Should you pay more for parking if you have a big car?

[HangTime]

Cars are just getting bigger in general. When I was a kid, my dad had an estate car that was only 4m in length. The idea of a 4m estate car now is hilarious, that's considered a small hatchback. He actually switched from an Astra Estate to an Astra Hatchback at one point because he felt the hatch was basically like an old estate. Our estate car won't even fit flush on his drive now. When you see an old traditional mini like my Grandad had now, they almost look like some sort of toy car ride you'd expect to find at a themepark.

As for the OP, I'm not against such a concept in principle, how it gets implemented however I could see being complicated/controversial.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

I like France's idea of double charges for cars over 1.6t

Heavy cars tend to also be large, so makes sense.

Can we please have that.

 

[iamdjdz]

My car is over 4.9m long and 2.1m wide (Skoda Fabia for example is 4.1m long and 1.8m wide) and there are spaces that I park in that other people avoid because they're too tight - why should I get an extra charge for using an empty space? If you want to charge people with bigger cars more then make bigger spaces for those cars and charge for the space not the car, I'm sure even some people in smaller sportscars would then pay the extra.

Flip side on this is that for an on-street permit in a busy double-parked area then yeah probably makes some sense to at least get some extra income and make people potentially consider reducing the size of their car.

 

[Richie]

And I very much doubt there's any difference in injuries from being hit by a Picanto vs a V40 at the same speed....

But I do agree that I don't personally see a strong link between size (weight/length) and pedestrian safety.

Physics says different. If you have 2 masses of different weights moving at the same speed and then strike another object, the heavier one will impart more kinetic energy into the object it hits which can result in larger damage.

 

[sovietspybob]

Yeah makes sense, even here in rural land people have massive cars which cause grief on the small lanes , same with the drop off at school. I'm sure Karen really needs her X7 which is almost the same size as the school mini bus to pick up her 2 daughters..

Anything and everything should be done to encourage people into the smallest car that's practical for them as there's just so many benefits of smaller, lighter cars.

 

[lordrobs]

A 10% surcharge for parking my mammoth, ridiculously large.... Vauxhall Astra. OK, whatever!

Cars are larger now, parking provision needs to adapt to accommodate that with room for them to grow further as that seems to be the inevitable trajectory.

 

[bigmike20vt]

if they are going to charge more for a bigger car then i would expect a larger space..... indeed maybe that is the answer, multiple sized spaces, and if a big car parks in a small space and is outside of the lines, they get fined.

so sure, charge more for large spaces and enforce correct space use............ but IF we are gonna keep the crappy small spaces then no i do not think i should be charged more for parking.

I notice the OP states larger OR more polluting.... large cars are not necessarily more polluting than small cars.

i would be prepared to wager that my car which has done almost 53000 miles over the course of its life inc manufacture has been less polluting than lets say our old 2011 "eco" diesel Pug 308 having covered similar miles.

however if such a thing was implemented i bet it would only be on size.... however in for a penny in for a pound if you are gonna champion it then i say lets go all in, if we are looking at pollution as well as size ALL ICE cars pay more than EVs of comparable size as well.....

which means Big EVs pay more than small EVs, Big ICE vehicles pay the most... and small ICE cars would probably pay similar to large EVs

 

[throwaway4372]

Parking should be free. Anything less is a distraction.

 

[div0]

Physics says different. If you have 2 masses of different weights moving at the same speed and then strike another object, the heavier one will impart more kinetic energy into the object it hits which can result in larger damage.

I totally get the physics. But the point is, any car is several magnitudes of size (weight) large than a person.

Pedestrian safety is about far more than simply saying smaller cars are less dangerous, due to lower kinetic energy.

All cars are several magnitudes of size bigger than a person, so safety is more about the design and safety features used, than the "size" of the car.

 

[Firegod]

Why does the end user have to foot the bill when cars are just in general, getting bigger. Should councils not be charging car manufactuers and then using that money to make parking spaces bigger? How come the buck ends up with the driver. If all cars are growing in size that seems unfair to me.

 

[Firegod]

Pedestrian safety is about far more than simply saying smaller cars are less dangerous, due to lower kinetic energy.

Yep a bigger car might have better brakes and tyres vs a smaller perhaps cheaper car with eco tyres. Come to an emergency to stop for a pedestrian stepping out into the road...

 

[bigmike20vt]

Yep a bigger car might have better brakes and tyres vs a smaller perhaps cheaper car with eco tyres. Come to an emergency to stop for a pedestrian stepping out into the road...

also....... unless its at a crossing, a pedestrian stepping out into the road and getting hit by a car............... Generally that isnt the driver at fault anyway (unless they were speeding) and besides if you want to go down that road what about busses? am sure getting hit by a bus would be more harmful than a big car as well.

 

[Nasher]

No mention so far of cars are getting large, because owners are getting large

 

[bigmike20vt]

No mention so far of cars are getting large, because owners are getting large

i am pretty large... but i can still fit in a small car!......... sadly my family and all the crap we lug around with us when we go to the seaside not so much. hence we have 1 large car and 1 (really) small car

 

[Ayahuasca]

One of life's little joys is being able to use the parent-child bays when you have kids. That is, if Dave and Shannon haven't taken them all when they popped to the shop for a crate.

I'm not sure I agree with paying more to park a big car, maybe if it's massive and barely fits into a standard bay, making it difficult for anyone to park in the bay next to you.

 

[jaybee]

Some of the spaces we have now, are tight even for my tiny little Clio. It's profiteering where they've tried to squeeze in as many spaces > customers > profit. Watching old people try to get out of some spaces is actually quite sad and I feel sorry for them struggling with every day life unnecessarily. We need to just make spaces bigger. Like much bigger. Everywhere.

I only have issue with very long wheel base commercial vehicles being parked in residential areas not in their own driveway. Starting to try to charge for vehicle weight and size is going to become a minefield of unfairness and edge case stuff. I mean what if a car is above width X but can be spec'd with foldable wing mirrors bringing it back under the width.

 

[bigmike20vt]

maybe the answer is sliding / scissor doors. for larger vehicles they make far more sense. Also some 2 door cars have massive doors, the car themselves does not have to be that big to make it a problem, a long door takes a lot more space to open wide enough to get in and out of than a smaller door even if the car itsself is a few inches wider.

 

[Nasher]

Sliding doors are great for carparks. Scissor doors are mostly for looks, you wouldn't be able to use them on an SUV inside a garage.

 

[bigmike20vt]

Sliding doors are great for carparks. Scissor doors are mostly for looks, you wouldn't be able to use them on an SUV inside a garage.

depends on the SUV i guess.... mine is pretty low slung so in theory they would work on all but the lowest ceiling.

but sure, a larger tall SUV, sliders would make more sense.

but yeah........... scissor doors look cool as well

edit... it just occurred to me... they are gull wing not scissors but i expect have similar low ceiling potential issues, but my mate has never complained about issues with his model X in car parks (tho he did hit his garage door with them)

 

[Haggisman]

But fellow resident Gary Oliva says: "If you can afford a large car, then you can afford to pay for it.

Yeah, that's definitely how it works, someone driving a 15 year old Skoda Superb because they need a big car for their a dog and 2 kids definitely has more money and can afford to pay more than someone driving a brand new A-Class AMG

Gary Olivia is a ******* moron

To put that in context, a Kia Picanto would count as a small car, a Volvo V40 or BMW 1 Series medium, and an MG5 or Land Rover Discovery large.

Mentioning the MG5 and LR Discovery in the same category is the perfect example of why this is a nonsense idea.

One is a practical, budget, small estate EV, compared to huge un-economical 4x4 which has absolutely no place in an urban environment.

Do the people thinking up these ideas ever actually venture into the real world, or are they simply the ravings of a lunatic who has taken a break from licking their windows, to grab a crayon and write the first thing idea that comes into their head on the walls of their padded room?!