Motorists parking on pavements could soon face fines after a change to the wording of traffic laws defined sidewalks as “exclusively” for pedestrians. However, some experts have noted that the rules remains ambiguous.
Currently vehicles (up to a maximum authorised mass of 2.5 tonnes) can be parked either fully, or with the wheels of one side or the front axis, on pavements, but must leave a minimum of 1.5 metres for pedestrians to pass.
In practice, the latter part of the law is often ignored, with drivers leaving little space for pedestrians. A plethora of Facebook pages in towns across Poland regularly document examples of such parking practices.
A new amendment to relevant the law, which comes into force on 21 September, will define a pavement as “part of the road for pedestrians designed exclusively for movement of pedestrians and people using a mobility aid”.
Previously, the definition had referred only to “a part of the road designed for pedestrians”, notes news website Onet. This subtle change places a question mark over the legality of vehicles parking completely or partly on the pavement – although it creates ambiguity as the same law still specifies the rules for such parking.
“It remains a puzzle why, despite these changes, the laws regulating the rules for parking on pavements remain, if [such] parking is to become impossible,” writes Łukasz Zboralski for BRD24, a motoring and safety portal.
“This is conspicuous sloppiness in lawmaking,” he adds, predicting that “we will soon have another amendment erasing the rules on parking on pavements from the law”.
The change in the law may be motivated by an alteration to the rules for pavement design that will be introduced on the same day, suggests BRD24.
Under the new regulation, pavements should be at least 1.80 metres wide, but “in difficult conditions” they may be as narrow as 1 metre as long as they include special passing points for people with particular mobility needs.
Motorists parking their vehicles incorrectly face a fine of 100 zloty (€21) as well as one penalty point on their licence. The police and municipal police also have the right to clamp such cars and tow them away at the owner’s expense.
Main image credit: Mistrzowie Parkowanie – Przemyśl/Facebook
Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.
