Effect of pavement parking and obstruction for disabled people

The obstruction of pavements and dropped kerbs by cars and vans is a major barrier for many pedestrians including disabled people. Going into the road is dangerous for anyone, because drivers do not expect pedestrians in the road.

For disabled people it can be even more difficult and dangerous:

1. A visually impaired person may have difficulty identifying how much of the pavement is obstructed and when it is safest to go into the road. If they have a guide dog or long-cane, they will have to travel further into the road, which makes it more likely that they will be hit by drivers.
2. A wheelchair user has to find a dropped kerb, which may be several hundred meters away, to cross the road or reroute round the obstruction. If they travel in the road itself, drivers are less likely to notice them because they are wider and lower down than a walking pedestrian. They also have to spend longer in the road itself because of the distance between dropped kerbs.  

Who are we?

Sarah

Sarah is a visually impaired woman from Leicester who travels mostly by walking with her guide dog Kiki. Sarah volunteers with charities to support other visually impaired people and campaigns to keep streets safe and clear of obstructions. 

Doug

Doug is a wheelchair user from West Yorkshire who loves trains and travelling around the UK. Doug campaigns for accessible transport and streets for disabled people and pedestrians. 

Pandemic changes

During the Coronavirus lockdown there have been widespread reports in the media (BBC, Guardian, Sky News) about more drivers speeding on quieter roads. Disabled people have reported more instances of obstructed pavements as it appears that Local Authorities and Police forces have not been able to attempt even the usual low levels of enforcement activities.

Disabled people are therefore currently at even greater risk than usual from obstructed pavements as they make necessary journeys to travel to work, access medical care, get food and medicines, and try to get some daily exercise. Schemes to widen pavements and alter roadways for social distancing purposes have often been poorly accessible.

Government guidance

As the government planned to ease restrictions, they issued guidelines to local authorities about making changes to infrastructure to increase walking and cycling to reduce demand on public transport. There was only one brief reference to disabled people in the guidance, and no consideration of what disabled people need.

What we are raising money for

We believe that the government has failed to deal with the problem of pavement obstruction and that its guidance about Coronavirus infrastructure changes may be unlawful. We need to raise funds to carry out research and seek legal advice on whether there are grounds to challenge the government.

We will need £3,000 to obtain initial legal advice from specialist lawyers, write a pre-action letter to the government setting out our proposed grounds of challenge and to consider their response. We have set a stretch target of £7,500 to fund preparation of a legal claim, if the issue can’t be resolved in correspondence.