‘Crossing a road may not seem a big thing but for some it can be very difficult...’
Most of us take being able to cross the road, skipping over kerbs and squeezing between cars, for granted, but for some it isn’t so easy. speaks to four people who’d like us to be a bit more considerate when it comes to parking...
“IT is not until you go through it yourself you realise how much it can affect you.”
These are the words of one mum who is fed up of trying to explain to people why it is so important for drivers not to park in front of a dropped kerb.
Rhian Morris, 33, and her sevenyear-old son Harley, are both visually impaired and rely on a cane to get around.
Harley has only recently begun using a cane and Rhian hopes he will become more independent as he gets older.
“We are working on his independence and he is going to have mobility training which will hopefully help him to be more confident,” said Rhian.
But the pair are constantly faced with one challenge which makes it difficult to get around safely – people parking in front of dropped kerbs.
“It is a big issue for us. We live in Litchard, Bridgend, just up the street from Harley’s school.
“It is great because it means I can walk him to school every day and hopefully, when he is older, he will be able to walk himself.
“But, like many schools, there is a big problem with people parking outside the gate and people parking on the dropped kerb there.”
Dropped kerbs are a form of tactile paving that was introduced to make life easier for disabled people.
A blister surface is used at a dropped kerb to provide warning to visually impaired people who would otherwise find it difficult to differentiate between where the pavement ends and road begins.
According to Anita Davies, who is a rehabilitation officer for the visually impaired, the bumps that form a blister surface are also an important part of crossing the road safely.
“People with visual impairments use those bumps not only as an indicator that they are approaching a road and a safe place to cross but also as a guidance.
“We teach people to line their feet up with the bumps before they begin the crossing.
“That way they will safely walk in a straight line and won’t be left walking up the road,” said Anita, 47, who is certified blind. Rehabilitation officer Anita Davies
Anita and Rhian are part a group of disabled people in Bridgend who want of to raise awareness of how doing something so simple like parking on a dropped kerb can potentially endanger a disabled person’s life.
“As someone with a visual impairment I rely on my knowledge of the environment that I live in to get around safely,” said Rhian. “That includes knowing where I can and can’t safely cross the road and dropped kerbs are something I rely on every day.
“If I approach a crossing and that dropped kerb is blocked then I don’t know where the next safe place to cross the road is – I don’t have that guidance.
“I am quite often forced to go onto the road, crossing between two cars for example, which is extremely stressful when you can’t see everything around you.” Rhian said she often explains to drivers who are parked blocking a kerb why it is important for them not to do so and she is regularly met with abuse.
“I have had one woman swear at me in front of both our children. Other parents have been really supportive of the message I am trying to get across.
“Crossing a road may not seem a big thing for most people but for some it can be very difficult and should be made as accessible as possible.”
Rhian has set up a petition to raise awareness of the challenge that blocking pavements brings in the hope that it will become illegal.
It is currently illegal to park in front of a dropped kerb as it is an obstruction and this can result in a fine. However it is not illegal to park on a pavement, which is something that Anita has a lot of trouble with.
“I walk independently with and without a cane and, while it may tell me that there is a vehicle parked on a pavement and I can make my way around it, what that cane cannot do is tell me where the wing mirror is for example.
“I have been left with a black eye after walking into the wing mirror of a van because that is something I am not prepared for,” said Anita, who lives in Bridgend.
Part of Anita’s job is teaching people how to get around their local environment, making sure they can get to the shop or to their local bus stop.
Anita explained that for many people if they come to an obstruction like a car parked on a dropped kerb or on a pavement they would rather go home than have to deal with the stress and anxiety that comes with trying to manoeuvre around the space.
“People often say they didn’t realise what it was for until it affected them,” she added.
Anita is a member of the Bridgend Coalition of Disabled people who successfully campaigned in the past to have dropped kerbs installed across the town.
Their chairman, 43-year-old Simon Green, is a wheelchair user who used to live at the top of Park Street, which was named the most polluted street in Bridgend in 2018.
The road is a long stretch which is constantly used by cars and buses.
At the bottom of the long stretch of pavement is a dropped kerb crossing, right on the junction of the road and a small side street, which is constantly blocked by cars.
Simon took us out to Park Street to show just how bad the problem is and within 10 minutes of being there a car had arrived and parked in front of the dropped kerb.
I ‘m quite often forced to go onto the road, crossing between two cars