Corner Parking

The theoretical rules for parking at corners say "No parking within 50 feet of a corner"

Clearly this is wrong, because if that rule were followed, there would be no parking in cities. So what is the minimum distance from a corner that you should park, given that the goal of the legislation is to provide a safe cornering experience?

The answer, as these vehicles in kingsdown show is that the minimum distance from a corner is 0 metres; you can actually park on the corner itself. This can provide a form of traffic calming, as it encourages turning vehicles to slow down.

All these cars are parked across the lowered part of the pavement, the bit to be easy for pedestrians to cross. Again, in theory, this is a violation of parking rules. In practise, making it hard for people, especially those with children in push chairs, from crossing roads is in fact beneficial.

1. By making it hard to walk across roads, it discourages walking. This keeps the extended parking zone (historically this was called a pavement) clear of pedestrians.
2. It sets the childrens' expectations up, so they expect to be driven everywhere. This is beneficial on the school run, as they are no longer exposed to the risk of being run-over by parking range-rovers.

Notice also that both these cars are super-minis. The Vauxhall Corsa WU04NDN and the VW polo OV55DWW are small vehicles. This is important: long cars would not have managed to fit into the tiny spaces available; they would have stuck out at the corners.

This is why small cars are ideal for the city -they can fit into places, like corners, that big cars don't.