Newton Emerson: Tyre deflation could be a solution to illegal parking, but environmental activists went too far

The Tyre Extinguishers have not helped their cause. Targeting legally parked vehicles outside people’s homes in Dublin and Navan was creepy and intimidating. For some victims, the psychological impact may have been comparable to a break-in. It is entirely proportionate for gardaí to investigate criminal damage, an offence that has always been understood to cover letting down tyres.

The environmental activists responsible at least had the sense to attach notes to the SUV “gas-guzzlers” they singled out, warning they were rendered unsafe to drive.

This escapade has discredited tyre extinguishing of vehicles blocking pavements, bus lanes, bike lanes and pedestrianised town centres.

But if it was directed at cars blocking footpaths and cycle lanes, might targeted action like deflating tyres then be considered legitimate protest? It might even be quietly welcomed as a relatively harmless, if inconvenient, approach to a problem that has overwhelmed official enforcement across the island of Ireland.

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Parking laws are similar North and South, with similar loopholes. A vehicle on a pavement can be ignored unless it is obstructing pedestrians or endangering the public. Cycle lanes may be advisory rather than mandatory. Pedestrianised areas have countless exemptions. Legislation was being tightened on both sides of the Border when Stormont collapsed, so the Republic has since moved ahead. But in practice this makes little difference — there is “impunity” for unlawful parking beyond a few parts of Dublin, as pedestrian campaigners in Limerick complained last year. Stormont was useless at legislation and enforcement even before it collapsed.

Parking regulations were suspended in Belfast during the pandemic, anarchy ensued, and control has never been regained. The semi-pedestrianised city centre is now a free-for-all. Bike lanes, bus lanes and even pavements at main bus stops have become car parks. Councillors and traffic wardens say they are powerless to act. The PSNI launched a campaign against pavement parking in 2021 but gave up in March this year, telling the Daily Mirror that parking offences are “decriminalised” and “enforcement is the responsibility of the Department for Infrastructure”. The department replied that obstruction remains a police responsibility.

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Both were blatantly passing the buck, perhaps understandably so in the PSNI’s case. There are higher priorities for finite police resources than an endless game of whack-a-mole with misbehaving motorists.

This is when misbehaving pedestrians and cyclists tend to step into the breach.

In the 1990s, campaigners in London began physically bouncing cars off pavements. Police were called to confrontations but declared the tactic to be lawful, to the outrage of vehicle owners. Pavement parking has been banned in London, uniquely in the UK, since 1974. Cars in bike lanes receive a range of treatments around the world, according to local cycling sub-culture. It might be a polite notice on a label that leaves a sticky mark or angry graffiti in easily removable chalk. Some cyclists on the continent go further, carrying little hammers to crack the glass in wing mirrors, as this can be quickly and cheaply replaced, although it still has a strong deterrent effect. Some make a performance of kicking wing mirrors off.

There is clearly a lot of anger around. Social media has been crucial in organising and promoting anti-car activism. Photographs of obstructive parking are common online and invariably provoke comments in the local Facebook group about running keys down the side of the vehicle. If a pram or wheelchair has been impeded, someone will almost always suggest scraping it through any gap.

Compared to all this, a deflated tyre and a warning note on the windscreen seem like the least-worst alternative.

The PSNI no longer attends minor traffic collisions, unless injuries are reported. Gardaí would like to do the same; this is recommended in 2018′s Future of Policing in Ireland report, which also lamented the amount of time wasted on parking.

Over-stretched police must occasionally wonder what size of a dent it might make in the parking problem if damage to vehicles in pedestrian areas was declared a civil matter. Such cynicism would be unworkable, of course. Vandalism is no accident and scratching a car along its length can cause thousands of euro of damage. Owners would never accept this, nor could the police be seen to encourage it.

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But again, deflating tyres might seem the least-worst alternative. As the lowest category of criminal damage — temporary loss of use — the PSNI and gardaí could usually deal with it by discretionary disposal. Delightfully, police guidelines suggest this would require an apology and pumping the tyre back up. But there would be no fine, conviction or court case. The law would be upheld, the culprits would get a warning and motorists would get the message.

In many ways, it would be the perfect pressure valve, if only the Tyre Extinguishers had not bungled bringing it to our shores.