Carwalking

Carwalking

Carwalking is the unlawful act of walking above cars, normally illegally parked on pedestrian zones. Carwalking is understood by all criminal codes as damage of private property. Carwalkers normally do it, as a radical protest against the intensive motorization rates in cities whose one of the main consequences is illegal parking on sidewalks and areas exclusively allocated to pedestrians. One famous carwalker was Michael Hartmann who largely made it in Munich in the eighties.

Reported cases

Germany

The most famous carwalker was Michael Hartmann who largely made it in Munich, Germany, in the eighties. The peak of automobile friendly policies was around the seventies and the eighties in the western world, and such high number of motor vehicles in urban areas had as consequence a large number of cars illegally parked on side-walks and other pedestrian-reserved areas. Hartmann, in his book which describes his actions, states that once in 1988 he was walking with his girlfriend and due to many cars parked on the side-walk, they had to continuously make zigzag between those cars. Suddenly, he decides to walk straightforward above such cars.

France

Another reported case, happened in Lyon, France, in 2011 when Peter Wagner, a German engineer decided to walk above a car that was illegally parked on the side-walk, and according to him, he had not even a minimum space to pass through such car. At that precise time, the owner arrived and later she sued him for private property damage, claiming 800 Euros for dents repairing. Nevertheless the carwalker was condemned to pay 300 Euros, but afterwards he appealed.

Mexico

In Mexico City a pedestrian activist called Peatónito, a mix of the Spanish words for pedestrian(peatón) and astonished(atónito), is famous for walking over cars. He wears a Mexican wrestler mask, a cape and proclaims himself to be a superheroe for pedestrians.

See also

• Parking violation

External links

• Carwalking documentary
• Manual to perform carwalking