Editorial: Hand Brake on Commonsense

FOR as long as I can remember Scone’s wider streets which are lined with huge gum trees down the middle have also been lined with cars taking advantage of the unused space.

But recently local schools began telling parents that the police are planning a ‘blitz’ because parking between the roads is illegal….sigh…groan…

In Melbourne’s CBD they have parking in the middle the roads “legally” and they have not witnessed a rise in mass casualties of pedestrians, so compared to Scone we can hardly point to heavy traffic and safety issues as a reason not allowing the already engrained practice to continue.

So, why is it illegal in Scone?

I went to the RMS to ask them and they said the cause was closer to home – Council.

Councils create the policies for their own local roads and can determine if something is ‘illegal’ or not.

Cars parked down the middle of Park Street, Scone.

At last night’s Council meeting Cr Sue Abbott questioned why Council had made the blanket decision and why there couldn’t be some commonsense and flexibility in how it was applied.

However, they seemed to miss her point and said they should perhaps erect signs of ‘no parking’ on the streets so that people were aware they had made it illegal and could be booked.

I can completely understand the section of Short Street in front of St Mary’s Primary school to be no standing, so that the main entrance to the school is more visible.

But to then apply that policy to every other street in town including making church goers in the next block law breakers is impractical.

Perhaps it is just Council being lazy by applying a blanket policy to all streets, but it is not difficult to identify the streets where it should be legal, the many residents who park there are voting with their cars and commonsense.

All Council would need to do is jump in their car and observe where residents have been parking for decades.

And there is a Council ute photographed yesterday in the perfect place to start…in the middle of the roads in Park Street, no doubt because parking at Council was full.

So the question to residents: Are Council acting like a hand-brake on commonsense parking practices? Leave your comment on our Facebook page.

Elizabeth Flaherty
Editor, scone.com.au