Closed petition PE1929: To run an advertising campaign to raise public awareness of the forthcoming pavement parking ban
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to run a public awareness campaign to persuade drivers to comply with the pavement parking ban, passed as part of the Transport (Scotland) 2019 Act.
Previous action taken
On the 16th November 2021, I emailed a version of my petition to all my MSP’s, Pauline McNeill, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, Paul Sweeney, Annie Wells, Anas Sarwar, Pam Duncan-Glancy and Patrick Harvie. Sandesh Gulhane and the office of Patrick Harvie responded positively to my email and supported my suggestion of a public awareness campaign. Pauline McNeill replied supportive of the footway parking ban but offered no support for an advertising campaign. The other MSP’s have not replied to date.
Background information
Despite parking on pavements seriously impacting pedestrians and wheelchair/pushchair users, pavement parking seems to be increasing year-on-year. It has reached the point on some roads that to park on the carriageway is seen as aberrant behaviour. For drivers to change behaviours and to accept the fairness of the new footway parking ban, people must “buy-into” it; they much accept that the needs of pavement users are more important than their immediate desire to park as close as possible to their destination.
Implementation of the parking measures in the Transport (Scotland) 2019 Act has languished pending consultation and it now seems likely that implementation will not start until 2023. We thus have a 2-year window before the parking ban will become law. To assist in compliance, I ask that the Scottish Government asks its officers to run an effective advertising campaign explaining why pavement parking is wrong. This campaign should go public no later than 6 months before the implementation of the bill.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
357 signatures