Fire Service Pleas For Motorists To Be More Considerate When Parking

If you live on a street where the parking can be fairly ‘tight’ to say the least, then there is a high probability that you have already had quite a few encounters with motorists who park their vehicles without having any consideration for other road users.

It could be that they have left their vehicles directly opposite another one on a narrow stretch of road meaning that you cannot get through the gap.

Or pehaps a vehicle has been left over your drive or on the corner of a t-junction severly limiting your view in relation to approaching traffic etc.

But inconsiderate parking can be, and often is, more serious than that.

Parking your vehicle in manner which causes an obstruction to other road users could also end up costing someone their life.

Emergency vehicles may not be able to get to an address where their life-saving help is needed when trying to navigate down a street where the parking is particulary inconsiderate, as highlighted recently in a tweet shared by Eastern Fire Station.

The tweet said:

‘Inconsiderate parking costs lives!!!

‘Please share images like these with friends and family. Two inconsiderate people parking illegally on a junction.

‘If this was on blue lights, we would have needed to detour adding precious minutes to a time-critical rescue’.

There have been calls for some time now to add bull bars to emergency vehicles so that in the event of their access being blocked by parked cars, then they can simply ‘nudge’ the vehicles out of the way.

However, bull bars would probably still not be much use in a situation where dozens of cars have been left by their drivers in the same street which causes several-hundred-yards of obstruction.

Blue-light drivers often share their frustration on social media at having to waste precious seconds and minutes due to the inconsiderate parking of others.

And the fire service is particulary vulnerable to the situation owing to the sheer size of their vehicles.

But emergency ambulances too often encounter severe delays in getting to patients due to parked vehicles causing an obstruction.

Inconsiderate parking costs lives!!! Please share images like these with friends and family….two inconsiderate people parking illegally on a junction. If this was on blue lights, we would have needed to detour adding precious minutes to a time critical rescue. #THINK #parking pic.twitter.com/l3RggfcRPD

— Eastern Fire Station (@LFRSEastern) March 8, 2019

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@LFRSEastern plea to motorists to be more considerate when parking their vehicles @LFRSBosworth @LFRS_Central @LFRSWestern @LFRSFireControl @LFRSLutterworth @LFRS_CommSafety @LFRSKibworth @LFRS_Learning https://t.co/T4dGKrsdco

— Emergency Services News (@ES_News_) March 11, 2019