Pavement parking isn’t just rude - it’s putting lives at risk
Pavement parking makes everyday life more difficult for people with sight loss to navigate, writes Erik Matthies
As blind and partially sighted people, we are disproportionately affected by pavement parking.
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A recent RNIB report finds that 92 per cent of blind and partially sighted people have been forced to move into the road to get around obstacles, with the main obstacle being vehicles parked on pavements. Every time we are pushed off the pavement, we are exposed to traffic we can’t see, and that can put our lives at risk.
A narrow gap left by a vehicle on the pavement can make it impossible for me to find my way with my white cane, and often it is too narrow for guide dog users to navigate safely. A person walking with a guide dog requires more clear pavement space than someone walking alone. Guide dogs are trained to stop when faced with an obstruction, hazard, or gap too narrow to pass through safely. This means the owner must continually assess why the dog has stopped and what action to take.
Pavement parking, alongside the many other street obstacles, makes everyday life more difficult for people with sight loss to navigate.
The frequency and unpredictability of vehicles parked on pavements make this a common and exhausting problem, leaving many of us with sight loss going out less or needing to rely on sighted companions just to get around our local area.
Since we were first asked about this by the UK Government back in 2020, reckless pavement parking has continued to force blind and partially sighted people into the road and potentially into the path of moving vehicles we can’t see: this is both stressful and highly dangerous.
This week's announcement is a positive step towards addressing the dangers of pavement parking after years of delays - but it won't provide a consistent nationwide solution that RNIB and other sight loss charities recommend.
We’ll press the Department of Transport to go further and learn from Scotland, where a pavement parking ban has been in place for the last two years, but has been applied inconsistently across different local authorities, who lack the resources to create and enforce enough to actually leave the pavements clear.
Alongside other charities in the sight loss sector, RNIB has and will continue to campaign for safer street environments for blind and partially sighted people, which would also benefit all pedestrians.
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Erik Matthies, who has sight loss, is RNIB’s Policy Lead for travel and transport.
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