Project Lead
Psychology Department
Email: joe.ventress@northumbria.ac.uk
Project Themes
Pavement parking (where cars and other vehicles partially or completely block pedestrian access) is a growing concern. It can cause significant safety issues (e.g., where pedestrians are forced to walk on the road), lead to traffic congestion, and damage the pavement infrastructure. It is illegal to park on the pavement in London, and Scotland has banned it in certain areas, but in the rest of the UK it is only prohibited where specific restrictions are in place (and even then, these are hard to enforce).
Pavement parking particularly impacts blind and partially sighted people, parents with children in pushchairs, wheelchair users, and those who use other mobility aids. This can lead to significant reductions in wellbeing, as individuals no longer feel able to walk in their local area. However, there is a relative lack of data on the precise impacts of pavement parking, and this project will begin to address this, providing a firm foundation for future campaigning and research studies, by providing an initial quantitative and qualitative dataset.
We seek to understand both perceived and actual pedestrian access issues via a mixed methods approach. On-site surveys and/or Google Maps image analysis will measure the actual extent of pavement parking in specific wards, and a quantitative survey of residents will be used to assess the perceived extent, and the impact that it has on respondents. Qualitative interviews will be used to gain insights into specific pedestrian experiences with pavement parking (human stories), gather alternative proposals for managing the issue, and solicit views on possible changes to legislation and/or guidance.
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