’ve made deliveries easier
Good idea. They’d need to be a few modifications to the parking allowances for urban residential shared spaces as opposed to the retail spaces we have already. 5 minutes isn’t long enough for the removal van, plumber, painter or electrician a family could need to hire.
So a profit-making firm has the right to monopolise a common good like a footpath?
If we took 50m out of AT’s annual capital budget and devoted it to enforcement – would the benefits be greater?
Imagine IMMEDIATE enforcement. 4:00:01 and the towies already on the clearways
Not to mention using berms for long-term boat storage.
Two points about this. Firstly, I had a friend who, faced with a car parked on the footpath, would simply walk straight over the top of the car. Secondly, with regard to Bruce’s point about developers damaging footpaths. I’m building a house in Central Otago and the council there require me to pay a $1,000.00 deposit against possible damage to the footpath, which the contractors have to cross. On completion the building inspector also checks that no damage has been done to the footpath and if not, the deposit is returned. I’m sure there must be a similar scheme for contractors in Auckland?
Sigh…. Wellington may well be different from Auckland in this respect as well as others, but down here we have 2 extremely vigilant Traffic Planners – Steve Spence and Soon Tek Kong, who mandate that every development has a loading bay attached to the Resource Consent application. Almost impossible to get any project passed, until the Traffic guys have assessed it for loading bays. Not sure what your traffic guys are doing in Auckland – but shouldn’t there be a similar thing going on? ie assess how much traffic will be created by deliveries, and provide off-street loading / parking as needed?
A problem in old Auckland is that there are a lot of streets that were built in the horse and buggy days, before cars were invented. Those streets are very narrow, and there is quite often not enough room left to get a truck down them when cars are parked on both sides of the road. I am talking about rubbish trucks, fire trucks etc here, because normally trucks don’t use those streets unless making a delivery. Even ambulances struggle to get through. The locals know the problem and park with the left side wheels on the footpath. However, visitors to the streets (a) don’t know about the problem and (b) park away from the kerb so their tyres don’t damaged by the basalt kerbing. I live in such a street, and we get around the problem by parking on one side of the road only, leaving the other side for traffic to flow freely, but outsiders sometimes use the street for parking so they can catch a bus or train into town, and they park where we don’t, which means the street is virtually blocked off for other vehicles, cars and all. The rubbish trucks have a simple solution, crunch crunch crunch up the street. I have been told that fire crews will stop and bounce the offending vehicle out of the way, provided it doesn’t slow down their emergency duties.
Yes there are a lot of streets in Auckland where AT should paint yellow lines on one side of the road. All it takes is one muppet and then you have people zig-zagging all over the place to get around them. It is also not safe for cyclists who are obscured by that vehicle.
There must be a case for demolishing the old inner city suburbs entirely and rebuilding as medium density housing with a completely new street plan.
The ghost of Le Corb’ lives!
I was hoping for Haussmann.
Hausmann didn’t nuke cities to put in more parking and vehicle capacity though, that was Le Courbusier’s shtick.
Well this somes it up – http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/roadcode/about-driving/where-not-to-park/ –
“ * on any footpath”
“* in a cycle lane”
Two weeks ago, I had an angry discussion with what turned out to be plainclothes policeman (!) about him parking across the footpath. Guy was arrogant enough to touch me on the shoulder and “show me how to walk around the car on the street”. When I blew up angrily at that (bad idea, I know, even if he hadn’t turned out to be a cop) he told me I was risking myself getting arrested or worse.
Well, after we both cooled down, we had a more polite chat, he said that he didn’t know any law against his behaviour, but admitted that on second thought, he shouldn’t have parked across the footpath and that it could be difficult for people with a wheelchair or pram (and no, he wasn’t in a “sirens and all” hurry – and in any case, there was on-street car parking literally 1m away).
It taught me that even our police simply are IN THE HABIT of ignoring the pedestrian’s view. While the guy turned out to be friendly and understanding, his first reaction was a “What the fu** you talking about?” when I called him on the matter.
The land transport (road user) rule 2004 section…
2.13Driving along footpath
(1)A driver must not drive a motor vehicle along a footpath.
(2)Subclause (1) does not apply to a person who rides a moped or motorcycle on a footpath in the course of delivering newspapers, mail, or printed material to letter boxes if the road controlling authority has authorised the use of the footpath for that purpose.
Compare: SR 1976/227 r 14
Clause 2.13(2): added, on 1 November 2009, by clause 9 of the Land Transport (Road User) Amendment Rule 2009 (SR 2009/253).
So for a motor vehicle to park on a footpath they must have driven there. Thus an offence under this order in council.
So next time you come across an arrogant motorist or ignorant (untrained) police officer simply refer them to section 2.13 of the land transport (road user) rule 2004, while you email the council parking authorities the pertinent information. Get them to look up this while you make arrangements for the fine to be mailed to them.
Technically doesn’t cover cars parked in driveways, across footpath tho.
Hah! Logic dictates, for a car to be over a footpath it either drove THERE thus violating said clause, or it was some how transported there … CARRIED, TELEPORATION, CONSTRUCTED THERE, possibly some other means somebody could think of.
Ragardless, from the NZ Land Transport Road Code website – http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/roadcode/about-driving/where-not-to-park/ –
“You must not park or stop your vehicle:
on the right-hand side of the road, except in a one-way street
where it will be in the way of other people using the road (including pedestrians)
near a corner, curve, hill, traffic island or intersection, if it will stop other people from seeing along the road
on the road, if you can park the vehicle off the road without damaging grass or gardens (a controlling authority may have a bylaw and/or signs prohibiting parking on a grass verge)
on any footpath”
So this covers park cars on driveways – legally termed vehicle access ways and classed as share zones.
If it’s a company vehicle, call, email, tweet or Facebook the the company, preferably with a photo – many of them are concerned about the public image of inconveniencing people like this. I photographed a taxi on the footpath, and the taxi company entered it as a complaint in their official register and gave the driver a formal warning valid for two years.
And don’t forget to carry Living Streets Aotearoa’s polite and effective “PLEASE don’t park on the footpath” yellow feet: see Stranded on the North Shore’s post above, http://www.livingstreets.org.nz and walkauckland.org.nz. Back in the mists of time I think Auckland City Council did something similar, too.
This is classic example of what can happen when a car is blocking the footpath:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10539516/Retiree-scoots-down-a-steep-bank
Bob is lucky he didn’t get further injuries. I hope whoever parked the car there got some sort of prosecution, but I doubt it.
Quite often it is a case of no available parking for delivery vehicles. There should be more loading zones for them around shops and for periods longer than 5-10 mins as it is often not possible to make a delivery in this time in my line of work as we get held up with the shop owners. I certainly don’t condone a lot of the photos you posted but it begs the question why don’t the council make the property developers proved for truck parking for deliveries so we can park legally and then actively enforce these spaces so ordinary drivers get ticketed when they park there.
One of the most frustrating and frequent is cars deciding that the kerb lowering from a footpath to the road is their entry point to parking, and so they will sit, between the lights, islands or whatever that particular crossing had, right in the middle of it across the footpath, blocking access to the crossing and the footpath. One taxi driver who had achieved this goal of blocking all access replied he had been told to pick up someone from the building on the end of the crossing; there were seven empty carparks, free street-side parking, five metres away.
All AT has to do is fine the guilty party based on photos sent in by the public which clearly show the license plate and the infringement. We live in a technological age so AT should join the 21st century and usr the public as its watchdog. Infringements would disappear overnight if everyone knew that they could have their vehicle photographed by passerby.
Ughh, photoshop and fake email addresses?
Legally inadmissible. How would they know it wasn’t an age old photo, for example? Or an instance that they’d already been ticketed for etc….
Where I work we often use wipeable windows markers. It’s tempting to carry one in my bag to leave notes for drivers like this. And yet I can tell that if I left a note using a window marker, somehow it would be me that gets in trouble…
Bruno, apparently lipstick works well to write notes on windscreens. It will wash off, but smears everywhere due to the wax, so all you need to do is carry a lipstick with you at all times…
As many people have pointed out, part (not all) of the problem is the lack of places to stop to pick up and set down passengers, and load and unload goods. We don’t have a very nuanced setup here – no distinction between stopping, waiting, and parking, like there is in some countries.
California, for example, distinguishes between white kerbs (5 minute pick up and set down, must stay with vehicle), yellow kerbs (30 minutes loading), and red kerbs (no stopping). The UK has a four-tier system of single and double yellow and red lines, indicating whether you can wait, or just stop, or not stop at all, and whether it applies always or only at certain times of day. Although the UK, bizarrely, doesn’t completely prohibit parking on footpaths.
What I’d like to see here is a more nuanced approach to this here. For all of our broken yellow lines, investigate what they’re trying to accomplish. Then we can decide which ones should really be no stopping, and which ones could allow brief pick up and set down, or short-term loading where you don’t move far from the vehicle. This would mean some new road markings – a coloured kerb, red lines instead of yellow, or something similar. We also need a series of short-term parking spaces and loading spaces throughout the city – particularly in inner residential and commercial areas where the streets tend to get parked out with long-term vehicles, whether or not they’re paying to do so.
But there’s also the cultural issue. Parking on the footpath is illegal, and so is parking on broken yellow lines. The latter is considerably more friendly and reasonable, and if you’re going to break the law anyway, you should park on the broken yellows, not the footpath. But so many drivers insist on screwing over pedestrians, and I don’t know how we even start to change that culture. Many of the vehicles in these photos had perfectly reasonable legal options just metres away. “More enforcement” is easy to say, but the vehicles don’t tend to stay long enough for a parking warden to get there.
Naturally, this is also going to involve taking away some long-term or metered spaces in order to put in more short-term loading zones. Well, short-term loading is ultimately a better (and more crucial) use of the street than long-term parking, so if one has to go, it’s the long-term parking.
But I’d go one step further – providing for loading is more critical than traffic throughput. If you block a lane of traffic for a minute, so be it. That example at Countdown Takapuna, say – imagine there weren’t parking right there anyway. It’s still a better use of space to park and load there, than have separate left and right turning lanes. This would be a good sort of location for the intermediate “loading but no parking” road marking.
“We also need a series of short-term parking spaces and loading spaces throughout the city – particularly in inner residential and commercial areas”
Yes. AT please plan this with AC. The cbd streetscape is not fit for more residents.
Well here’s a double-trouble lot: this morning, waiting to cross Alpers Ave, a car comes through the red turn arrow from St Marks onto Broadway, where an elderly gentleman (I’d guess in his 90s) is crossing on his green man. He then proceeds to park across the footpath, which has yellow lines at the kerb and pedestrian traffic on the footpath.
Someone else who was crossing then accosted him, and from what I heard the driver first argued no one was on the crossing, then that he could go as the elderly gentleman was on the other side of the road, ignored comments regarding parking on the footpath next to yellow lines, swore and dorve off.
To the driver of EAJ204: Shame on you! Learn some manners and the road code! Having a shiny BMW does not entitle you to endager pedestrians, be vulgar and break the rules.
Is the solution for a protest group to set up table and chairs on a busy road to have breakfast?
“If we allow cars to use footpaths, why can’t pedestrians use the road?”
(fully coned off of course!!)
Invite TV3 and TVNZ along…
those examples are nothing. check out the strand and shipright lane via google maps or auckland gis areial photos. Businesses have painted parking lines on the footpath. one business (bauhaus) even has panted massive logos on every space (on the footpath, not their land) to imply they own them.
Outrageous. Council should charge them for the costs of repairing the footpath – or rebuilding it strong enough to carry vehicles like a road, and charging them rent on it accordingly. Cheeky pricks.
“To the driver of EAJ204: Shame on you!” – why not report him at https://forms.police.govt.nz/forms/online-community-roadwatch-report/9, which will get him sent a warning; or lay a complaint with the Police, which may see him prosecuted?
Maybe they should have rules that require developers to provide a minimum level of parking with each development.
Maybe developers should be required to provide an unlocked room with valuables they replenish every so often to satisfy burglars so people don’t have their properties broken into.
Great analogy. Though if you change “so people don’t have their properties broken into” to “so people don’t have to lock their doors” it would be even more fitting.