Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Don't park there

A nod to the car parked outside Lloyds TSB next to Parkes Passage in High Street for once somebody not standing at the cash point. To be fair it's not as if there were any spaces free in the car-bays opposite... oh wait silly me they were 90% empty all along the road. I did stick the licence plate in my head and got CU04 before I rounded the corner and it was jolted out of me.

Here's a big tip for the Black Star - It's a blind corner, moreover it's a blind corner facing ESE. As such it's not a good idea to park a delivery truck in one lane, and it's especially not a good idea to have another car parked behind it. When you consider that there's normally a queue here and that you're driving into the sun coming round the corner into the left hand lane results in a slow-down to join the queue with parked cars there then follows by a sharp realisation that you need to get into the other lane to overtake them or you're going to be trapped in the wrong lane.

The relevant passages from the Highway Code:

242 You MUST NOT leave your vehicle or trailer in a dangerous position or where it causes any unnecessary obstruction of the road.

243 DO NOT stop or park
  • opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction, except in an authorised parking space
  • on a bend
246 Goods vehicles. Vehicles with a maximum laden weight of over 7.5 tonnes (including any trailer) MUST NOT be parked on a verge, pavement or any land situated between carriageways, without police permission. The only exception is when parking is essential for loading and unloading, in which case the vehicle MUST NOT be left unattended.
I'm sure our traffic attendants would pick up on this if, you know, they were working at that time.

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