Dawlish News
If there’s one thing people in Devon hate, it is inconsiderate motorists who drive and park on the pavements.
Meet the Catclaw, a device that punctures car tyres when you drive over it.
In Devon Harry Hallan-Donald, two,stumbled near his home at Upper Longlands and gashed his head (pictured above) on the rear step of a van parked-up on the pavement.
read more...https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/extreme-new-gadget-puncture-tyres-1318363
Bad idea, if drivers in Dawlish did not safely mount pavements then emergency services would never get through, especially in the summer with the holiday traffic. Also I have seen many emergency vehicles parked on pavements, recently an ambulace was in attendance in High Street forcing all drivers on to the pavement to get around it. This device would not know if it was an emergency vehicle or other and could actually cause an accident. Say a driver did hit the catclaw avoiding an accident, any vehicles that took the same route could end up smashing into the rear end of the car which now has a puctured tyre, therefore causing a multiple crash. Starcross is another prime example when pulling onto the pavement often is the only way not to collide with a vehicle coming the other way. What I would like to know, if you had no choice but to go on the pavement and you could prove it was not your fault, could you sue the council for damaging your vehicle if they introduced the catsclaw? Accidents could also occur if people were in certain situations trying to avoid damaging their tyres on the catclaw and therefore forcing other drivers into a position where they cannot avoid and accident. I know this is to discourage bad parking, but in my view it is potentially dangerous.
It would be better to have somewhere to post photos showing the offending vehicles so the police had evidence and could take it from there. If people got fines and for multiple offences points on their licences, then they might actually think twice without having to put other road users at risk.
Most drivers haven't got much sense when it comes the noise of a siren from any emergency vehicle. Some don't hear them, (radio to loud),, some panic when they do, others mostly older folk are hard of hearing anyway. They can be heard quite a distance from when you first hear it, Pull in where it is safe to do so. even if that means speeding up first to gain a bit of distance to find a place. You can wait, they can't so get out of their way without mounting the pavement. I for one hope that this newly invented device will be taken on board by the goverment as it is only the government that can approve its use. Some people can only learn the hard way.