Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 319: To ask the Minister for Transport if, in view of the downturn in the public finances, he will reconsider his decision to prohibit amending the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations to provide for the partial parking of vehicles on the footpath in congested residential districts in which such parking is currently illegal; if he will meet with representatives of Dublin City Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39245/08]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is prohibited under the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997 to park a vehicle wholly or partially on a public footpath or for a vehicle to be driven along a footpath. Dublin City Council has been in contact with my Department over recent years seeking that this parking regulation be amended. The City Council propose that the law should provide that a road authority may mark a line along the length of a public footpath and that vehicles be permitted to park with two wheels up on the footpath outside of the line marking.

The City Council was informed by the Department last August that, on road safety grounds, it is not proposed to amend the road traffic parking regulations to provide for the partial parking of vehicles on public footpaths. The Minister for Transport re-iterated that position in a letter to the City Council last month and suggested that at locations where sufficient width can be left for the safe passage of pedestrians, use of child buggies/prams and wheelchairs that the solution of indenting the footpath to provide an on-street parking area could be pursued instead.

The solution suggested by the Minister can be applied at any location that could adequately accommodate the footpath parking line measure that the City Council are seeking and it is not proposed to have a meeting on this matter.

The mounting of footpath kerbs by vehicles to partially park on a public footpath and the opening of vehicle doors across the footpath are potentially safety hazards for pedestrians. Furthermore footpaths are not constructed to bear the weight of vehicles driving along them and the surface paving is liable to crack and to get into a poor state of repair with broken kerbs, uneven surfaces, damage to utility access covers and potential trip hazards for pedestrians. I do not support a change in road traffic law that could compromise and diminish the safety of pedestrians using a public footpath.