A COUNCILLOR has called for a crackdown on pavement parking after spotting a mother “running a gauntlet” past a huge track dominating the walkway.
Councillor Cat O’Driscoll saw the mother being forced onto the middle of Whitworth Road in Dublin on Wednesday after the truck parked across the entire pavement.
Pushing a pram, the mother was forced to pick her moment between approaching traffic, and dart along the road and onto the other side of the massive vehicle.
Video shows the mother with her pram approaching the vehicle and stopping when she finds her path blocked.
Stepping onto the road, the mother prepares to push her baby around the obstructing truck and along the busy street.
She stops for a moment behind the safety of the truck while a silver BMW speeds past, coming within inches of her.
Spotting a break in the traffic, the mother and her baby make their move, and she pushes the pram out into the road and begins to run.
Sprinting the length of the truck with her baby while a bus approaches from behind and a car from the front the mother is forced to run at speed to avoid being hit by a vehicle.
As she passes the obstructing truck, she begins to slow with the black Toyota heading straight for her also slowing to allow the mother time to get back to the safety of the pavement.
O’Driscoll shared the footage to social media on Wednesday with the caption: “Don’t park on the footpath or you’ll push vulnerable pedestrians into traffic.
“Disgraceful to see this behaviour. It’s rush hour and everyone should get home safely. Saw this from the bus just now and I’m furious.”
The clip has since received over 6,800 likes and more than 310 comments from social media users left fuming by what the mum was forced into.
One user said: “They should park on the road with a traffic management system in place.
“Drivers may not be happy, but their lives are not at risk. Having pedestrians run the gauntlet is dangerous and not necessary. Paths are for people”
Another added: “At least they had the option of using the kerbs, a wheelchair user would have had to find two dished kerbs and use the road for a much longer stretch.”
A third replied: “That concrete path is not built to take the weight of that truck – it will crack into bits.”
Another wrote: “Absolutely disgraceful, that a mother literally has to run a gauntlet with a buggy.”
