Illegal parking is a scourge of Australian suburbs and it has to stop

This parking act is a scourge of Australian suburbs and one pedestrian has had enough of this “selfish” and “illegal” behaviour.

Parking across footpaths is a pain for pedestrians.

OPINION

I am an avid walker (no, not the Walking Dead kind but the exercise, recreational kind).

Even in the Victorian winter I try my best to get out of the house and hit the pavement in pursuit of meeting my 10,000 daily step goal and quota of fresh air.

While I enjoy most aspects – feeling the warmth on my southern state sunshine-deprived skin, noticing the flowers blooming, and generally feeling like I am in some sort of feel-good musical scene – there is one component that puts a stop to my urge to break out in song and dance and it is something that unfortunately happens more often than it should.

I’m talking about a vehicle of some description being parked across the footpath or walkway, the very same piece of ground that I should be breaking into my song and dance routine (or at least walking) on.

Yes, vehicles that include but are not limited to – small cars, SUVs, mini-vans, utility utes, trailers, caravans and even boats. There they are, plonk, smack bang in the middle of either the footpath, nature strip or along the entire driveway blocking where you should be able to walk. And instead, you have to find an alternative path to get to where you are going.

Shona Handley is sick of encountering illegally parked cars on her daily walk. Picture: Supplied

Many car drivers don’t take pedestrians into account when parking. Picture: Supplied

While I am left with the urge to stamp my feet in protest and walk across the car’s bonnet or climb over the boat or caravan to make a point, I do not. Why? Because I am considerate (something that the person who parked their vehicle in this space is lacking).

So instead, I evaluate my surroundings and work out the best way forward. I ask myself, is it better to walk around the front of the vehicle, squeeze through the small gap provided and into this person’s front yard or garden? Or should I walk behind it and on to the road?

And while evaluating these at times unsafe options, my well-established walking tempo has been ruined and the endorphins that were inspiring my musical number, well they are gone and replaced with a feeling more akin to great frustration.

Parked cars get in the way of Shona’s daily walk. Picture: Supplied

While this may be indeed a first-world problem, it is one nonetheless and frankly, I am at my wit’s end with it. It leaves me constantly annoyed, perplexed as to why people continually do this and even asking, is it deliberate? Do these inconsiderate parkers find joy in watching on as pedestrians are forced to either enter someone’s front yard or go on the road?

And the most confusing thing, is while it is inconvenient for me, a leisure walker who can manoeuvre relatively easily around the said vehicle, I wonder have they thought about other people who can’t?

You know like those who walk with their children? Children themselves? People with prams? Or what about elderly people who walk with mobility aids, or who may not be as stable on their feet as they once were? And of course, those in wheelchairs who also need a pathway to access in order to get from point a to point b – have they thought of them?

How would a wheelchair-user get past this inconsiderate parker? Picture: Supplied

The nature strip isn’t for parking on yet so many vehicles do it. Picture: Supplied

Or is it expected, like it is for me, for them to squeeze through difficult and often tight spaces, or brave the road with traffic, or go on the unstable ground because they couldn’t be bothered parking their vehicle properly?

Parking outside your house but across the pavement isn’t OK. Picture: Supplied

Regardless of whether these inconsiderate parkers are oblivious or just don’t care about those around them, the point is they are creating a pedestrian safety issue. Oh, and they are breaking the law.

Yes, let me introduce you to the road rule as per Vic Roads.

“A driver must not park on a bicycle path, footpath, shared path, dividing strip, or a nature strip adjacent to a length of road in a built-up area, unless the driver parks at a place allowed by a parking sign.”

Yet there they are parked on bicycle paths, footpaths, shared paths, dividing strips or nature strips adjacent to a length of road in a built-up area without any signs allowing it.

So far for me, this issue has only been an inconvenience, but for others, it has been far more serious. In 2009 this very issue – a car parked across the footpath – forced a five-year-old boy on to the road in Sydney. He was crushed by a rubbish truck and died.

This is why these road rules and laws exist. This is why they should be adhered to. It’s really not that hard.

Shona Hendley is a freelance writer.

Originally published as Illegal parking is a scourge of Australian suburbs and it has to stop