In October 2023, the government introduced a plan for drivers. It aims to:
- Make journeys smoother for drivers
- Stop unfair enforcement
- Make parking easier
- Stop inconsiderate driving
- Help the transition to zero emission driving
Pavement parking is now banned in Scotland
It’s now illegal to park on the pavement in Scotland. The new rule came in on 11 December 2023.
It’s also illegal to park on dropped kerbs and double park, which means parking next to another parked car. If you’re caught doing any of these in Scotland, you could get a £100 fine.
Scotland is the first country in the UK to introduce a blanket ban on pavement parking. But The Living Streets Foundation, who have been campaigning for the ban, want the Scottish government to ‘implement the ban properly’. This is because a blanket ban might cause motorists some difficulty. Stuart Hay, Director, Living Streets Scotland says:
Inconvenient
“Parking on the footway is inconvenient for us all and incredibly dangerous for older and disabled people, who are forced into the road and oncoming traffic. Scotland is leading the way by becoming the first UK nation to say enough is enough and introduce an explicit ban, now we need to make sure we get it right.
“Mass exemptions seriously undermine the ban and will put people at risk if they aren’t introduced following rigorous assessments and consultation. Ongoing promotion of the ban and engagement with communities is also vital to ensure the implementation is effective.
“Without sufficient enforcement capacity many groups including disabled people will feel badly let down. We want to see targeted and proactive action in known hotspots where pavements need to be cleared of obstructing cars.”
More 20 mph zones in England
In 2024, 20 mph zones might start appearing in more areas in England. They’re currently used in some parts of London.
The Welsh and Scottish governments have already put 20 mph zones across all residential areas. But in England, the government has decided against ‘blanket use’ of 20 mph zones, which means most councils could go for a more targeted approach.
The 20 mph zones improve safety for pedestrians and other road users in residential areas. The speed limit decrease might also encourage more active travel, as it reduces the risk of collision for cyclists and pedestrians.
20 mph limit
Already, Wirral council has approved the 20 mph limit on a further 1,000 roads. The council has already approved the limit on 1,700 areas.
Councillor Steve Foulkes said the 20 mph zone is “about coexistence of all our road users”.
Oxfordshire county council are also introducing the 20 mph zones into 18 towns and villages. Eventually, the council wants to bring 20 mph zones to 234 of 310 parishes in Oxfordshire.
Pledge to fix poor road surfaces
In the plan for drivers, the government says it’s allocated £5 billion to maintain road surfaces between 2020 and 2023. It’s going to continue this funding into 2024.
The government also announced an £8.3 billion for road surfacing in the Autumn budget.
Local councils should be able to use this to repair bridges and resurface roads.
£100 million over 10 years
There’s also a specific allocation for potholes. The government is giving local councils £100 million over 10 years to spend on fixing potholes as well as general road repairs.
The Local Government Association (LGA) commented on the condition of roads in the UK:
“Councils share the frustration of all road users about the conditions of our local roads. The LGA has long-called for longer term funding to tackle the issues facing our roads. We believe that the government should award local authority Highways Departments with five yearly funding allocations to give more certainty. This could bring councils on a par with National Highways.”
There have also been reports of utility companies leaving roads in a poor state after they’ve finished working. The government already does inspections to make sure the road surfaces are left in a good standard so it’s going to continue monitoring this in 2024.
The government says that the inspections could prevent thousands of potholes developing in the future.
Government could stop unfair enforcement by councils
In its plan for drivers, the government said it’s going to stop unfair enforcement by local councils.
In 2023, some local councils were given the authority to penalise drivers for moving traffic offences such as:
- Incorrectly driving in a bus lane
- Stopping in a yellow box junction
- Banned right or left turns
- Illegal U-turns
- Going the wrong way down a one-way street
- Ignoring a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO)
According to the plan, some drivers think local councils are using fines as a source of revenue rather than using them to make roads safer.
7 million PCNs
More than 7 million PCNs were issued in 2022. That’s an increase of 41.3% since 2021. Most of these PCNs were related to low traffic areas and school streets. Some drivers appealed these fines and just under half (43%) were overturned.
Delay to petrol and diesel ban
In 2023, the government delayed the ban to sell new petrol and diesel ban from 2030 to 2035. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak said it’s “not right to impose more costs on working people”.
But the government has to do something to improve the introduction of EVs. It’s predicting that 22% of new cars sold in 2024 could be zero emission vehicles.
Some of the main drawbacks of owning an EV car is the lack of charging points and their expense.
In the plan for the drivers, the government pledges to speed up installing charge points and providing grants to schools so they can install them.
It’s also introducing schemes to lower the initial and ongoing costs to own an EV, such as:
- A plug-in van grant of £2,500 for small vans until 2025
- A plug-in van grant of £5,000 for large vans until 2025
- £350 off the cost of home charging point for people in flats
Total views : 95248