Think Before you Park Campaign

Description

The Think Before you Park campaign was launched in February 2024 by Limerick County Council in partnership with, Step Forward Disability Group, IWA, MS Limerick and An Garda Siochana.

The Initiative sheds light on the obstructions and hazards caused by improper parking in Limerick City and County, emphasising the impact on fellow vulnerable road and footpath users.

The aim of the project is to inspire motorist to reflect the repercussions and obstructive park and its impacts on others.

The innovative aspect of the project is that a sticker is put on illegally parked cars with a QR code that when scanned shows a short video of people who are impacted by their poor parking practices, who they may never meet but cannot use the footpath safety due to their poor parking practices.

Aim of Initiative

The aim of the campaign is to stop drivers from parking on footpaths, which causes major inconvenience and safety concerns for people with limited mobility and sight.

Who is it aimed at

The campaign is aimed at raising awareness among motorist about the consequences of their parking choices, which frequently cause obstructions and safety hazards for others who are using wheelchair, walk aids, those with limited sight and parents walking with their children in buggies.

3 Steps critical to success

1. The first step of the process which was critical, was the work of the Step Forward Disability Group who have members who are aging, have limited mobility or are living with sight loss. They worked together in 2022 to put a photographic audit in place to highlight the impact of poor access has on those who are most vulnerable in the community. The main issue highlighted by this audit was parking on footpaths… they made a presentation at the local municipal meeting with Councillors in the Kilmallock/Cappamore area of East Limerick and they agreed a motion to link with Limerick Council Communications Team to get a campaign going to raise awareness of parking on footpaths.
2. Step Forward Disability Group members attended a Travel and Transport SPC meeting in February 2022 and a motion from this meeting agreed that the communications team at Limerick Council would work to bring partners together to support this initiative such as An Garda Siochana, local Agencies and Community Groups to agree a campaign which told the human story of the impact of poor parking practices within the city and county.
3. The communications team link with An Garda Siochana to ensure that this campaign was in line with their own practices of places fixed notices on carks parked illegally in the city and county. The sticker with the QR code was agreed as a means of taking the fix notice action and making it an positive educationally tool or those who received fines would also get to see and hear the stories of those impacted by their poor park practices.

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. The campaign with is simple message, needed to be managed with care and professionalism to ensure it met An Garda Siochana fix point notice criteria and was something that could be implemented without adding to or taking from the illegal aspect of parking on footpaths by motorist.
2. The video aspect of the campaign and working with vulnerable people telling their stories of the lived experience of going on daily with a disability into the community needed to be managed with dignity and respect, the County Media team where excellent at working with those from the Step Forward Disability Group, MS Limerick and IWA to ensure the stores told and the final video was a true reflection of their lives when and the impact on them when footpaths are blocked and they a have to go onto the road and into traffic when their way is blocked.
3. The challenge for this campaign is that is continued to be supported by An Garda Siochana locally so that practices of parking are changed by the sticker with the QR video – the Think before you Park initiative needs to be implemented nationally so like waring seat belts it becomes part of a learned behavior for all motorist. This would have a life changing impact on those with limited mobility and sight within the community.

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. The Step Forward Disability Group members engaged with local decision making structures to advocate for those who are vulnerable road users in the community. The group using their lived experiences, turning them into an visual audit for learning, taking them to local elected structures – municipal meeting, Limerick Council SPC meeting was an empowering for group members giving a voice those who are most vulnerable in the community.
2. A Sticker was created which is a learning and educational tool for those in the community to improve their parking choices so they do not impact on vulnerable footpath users. The campaign ensures that motorist will not only get the fixed penalty notice, but also a QR sticker inviting them to watch a new video indicating how their actions affects others.
3. The campaign is a progressive way of getting information out to people and to make them think about their driving behavior. The Think before you Park is a behavior changing tool which provides a video description of the impact of poor parking practices on others.