Pavement Problems

It Thank you Um, shall I try transcript too, or captions? What's the difference? Oh, I don't think you need to because there's gonna be another transcription. Yeah. OK. um, thank you

Nice to meet you. So first question is, do you find it easy to use the pavements in this area? Um, well, I, I don't live in your area, but, um, I know Bristol can be very difficult. I know Bristol quite well

And I know that there's terrible parking, um, and a lot of people park on pavements. It all over, all over the town, over the city. Um, and, and I know that there's a lot of obstacles as well, like, um, bins and, and things like that

Um. Which get in the way, um. And it's always been an issue, really, it's always been a problem, I think, but maybe it's got a bit worse

Um, And you were saying about the, um, scooters. And I've seen that in other cities. I've seen that in, um, Liverpool, where I used to live, where the electric scooters would just be left sort of anywhere on the ground, um, and creating a real hazard and obstacle for people

You know, walking by or if you're using a wheelchair or you know, if you've got a visual impairment then. But you know, it just, or even if you're not, you've still got to uh negotiate over the, the obstacle. And I think if you are disabled, it makes it much worse

Yeah. So can answer that and that, so you probably jump to them when you're familiar with these, you'd go to that one. All right

um, can you think? And he said that well she said some of it but you might be able to think of somebody else, I don't know. You said some, but could you think of other people who might also find the pavements difficult to use? Yeah. I, well, I think, um, mothers with, or fathers, I should say, parents, or anybody who happens to have a child in a, in a pushchair or a buggy, you know, that would be very difficult for them to negotiate

Uh, particularly when cars are parked on the pavement, because then they have to, you know, you can't move a car. So you have to go out, either cross the road or go round the vehicle, which is dangerous. Um, If it was um

Uh, an able bodied person who was able to move this, say a scooter, that wouldn't be so difficult, but it's still, you know, it's still problematic. Um, um. So anyone else? Yeah, I think um

I think if you're somebody, you know, it might be somebody, say, for example, if you're, um, older, um, and you have a, or even, or if you've just, if you're an older person, you have a disability, then moving something like a scooter could be, you know, hard for you to do it, if you're moving that out of the way. Or a recycling bin, or, you know, and like I say, with a car, you've got no chance, really. You, you can only just go round it

Yeah. Um, I walk on, that's why I walk on the middle of the road because it's flatter and there's, um, especially in the dark. In this area there's no lights on the pavement, and I find the walking on the roads are easier because there's lights on the road and it's flatter and there's no, yeah, bins and bushes in the rain

Yeah. No, um. And I suppose it's the

Um, the road doesn't have any cracks. Yeah. You know, I, well, I mean, around where I live, there's lots of potholes in the, on the road, you have to be careful of that

But, um, you know, like on a pavement with, with slabs, you get uneven slabs, don't you? So that could be very difficult, especially if you're visually impaired, I think. Yeah. Or if you have, you know, um, Uh, problems walking, you know

Yeah. Yeah. OK, thanks

Have you have you any ideas about how to improve things? Um, Oh, I'd, I, well, OK, so with the cars, they shouldn't be parking on the pavements. So, you know, it's actually. I, I think it's actually illegal, is it? I don't think it is, it is illegal to park on the pavement

So there's legislation that you could put forward, you know, and it could push the, um, the police and the council to um to make, make, um. Make that a priority, or not necessarily a priority, but prioritise it more than it is now, so people get um fined for it, cos that would stop people doing it. Um, In terms of the e-bike, the scooter things, I'm

I mean, I, I think you could probably put some legislation into, you could probably, you could not legislation, but you could probably um. Oversee that matter, so whoever is in charge, whoever runs the e-bike place, if the, if the bike has been left in a hazardous place, maybe people could report it. And then find out who was the last person to use it because they know, because you have to, you know, you have to leave all your details and stuff to pay for using it and stuff

So they'll have people's details. So maybe they could track them down, and there could be a fine for them as well. And I think, uh, I think, um, fining monetary way, is a, is a way to stop people doing things, because people won't want to pay out for that

Um, but yeah, I, I think the, the challenge will be, will be getting the organisation who runs it to actually do it. Mm. Um, Because it will cost them to do it

But maybe it should be part of their contract with the city council. Yeah. Yes

See, now, there you go. There, there, there's an answer. That would be great, wouldn't it? If you had a, if, if there was, yeah, part of the contract for the city council for the use of e-bikes would be that people, uh, will get fined if they do not put the e-bike in a safe place

You know. That'd be good. I, I don't know though, is, is, is it possible, say for example I've used an e-bike and I've put it away

I mean, do they, I don't know what the, do they, do they have to go back? Should they go, they should go back to a E place? Do they have to go back to a, um, I've not, we've not looked at the conditions, but, uh, I think, I think they are supposed to go to certain places, but I, I also think they need advice on how to park them. So it's not just enough to use the same apron of land if they're actually blocking the main pathway. But this is all stuff that we could find out about through Brisbane's Equality Commission or the pavement Group, and I think they um should have training

Well, but some of them do, but I don't know that they all do, but, but I'm training on how to park. Yeah, well, if Bristol does a magazine about what your rates are used for, they could also say these things are, you know, we're getting money from fines because people aren't following the rules, which are, I mean, there's ways of communicating with. Yeah that's all you can do is bring it up and mention it in places

I just, I just wonder, I, if they're able, if someone's able to pick them up. You know, say, for example, I've used it and I've parked it in the right place, but then someone's. Can you mess about with them? Can you actually pick them up? Could someone like a bunch of kids, kind of, they're very, very heavy

OK, so actually, physically, I, I don't think standing one up or moving it to get a pushchair around or a dog lead untangled would actually be very easy. I don't know how I know that. I must have tried to try and tidy one up one time

I think, I think they're very heavy. We were trying to move on, I think, and. They're, yeah

I suppose they've got, I suppose they've got to be because they also have to have the power to push people and they've got to be stable. So. And, but also I suppose people could just steal them, couldn't they? Yes, exactly

You know, you can just pinch it, so it has to be a certain weight, so people aren't aren't able to do that. Yeah. But I think lots of people find them really convenient, so if they're gonna keep them and not have people always going on about what the pain they are

The council would want to do everything they could to make people happier about them being used by sorting things like this out. And they have 2 or 3 people on them as well sometimes it is dangerous it is, yes, we can't deal with, with, yeah, um. It might be worth, um, do you know anybody who use scooters? Cos it might be worth talking to them as well

Yeah, I do. Megan, yeah, you could get some background facts from Megan, couldn't you? Yeah. Great

Yeah. OK, thank you very much. I'll finish the recording now, I'll stop it

Um, so we haven't, you need probably a, a, a nice way to thank them at the end, rather, we, we haven't done that, have we, including the signing off thing. that happened quite a bit, bit suddenly, I mean you were kind because you were polite because you said thank you. But we can think about that

I did know. I'm.