Cars getting bigger - is this a concern?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

'Carspreading' is on the rise - and not everyone is happy about it

Critics call it "carspreading". In the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and across Europe, cars are steadily becoming longer, wider and heavier. Consumers clearly like them – a lot. Big cars are seen as practical, safe and stylish, and sales are growing. So, why are some cities determined to clamp down on them - and are they right to do so?

Paris is renowned for many things. Its monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. Its broad, leafy avenues and boulevards, its museums and art galleries, its fine cuisine. And it's truly appalling traffic.

Over the past 20 years, the city authorities have been trying to tackle the problem, by introducing low-traffic and low-emission zones, by promoting public transport and cycling – and most recently by clamping down on big cars.

Continues

[bradshaw]

This was parked in a Bridport car park the other day. It makes you realise the extent of the problem.
We had a 1960 Mini in which we went on a holiday to Scotland, four of us and luggage. I still am not sure how we fitted in!

[Marlburian]

My favourite restaurant, the Beetle & Wedge at Moulsford (where there was once a ferry across the Thames) had a makeover several years ago, with its car-park rejigged and spaces re-delineated.  Trouble is that they're designed for traditional cars.  In the summer a friend drove me there in her Jaguar SUV and despite all the beeping gizmos to help had trouble parking it.  When we got out, the front was six inches from a wall, with two feet of its back outside the marked space.

I suspect that some visitors park in the nearby cul de sac, no doubt causing chagrin to the residents.  When I drive there in my Vauxhall Corsa I leave it in the village car park several hundred yards away - less challenging for me.

When my friend arrived at my house for the first time in the Jag she noticed the look of disapproval on my face.  She's complained of having to squeeze it into the hedge in the lanes close to her house when she meets oncoming traffic.  Dunno why she needs such a large car, as most of the time she's the only occupant.

[Mark A]

It's one of the quoted reasons that the urban bus service route here has been shortened and become less convenient - buses no longer able to keep to time as given that cars have grown, there's less road space for the buses, so, a bit of a doom loop going on there.

Mark

[Chris from Nailsea]

My favourite restaurant, the Beetle & Wedge at Moulsford (where there was once a ferry across the Thames) ...

I'm glad to see they are still going strong.

Some 50 years ago, when I was a teenager, our family enjoyed several annual holidays in hired wooden cabin cruisers on the River Thames (based around Bourne End, where my grandparents lived) and we enjoyed several meals in the Beetle and Wedge.

CfN. 

[bobm]

It was a regular haunt of my parents when I was a child.  I remember fishing from the end of the pub garden with a makeshift rod.   Never caught anything, but did impale my finger on the hook several times!  Also remember the juke box in the conservatory.  It always seemed to be playing "Tie a Yellow Ribbon".

[Surrey 455]

We had a 1960 Mini in which we went on a holiday to Scotland, four of us and luggage. I still am not sure how we fitted in!

I'm not sure that the newer Mini's should be described as mini!

[broadgage]

Yes the growing size of cars is a concern INHO. I consider that road tax should be based on dimensions or weight.
A substantial increase in fuel duty would also help.

[CyclingSid]

Yes it is a concern for vulnerable road users and young people
https://bsky.app/profile/canseengland.bsky.social/post/3m72vixwln226
Surprisingly most of the research supporting this has been done in America. Don't tell King Donald, or maybe that is why he has a down on universities.

[Western Pathfinder]

One of the major problems with the increase in size we find ,is the lack of ability of the drivers to cope with the size of the dam things,

[CyclingSid]

Having been out on the bike early this frosty morning, I am reminded that most SUV drivers can't reach the whole of their windscreen to scrape the ice off. Reply on commenting on this to a member of the ambulance service, you don't have to tell us about this, unfortunately.

[Chris from Nailsea]

That's what de-icer trigger sprays are for. 

[LiskeardRich]

The standards of driving seem to have deteriorated a lot too. I’m driving around 100,000 miles a year I worked out, and I’m definitely thinking “what are you doing” a lot more!

[Kernow Otter]

Yes the growing size of cars is a concern INHO. I consider that road tax should be based on dimensions or weight.
A substantial increase in fuel duty would also help.

There is a lot to be said for abolishing road tax for all vehicles, and putting an appropriate levy on all fuel types to truely reflect impact on infrastructure and the evironment.  The more your drive,the more you pay.  The more 'damaging' the vehicle, the more you pay.

Full disclosure, I have an economical and enviromentaly friendly van, and..... a 30 year old Land Rover defender.

[Surrey 455]

There is a lot to be said for abolishing road tax for all vehicles, and putting an appropriate levy on all fuel types to truely reflect impact on infrastructure and the evironment.  The more your drive,the more you pay.  The more 'damaging' the vehicle, the more you pay.

Full disclosure, I have an economical and enviromentaly friendly van, and..... a 30 year old Land Rover defender.

Many / most? electric vehicles have heavy batteries and some experts consider that they damage the road more than diesel / petrol cars. Additionally some car park owners are worried about the extra weight of these vehicles in multi storey car parks. Could they cause storeys to collapse?