Thursday 4 August 2011

Support the Mall Residents by Double Parking Only

With the Goldfish "I don't remember what Murdoch said" Party council candidate saying more imagination is needed to solve Clifton's problems, well, let's see what can be imagined on the Mall.

Here we see a small car (a smartcar variant WR06EDP) double parked in front of a disabled car. It's not blocking that car, once they've managed to get in 10-15 minutes of zig-zagging will get them out.

Nearby, a little Nissan is echelon parked. There's a note in its windscreen.
On the other side, a Ford Focus CA60BHD double parked, a smaller car echeloned up to the pavement. The latter has the note in the windscreen.
Let's take a look at the note
Mall Gardens Residents Association
(MGRA)
Neighbourhood Watch
IMPORTANT NOTICE
CHEVRON/ECHELON PARKING
IF YOU ARE A RESIDENT OR REGULARLY
PARK IN THE MALL GARDENS YOU WILL BE
AWARE THAT THE MAJORITY OF RESIDENTS OPPOSE CHEVRON
PARKING NOT LEAST FROM HEALTH AND
SAFETY CONCERNS AND DAMAGE. YOU WILL
ALSO NOTICE THAT THE NUMBER OF CARS
CHEVRON PARKED IS DOWN TO A HANDFUL
INCLUDING YOURS. THE AVON FIRE SERVICES
ARE CONCERNED ABOUT ACCESS TO
EMERGENCIES IN THE AREA DUE TO THE
POOR PARKING
PLEASE HAVE CONSIDERATION FOR OTHERS
HAVE PATIENCE AND FIND A PLACE TO 
PARALLEL PARK
PLEASE SUPPORT THE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

There you have it. Echelon Parking is a health and safety hazard, which is why some of the residents are so concerned about it that they have put together a lovely A4 note printed in colour which they carefully place in the windscreen of every echelon parked car, so as to encourage people to double parallel park instead.

Now, some cynics may note that echelon parking works well for small cars, whereas double parking works well for big cars too, so perhaps it's not a concern about health and safety so much as the owners of the big cars wanting to be able to park, and if everyone in a small car echelon parked they wouldn't be able to. We don't believe this. If the fire services are concerned about poor parking in the area then clearly it is echelon parking to which they are referring, and it is critical for these people to invest their own time and money into discouraging these selfish echelon parkers from endangering everyone.

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