Dublin motorists park in social distancing space for pedestrians

— Councillor calls action by motorists a “completely unacceptable abuse of public space”.

Car, van and truck drivers in Stoneybatter and Rathmines in Dublin have ignored COVID-19 social distancing space by driving over plastic bollards and Orca dividers to park on top of the space.

The limited amount of extra space for pedestrians had been created using some parking and loading bays where footpaths are narrow. The latest example of motorists abusing the space comes from this afternoon:

New bollards you say? Extra pedestrian space for Rathmines you say? https://t.co/HYh4UZpBp3 pic.twitter.com/W9T3k6RslP

— Mathieu Norry (@Mathieunorry) April 23, 2020

Responding to a truck parking on bollards in Stoneybatter on Monday, Cllr Janet Horner (Green Party) said: “The far too small section of extended footpaths to allow space for social distancing in Stoneybatter was already being completely ignored this morning… We need to do a lot more, a lot better and much faster. This ain’t a good start.”

She added that based on a photo from Cllr RayMcAdam taken the same day, that “it looks as though at least one of the bollards has been knocked down already” Cllr Horner said: “This is completely unacceptable abuse of public space.”

https://twitter.com/JanetPHorner/status/1252205628736647168