Pavements for the pedestrian
Friday 19th March 2010, 2:29PM GMT.
Pat Wisher and Deputy John Gollop of Living Streets joined police in Bailiff’s Cross Road yesterday for the start of a crackdown on ‘pavement surfing’. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0935124)
THE police joined forces with Living Streets yesterday to launch a new campaign against pavement surfing.
Representatives of the pedestrian safety group teamed up with officers in Bailiff’s Cross Road, an area notorious for motorists driving on the pavement.
‘This is an awareness campaign to remind islanders about the safe way to mount the pavement if they have to,’ said Living Streets secretary Pat Wisher.
‘We acknowledge there are times when you have to. We want to get across the correct way to do it.
‘First of all slow down, mount the pavement, preferably stop and mount off carefully.’
The road chosen was particularly poignant because Mrs Wisher was once almost hit by a car there.
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Such a crackdown is welcome. Try Collings Road as well – I saw someone this morning passing the line of cars at the lights and they just went up on the pavement at about 25mph when there was room to get past. Far easier to drive on the pavement than slow down and use a little skill to pass! Lorries and buses often have to mount the pavement here but they go slow and give due regard to any pedestrians, often waiting for them to walk along to a safe spot.
However it is not always the car mounting the pavement that is totally to blame. There are cases where two cars could pass if they both slowed down but sometimes the one on the non-pavement side (where the road has only one pavement) charges along regardless forcing oncoming cars to mount the pavement, often faster than they want to.
Granted we should read ahead, see the situation coming and slow down well before but sometimes you think you are both going to be able to pass OK so don’t slow down much, and then realize you won’t but the other vehicle is charging towards you relentlessly so you have to jump up on the pavement at the last moment. I can almost read the other driver’s mind: “get up on the pavement so I don’t have to slow down!”
It is those motorists – on both sides of the road – who just can’t be bothered or are in too much of a hurry to slow down and squeeze past that need targeting.
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Good work.
Now we just need to sort out the poeple who park on the road by corners or junctions.
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Are the police going to go ahead and actually do something about this? I think not!! Not only do vechile (cars/buses/lorries) drivers like to drive along pavements and cycle paths but they like parking on them as well blocking them from being used and forcing those people onto the road.
When you mention this to the police, what do they do? NOTHING! So I have my doubts this is going to be actioned either as it involves the police actually doing some work which from what I’ve seen, they do very little of every day!
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Pat Wisher I believe you have this wrong here, you said ‘First of all slow down, mount the pavement, preferably stop and mount off carefully.’
Preferably? No, just stop. Driving along on a pavement is an offense. I know drivers seem to do it all the time but that doesn’t make it right. It’s not alright, it’s dangerous, and police should enforce this law.
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Good point TS – the paper version of the story says ‘While the police were launching the campaign, they saw a skip lorry come around a blind corner on the pavement.’ But it doesn’t say if they actually did anything about it! I am totally fed up with cars treating the pavements as extensions of the road and there seems to be no willingness at all on the part of the police to take any serious action against these drivers. Maybe this is the start of a change, we’ll see…
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Usual, wholly out-of-proportion PC nonsense.
Nobody likes driving on the pavement. It wrecks your tyres, and being forced onto a pavement by a truck or an oversized bus is no fun. if anyone does it for kicks, then they should be prosecuted.
If there are no pedestrians in sight; if you can see ahead and if the alternative is to hold everyone up then why not?
Every road is poignant to me, as I’ve been nearly forced off just about every one of them by buses that are too wide for our roads.
Pat Wisher actually sounds as though she is being more pragmatic that Gollop or the police.
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Steven, you have this wrong. Yesterday I was driving along Bailiffs cross roads, heading towards the hangman’s traffic lights in a VW Polo (a car of no mass size, I’m sure you’ll agree). Picture the road; a pavement on my side but none on the other. On one of the lesser corners in one of the narrowest parts of the road I was travelling about 20-25mph. Not fast by any stretch of the imagination.
I could not see properly around the corner although obviously didn’t particularly need to as it was a two carriage way road. Flying around the corner came one of Guernsey’s yellow and green monsters. Had I of stopped I would have been swallowed up by it. He certainly didn’t stop, nor attempt to slow down and gave me no option but to mount the pavement at probably 20-25 mph. I of course slowed down as soon as I could and came off the pavement but for me to have stooped abruptly in the road would have risked my life as well as the children in my car.
There was absolutely, categorically, indubitably no question of me mounting the pavement. God forbid that anyone was walking on the pavement at this time as my nearside mirror was as good as touching the hedge row. I was infuriated by this and have written a letter of complaint to Island Coachways.
Tell me; what should I have done in this situation?
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TS:
Slightly off topic, but the police do hardly any work do they?! Where’s your supporting evidence to such a claim?
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Bob – ‘if there are no pedestrians in sight’ is all very well, but what about when they step out onto the pavement from their front door? I work on a street in town where I have to peer cautiously out of the door before stepping onto the pavement, because more often than not some idiot is barrelling down the pavement because otherwise he/she would actually have to travel slowly to get past the cars – they have no need to be on the pavement, but it makes it quicker that why. This is not out of proportion PC nonsense, it’s trying to avoid being run down by idiots who don’t think about the consequences of what they’re doing.
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Sorry, but this “crack down on pavement surfers” is completely stupid, first off it’s not those that “surf” them’s fault, it’s these huge monsters that plough along the road going 40mph, ok maybe 35, but continue to do so; busses, chelsea tractors, lorries.
Those mounting the pavement are doing the right thing, but it ruins their tyres and wheels, and run the risk of hitting a pedestrian.
If the police want this to stop, then they should make a law for no large buses, 4x4s, lorries etc. But this won’t happen, so for the time being people should still be able to mount the pavement, and if all is clear drive along them.
Police just being lazy and not going into town capturing the murders and all that on a Saturday night, too scared me thinks!
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What do you do when one of the Chelsea tractors comes hurtling along Baliffs Cross Road towards the Hospice and doesn’t slow down! Mount the pavament. Conversly coming down Rectory Hill! Granite wall on your left – nearside. Pavement on your right. Car refuses to mount pavement. What do you do?
a) Stop and hope they will not hit you
b) Scrape along the wall – we cannot have the Chelsea tractor go on the pavement
c) Breathe in and hope
d) Pray – well you are close to the Church!
The answer – if you drive a big car, lorry bus etc gauage how big it is. Understand the other side of the road and think. What if it was me on the other side what would I do if one of these monstrosities can hurtling towards me
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At the top of Guelles Road the mega-buses have to drive on the pavement the whole way down to Amherst School – so much for “mount the pavement and stop”
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I have to do the school run every morning along La Route des capelles and heading back towards town way, I dread going along there where I’m forced on to the pavement from people coming in the opposite direction driving too fast or unaware of the widths of their cars, otherwise i’d looses my front wing let alone mirror ?? Believe me I dont want to “mount” on to the pavement as my car has 19inch wheels and the last thing I want to do is kerb them on the already too high pavements for my sports suspension and wheels. Even driving along Braye Road espcially outside the petrol station area and the bend near Braye Road Industrial Estate the pavements along there are ridiculously high, and is a nightmare with large buses and trade Vehicles playing chicken with on coming traffic (which they do as its clearly written all over the faces no matter what anyone tells me) In short the roads overhere are too narrow for 2 way modern vehicles, from the 80′s vehicles have steadily got larger but our roads have not.
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DS – to support my claim I have rung the police 4 times about cars, vans, lorries and buses using the cycle path opposite the Longstore as a car park while they use the sandwich shop opposite. I have given the police times but still i find people doing it. So like i said, you tell them about an offence, and what happens? Nothing as per.
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Bart
You should have contacted Island Coachways by phones straight away (obviously whilst not driving!).
The busses have cameras fitted and they can review any incidents easily, I did it once before and they were extremely good in dealing with it and the driver was disciplined.
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I am a pavement surfer. Not proud of it but have little other choice. I drive a RangeRover with after market wider wheels & tyres on the vehicle. Because I like the look.
If I did not surf the pavements I would be purchasing new door mirrors several times a week. These are expensive & would inconvenience me in a big way.
Maybe it is time roads were made one way or even widened where possible. Often it is a case where the much smaller vehicles feel they need three feet clearance between their passenger side & the gutter making surfing the only option other than taking the king of the road stance.
Believe it or not this is very effective but tends to generate the road rage element in even the most mild mannered old codger.
Given the choice of a surfer or the king coming at you at 35 mph in a three tonne vehicle when you are in a micro car which would you choose?
If it is the latter then you will spot me coming at you with a big smile on my face some time soon. My vehicle is quite unique & easily stands out from the other ordinary looking Chelsea tractors. Oh I need this vehicle because I feel very confident that I will be fine if the inevitable happens & have an accident with a larger vehicle.
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TS:
In the last sentence of your first post, you said “it involves the police actually doing some work which from what I’ve seen, they do very little of every day!”.
It was that comment I was challenging. Clearly (as per your last post) you base that on the fact that the police haven’t come down and placed tickets on cars when you call them!! Are the police your private force? Could it be that when you call, the few officers on the island are busy with one of the other 65000 people who live on the island?!
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GG:
You need to do some homework.
Firstly, the police do not make laws.
Secondly, you wrote “Police just being lazy and not going into town capturing the murders and all that on a Saturday night, too scared me thinks!”
Think back – the last murderer in town was captured!!
Now think back again, and remember all the publicly available reports and convictions of people who are arrested and prosecuted for fighting, being drunk, being disorderly, committing criminal damage etc. The police deal with these issues every weekend, and on most weekdays too. Again, you should recall the publicly available reports on police officers who are assaulted in the course of making these arrests to uphold the law for us.
Clearly, if you are being rational it is evident that the police are far, far from being scared. In fact, I would suggest the police need more support from people like you.
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@Bart
You did the right thing.
I would point out here to all drivers, when approaching a corner with a pedestrian on the pavement extreme caution must be employed regardless of which side the pavement is on.
As regards being faced with a large vehicle with the pavement on the near side I will almost always ensure that I am stopped in the road before the other vehicle reaches me. I wait for the other vehicle to stop before I mount the pavement, stop, wait for it to pass then come off the pavement. I know this takes a bit of nerve sometimes. If the oncoming vehicle hits a stationary vehicle in the road, it is they that need to explain themself.
It is only by using this method, which is your perogative, that these ‘professional’ bus and lorry drivers etc. will cease to take for granted that they will be unobstructed when it is them that are the obstruction. Good luck.
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Most people are very sensible when driving on our roads, and I believe everybody has an opinion on how we should drive around them. Question!! How many people have been killed, badly mutilated or hospitalized from people driving on the pavements? I am not standing up for the mad drivers, but it seems everyone has a horror story on this subject; including me, but where are the statistics of people injured.
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The only time I have to go up on to the pavement quickly is when I have the oversized for GSY bus comes racing towards me.
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Good idea Mr Gallop, but lets start by asking how come driving on the footpaths is on the up.
THE BUS
Lets get some big busses eh! surely the biggest single conributor to driving on the footpath was the introduction of wider busses.
MR. GALLOP,WHERE DID YOU STAND ON THE INTRODUCTION OF THESE VEHICALS ??
THE CAR/HOUSING LICENSES
Lets keep dishing out housing licenses then we can have more cars on the roads. Hence more vehicals to hop onto the footpath and dodge the mostly empty busses that we are all paying for.
Ok John you get thr gist of it;
The main reason for increased use of footpaths by drivers is our very own Government!!
Heres a tip for good goverment;
Dont threaten nearly everone who votes for you!!
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I only have the pleasure of driving on Guernsey roads during my summer holiday.I find in general the drivers are mostly careful and considerate.Of yes,there are times when you HAVE to get on the footpath if you want to get by in one piece,hit a high curb though when going too fast then you can bin the tyre,and often the rim too,this may not be apparent at the time,but next time in France,on the motorway,doing 130kmh———
Are there not too many laws concerning traffic? – and not enough common sense?And I find the “filter” system in Guernsey extremely good,can’t understand why its not more widespread!But I do smile sometimes when I see these high-power cars on these tiny roads,most of them should change to 2nd gear when doing about 50mph!Kindly keep your eyes open for a LH drive Audi A4 in Sept this year!Happy motoring.
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I drive an old school Mini, which is only a little bit wider than a fag paper. 99% of Guernsey’s roads I shouldn’t need to mount the pavement if drivers coming the other way actually bothered to learn their own width, or show some courtesy move more over onto their side of the road. With such small wheels and tyres, I cringe every time I have to mount the pavement. Especially if it could be avoided.
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@ Paul – like the sarcasm. Those unnecessarily wide vehicles are a menace. It’s all about the look, eh?
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A question for Mr Gollop
Why on Sunday morning did you attempt to cross the road at L’Aumone about 20 feet away from the crossing!
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Ebenezer – I have the same problem. Solution would be to ban all on-street parking, which would make the roads wide enough. Pedestrians have a right of way on a pavement, but also have a duty to look before they leap. Presumably you wouldn’t leap out of your doorway into a young mum with a pram; a jogger, or a little ‘ol lady with a Zimmerframe?
It amuses me in a line of traffic to see people automatically mount the pavement when they see an oncoming car, let alone bus. They mount the kerb in their skinny Hyundai Atoz, or “fridge” van. I’m right behind them in the big, fat Bobmobile and don’t have to mount the kerb – in fact, half the time, I’d not even have slowed down.
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Mike – because he is allowed to do so?
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TL
I was merely wanting to get a rise out of the “OMG how irresponsible & ignorant, nothing better to do with their time, brigade.”
Bit gutted I did not manage to ruffle any feathers with that post.
On a more serious note I have always noticed the fire brigade vehicles are easily as wide as the buses but I have never felt threatened or even in the slightest bit intimidated ever by any.
I have lost count of the number of times my heart has sunk down to my backside & suffered mild panic attacks when greeting a bus on the opposite side of the road.
Maybe the people that drive the buses would do well to learn a thing or two from those that train the fire service staff with their driving style.
Many bus drivers do adopt the king of the road style & further training might serve them well. Skip lorry drivers can sometimes be a bit of a menace too.
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@Paul
“If it is the latter then you will spot me coming at you with a big smile on my face some time soon. My vehicle is quite unique & easily stands out from the other ordinary looking Chelsea tractors. Oh I need this vehicle because I feel very confident that I will be fine if the inevitable happens & have an accident with a larger vehicle.”
What a useless excuse to own such a pointless vehicle, it’s people like you who charge down the road thinking it’s all ok, ’cause I’m in a big vehicle.
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Paul
You sound like a typical 4×4 driver, I’m sure you can work out what is meant by that.
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Paul
Bingo. You got one !
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Bob – ‘Solution would be to ban all on-street parking, which would make the roads wide enough.’
Hmm, right, how exactly is that going to work then? A twenty storey carpark on the North Beach for all the cars forced off the road? Solution would be to ban all cars wider than, I don’t know, about Ford Fiesta size… though I’m not sure how all those 4×4 drivers with their raging midlife crises would cope.
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It seems that everybody is ready to have a go at the buses and lorries for mounting the pavements, but it seems that nobody can tell me how many people have been killed or injured by these vehicles mounting the pavements. So come on somebody, give me proof, give me traceable facts that I can investigate, or are you lot just a bunch of sad wingers, because at the moment that is all I have read. As for the Fire Brigade. YES… they do ride on the pavement, but twice as fast as buses.
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Good call coco – it’s been said umpteen times before – still no harm repeating it for posterity. Whose idea was it to have buses so wide that they take up at least 3/4 of the road width when driving down routes such as Collings Road?
One solution would be to build higher kerbs. Many of our pavements aren’t much higher than the road, so they’re easy to mount quickly. Make the kerbs higher (say 5-6 inches) and people will think twice before mounting them at speed.
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I normally surfboard between teh pavements on ma holidayz to the bouet, 2 meet up wiv my m8s
my allooys r a bit ruined. shud just buy a bus rly eh den i can surf wen eva i wont
wannabe gollop – greg
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Malb – None that I’m aware of, though that’s hardly a statistic.
Ebenezer – no extra parking required. This is an anti-car thread, remember. Nothing whatsoever must aid the motorist under any circumstance.
Does Gollop actually drive? I’ve only ever seen him walk or bus. It could explain his total lack of understanding on this issue.
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Bob – what lack of understanding would that be??
As a motorist, cyclist and pedestrian I recognise that there are occasional needs to mount the pavement and that when doing it we should be extremely careful and drive slowly. John Gollop’s comments are perfectly reasonable, sensible and sound.
Which bit do you disagree with?
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Malb makes a very good point.
It’s similar to all the proposals such as park and ride, increased fuel tax and paid parking to solve our non-existent traffic problem.
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So we need people to be injured before we act sensibly do we?
If people are being frightened on the pavements then that is enough justification for a useful reminder that driving on the pavement is not normal, despite it being second nature here.
There is no need to wait until enough people get hurt for it to form a “statistic”.
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@ TS
I also have complained numerous times to the police about vans, cars but mainly buses parking on the cycle lane and footpath opposite the Londstore so the drivers can nip into the sandwich shop to get theirsandwiches.
The police have done nothing to stop this.
Why don’t the bus drivers collect their sandwiches before they pick up their bus. Two days ago there were four buses just after 7 in the morning all queued up and parked across the bike lane and footpath so that pedestrians had to walk around them in the road.
What are Island Coachways doing to stop their drivers doing this?
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TL, you are correct in that we shouldn’t have to wait for an accident to happen before we act.
However, there is also no need to legislate against problems that don’t exist. There’s far too much irrelevant health and safety rubbish in our lives.
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I agree with avoiding unnecessary legislation, but I have not seen anything suggesting that legislation is being asked for.
This is just a reminder to drivers.
Seems like common sense to me.
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During my 20 minute commute to work this morning (which includes a painful stint stuck in traffic along the Vrangue) I had to mount and drive a short distance on the pavement on at least 3 occaisons due to various oversized lorries and Guernsey buses coming in the other direction. This is all the more surprising given the fact that I drive a Smart Car!
Avoiding driving on the pavement is not practical given the size of lorry and bus that are driving on our roads. Even at the speeds we drive in Guernsey you only often have split seconds to avoid the yellow and green monstrosity that is approaching you or face the consequences.
I challenge anyone campaigning in favour of fines etc to drive my route to and from work without needing to mount and drive short distances on the pavement!
Perhaps a rethink of bus routes or forcing oversized vehicles to drive on certain roads only at certain times of the day is required.
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TL – as I understand it Gollop isn’t asking for legislation, but is threatening to spend, spend and spend again by raising kerbs and making life more difficult for the average motorist. This is the sledgehammer to crack a peanut. This is where I utterly disagree with him. We are in straightened circumstances, and there’s no need to waste money on this nonsense.
This is not simply “a reminder to drivers” as you put it. If it were, I’d not care much, because as you say, it would be common sense. See my first comment above on Wisher’s attributed comments being pragmatic for once. It seems to be being backed with a threat by Gollop.
How long before some poor motorist is squashed by a bus because he or she couldn’t mount one the threatened super-kerbs? Or a pedestrian squashed because a skip lorry smashed a car that wouldn’t get out of its way into him/her? We don’t have to wait for the first martyr – I’d agree with you there.
I simply think JG is out of his depth on this one. Even if kerbs are raised, there will be the usual lowering of the kerb height for every drive and access road. Each of those will give an opportunity to mount the pavement for the determined surfer. But the need for emergency use of the pavement may not coincide with one of these access points and that could contribute to accidents every bit as much as pavement surfing.
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As all car, van and lorry drivers contribute to the island coffers by paying a large amount of duty on fuel I think we should be allowed to drive on pavements – in fact why not go a stage further and remove them altogether or alternatively charge a ‘pedestrian usage’ tax!
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Firstly I must thank you for answering my question. There is a sort of legislation going forward and is being implemented by Island Coachways.The police have told the coach company that there drivers must stop before going onto a pavement, instead of slowing down. This is the silliest and most stupid idea I have heard in a long time. Why you ask? Just imagine for a moment, that you are in your car travelling along one of our beautifull country lanes at 35,m.p.h. From the other direction travelling at 25,m.p.h, is a bus. You both meet at one of the many bends in the lane. What is your reaction time? Here is a 60,m.p.h, collission, within 15 to 20 feet of impact. You only have 3 seconds to do something. It will take the bus longer than 3 seconds to stop. So come on people, tell me, what are you going to do?
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Stunned Guern
Although there are some circumstance that require driving along the pavement would you explain why it was that you did so.
Malb
Everyone should stop before mounting the pavement. In the scenario you described above both drivers are guilty of dangerous driving.
Bob
I would agree with you that raising pavements would be dangerous, and if this is Gollops intention, he should have a rethink.
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Malb:
The physics behind your question are severely flawed, or perhaps your understanding of the highway code is lacking. Quite simply, if you are travelling at 25mph or 35mph and your visibility is limited to 15-20 feet then you are travelling much, much too fast.
Therefore, your point is invalid as it is currently stated.
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I’m pretty amazed the following hasn’t been said already here but…
First off, I don’t consider myself a pavement surfer, I slow down if at all possible before mounting the kerb because I have actually had a tyre blow out when someone forced me up at 30mph once.
BUT…
Come on guys, haven’t we got anything better to do with our time and laws and energy? We may as well ban stairs as if someone misses a step and falls they COULD break their neck.
Exactly how many lives have been needlessly claimed by this social ill in the last 5 years? hmmmm…. none, if I recall correctly. I think that’s pretty impressive.
Yes, OK so someone might, as was pointed out above step out of their house at precicely the wrong time and get hit. But really? in the last 30 years??? Nope, again.
And EVEN if there had been say 2 in the last 5 years. Well, there’s 40,000odd vehicles registered in Guernsey. Let’s say that each one is used once a day for 5 days a week (pretty sure that’s conservative). So that’s 200,000 vehicle movements per week, or 52 MILLION in my 5 year period. So, if there were 2 deaths in that time (even though there haven’t been!), that’s 1 in 26million movements or such an infinitesimal percentage that –
is it really worth a campaign?!?!?!?
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Steven, happy to oblige:
1st) Oncoming Guernsey bus (who was driving with excessive speed around a tight bend), forced onto the pavement with little or no reaction time (25mph speed limit on the particular stretch of road).
2nd) Oncoming skip lorry
3rd) Lady driver of a 4×4 on the school run (you know who you are if you read this), one child on board who needs to refresh her knowledge of the width of her car!
I trust that answers your question.
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The problem is the pavements have been getting wider by a significant amount, the available road for vehicles has been reduced while modern vehicles are wider than they used to be.
Anyone who is not in a car is obviously a defective, worthless individual who can be driven over to improve the purity of the island gene pool of pure petrol heads.
It is a simple example of optimised Darwin natural selection, Guernsey style.
There’s nothing wrong with that!
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As a driver of a large goods vehicle, may i make a couple of points here,
1- A lot of people need to get used to the width of their cars, more so the mums on the school runs, your BMW/AUDI/4X4 is not bigger than a lorry, therefore you do not need as much room as me… FACT !!
2 Where people moan about lorries etc taking all the road, it is usually because the lorry cannot get close to the hedge due to the fact that people only cut their road hedges to approx 6-8 ft high, our mirrors are 6-7 ft above the road, so we cannot get any closer unless we want to lose a mirror, not cheap to replace one of those.!! If the parish officials did there job properly, when checking the roads after hedgecutting time, this would not be a problem, however, as hedges are left each year, they grow further out and thicker, and if and when a complaint is made, the landowner is now relucant to cut back several years of growth, as it wil now look pretty woody and bare.This is well proven in the recent case in St Martins, where the owner refused to cut his hedge, and the parish didnt have the guts to enforce it.
I expect to get responses telling me how we lorry drivers, try to barge past cars all the time, and leave only inches to spare, this is usually the story we hear from the people that dont know the width of their cars,dont forget , we drive all day long and are used to our truck, not just doing the school run!
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All this tit for tat nonsense. Typical blame culture of Guernsey!! It’s not us it’s you, no it’s not it’s you blah blah blah……
Forget YOU and for a change think of someone other than YOU when driving your car/bus/lorry etc. That’s all that is being asked for here.
People HAVE been killed whilst walking on the pavement. Just for one little minute of your time think if you had that chilling message that your son/daughter had been killed whilst walking home from school. Or your dad had been run down on his way home from work. seriously people get a grip!!!!!!!
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I’m both a pedestrian and regular bus user but I must agree the green and yellow monsters are far too big for our roads. Why on earth didn’t whoever is responsible buy a fleet of the same sized buses that used to operate as the “shuttle buses”. Smaller and better suited to our roads.
Incidentally how many of you are regular pedestrians I wonder?
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Stunned Guern
All of your scenarios probably required mounting the pavement. However only the first one excuses you for driving along the pavement, (whilst slowing down to a stop), in order to avoid an imminent collision due to the other vehicles excessive speed. I would point out here that, regardless of the speed limit, travelling at a speed that renders you incapable of stopping in half the distance that you can see is dangerous.
Your other two instances are not valid reasons for driving along the pavement. The procedure here is to stop, mount the pavement and stop, come off of the pavement when the other vehicle has passed. Personally I wait untill the other vehicle has stopped before mounting the pavement as it then allows me to swing out a bit in order to turn my wheels more square to the pavement edge. This approach also conditions the oncoming driver to not take for granted that the road will be clear when he arrives. This is a dangerous assumption and one that a few bad drivers make. What I find disagreeable is two vehicles passing one another at speed (not necessarily speeding) one of which is on the pavement. I think that it is this practice that is at the crux of the article.
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I think there are a lot more important things to sort out than this in this island i would make a list but dont think this page would take it
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We all at some time in a day drive on a pavement theres not an option sometimes. Why not say, all roads that cannot fit two of our widest emergancy vehicles should be made one way,problem solved everyones happy except the usual whingers of course.
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Extract from the Guernsey book of definitions …
Pedestrian : A person walking to or from his parked car
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