Surrey, Godalming: Video shows car parked on the pavement, and a cyclist on their phone

A video captured by Dwayne Hards shows a car parked on the pavement, and a cyclist on their phone.

The car can be seen illegally, and dangerously blocking more than half of the pavement in #Surrey, #Godalming in the image below.

(Cc) Dwayne Hards

Parking on the pavement is an obstruction, inconvenience, community issue, and is against the law.

Parking on the kerb is a criminal offense because driving on the pavement is against the law, except when lawfully gaining access to property, or to attend to an emergency. For example, you may park on the pavement if you are attending an emergency (example: a car accident), and have no other choice, you may also drive on the pavement to enter your driveway, however, you MUST not be causing an obstruction, and the driving onto the kerb must be deemed as legal, and reasonable.

A cyclist at the same time was captured using his handheld mobile phone whilst illegally cycling along one of Godalming's pavements, image down below.

Whilst there may not be a specific law that prohibits the use of a handheld mobile phone, or other handheld device, the cyclist must however be deemed to be cycling with care. This cyclist committed an offense of careless cycling, and illegally riding a bicycle on a pavement.

Cycling whilst using a mobile phone (handheld, or not) is both dangerous, and incredibly irresponsible because cycling whilst distracted puts both the cyclist, other road users, and pedestrians at risk, and may cause an accident.

According to https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/... Using a hand held mobile phone whilst cycling is not illegal.... However, you could commit an offence of careless cycling. It is also not advisable for the obvious safety reasons. For those people using electrically assisted pedal cycles it depends on the cycle itself as to whether it is illegal or not.

Cycling on the pavement is illegal because bicycles are considered 'vehicles' under English law, it is illegal to ride a bike on any pavement in the #UK unless it has been designated as a cycle lane/way, you must while cycling keep to the designated cycling area on the pavement at all times. The maximum penalty is a £500 fine, however, in most cases cyclists are instead issued with a £50 fixed penalty notice. This law is not always enforced by the #police.

No action has been taken against neither the driver, nor cyclist as far as Littlehampton Community News knows.

Did you know that it is an offense for cyclists to run stop signs, and red lights, in fact, cyclists must obey most rules of the road just like the rest of the general traffic.

LCN