CCS Disability Action Backs Footpath Crackdown

MEDIA RELEASE FROM CCS DISABILITY ACTION

Thursday 22 January 2009

CCS Disability Action Backs Council's Footpath Crackdown

CCS Disability Action is backing a new Wellington City Council campaign hoping to stop motorists from parking on footpaths across the city.

The campaign hopes to educate motorists about the dangers of parking on footpaths and the hazard that unsafe parking creates.

Viv Maidaborn, Chief Executive of CCS Disability Action, welcomes the Council's footpath crackdown but believes that it should look at a wider campaign that helps Wellingtonians understand all the different ways we use our streets.

"We'd like to see a campaign that shows people how to get around the city so footpath users are safe," says Viv Maidaborn.

"Too often we assume the car is king, we forget about people walking, families with pushchairs, people wheeling themselves in scooters or wheelchairs, walking with guide dogs and those using sticks," adds Viv Maidaborn.

The Council will be cracking down on motorists in the CBD by issuing fines, while the surrounding suburbs will be tackled on a street by street basis.

"Parking on footpaths forces disabled people into the road. We have seen instances of wheelchair users being clipped by passing traffic, putting their lives at serious risk. This is a dangerous situation that can be avoided with a little common sense from motorists." says Viv Maidaborn.

"Disabled people not willing to risk their lives end up with no choice but to turn around and go home and that is unacceptable," says Viv Maidaborn.

CCS Disability Action also runs the Mobility Parking Permit Scheme across New Zealand and can draw parallels with the footpath crackdown and the abuse of mobility parking spaces.

"Blocking disabled people from getting on with their business, shopping and leisure activities is still a big problem in New Zealand, many of us just don't think about people who move around in ways different from ourselves," adds Viv Maidaborn.

*ENDS*

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