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

HangTime said:
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.
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Look at mk 1 focus compared to most recent Fiesta. I don't know for sure, but I bet the current fiesta is bigger than the original focus. The Fiesta was the 'small hatchback' and the Focus was the 'family hatchback'.

Cars are generally so bloody huge now. But I guess that's price to pay for 'safety'.

Edit: yep just checked. Mk7 fiesta is wider and higher than a mk1 focus estate. Focus is very slightly longer though.
 
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Richie said:
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.
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Yes, but regardless a pedestrian being hit at 30mph doesn't really have much chance do they.
 
Nasher said:
Much more of a chance when being hit by something lighter.

Maybe lower speed limits of higher weight cars :D
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where do you draw the line? modern cars with emergency braking systems potentially react far faster than ab old banger with no safety features.... or what about cars with bull bars, no crumple zones or badges which could gore people ?
IF a car is unacceptably dangerous for pedestrians on the road the answer isn't to tax it higher, it should be banned from manufacture (like has happened with aforementioned flying lady etc) (and I know you were being facetious about speed limits).

my view is no one has yet convinced me that modern heavy cars with their safety features are more dangerous than older lighter cars without any assistance or drum brakes etc

my mates old VW polo had some of the worst brakes I have ever experienced, apparently a design flaw due to the RHD model which could not be fixed.
 
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There is a big perception problem with this whole topic - people often think my Navara is wider than other stuff I drive when actually there is only ~0.5cm in it - for example in the case of the newer Golfs they are ~2073mm wing mirror to wing mirror where the Navara is ~2075mm despite people thinking it is a smaller car (which it is based on length and height).
 
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bigmike20vt said:
my view is no one has yet convinced me that modern heavy cars with their safety features are more dangerous than older lighter cars without any assistance or drum brakes etc
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I'd be really surprised if modern cars weren't safer. They potentially might impact more damage in a collision at a given velocity, but the chances of a collision at the same velocity is significantly reduced for the reasons you mentioned.

Fatalities on our roads are a lot less than they used to be despite there being more traffic (Roughly 8k per year in the mid-60s, 3.5k in the early 00s and around 1.6k now). Now that's not just down to car safety, probably there is less drink-driving etc. But statistically twice as many people were killed on the roads 20 years ago as they are now, despite total vehicle miles increasing from about 290 billion to 330 billion.
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
Am I getting a larger space for my larger payment?

I think many with luxobarges or the godawful jlr stuff would willingly pay to protect their cherished school run
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Ironically the luxobarge is more of a pest out in the sticks where we live than it is in the centre of Cardiff. There’s a school in our tiny village that’s well respected so people fight to get their kids into it, and the typical parent drives either an XC90 or a Range Rover.

It’s impossible to get in or out of the village during school run time because they’re all parking like utter plebs.

I can’t say a lot, our two car household consists of a Model Y and a Discovery 5. Difference is ours get used for farm duties and it’s the ‘everything goes in it without a worry’ car, so people are far too afraid to go anywhere near it when they see the mud and animal detritus on the side of it.
 
Rroff said:
There is a big perception problem with this whole topic - people often think my Navara is wider than other stuff I drive when actually there is only ~0.5cm in it - for example in the case of the newer Golfs they are ~2073mm wing mirror to wing mirror where the Navara is ~2075mm despite people thinking it is a smaller car (which it is based on length and height).
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Thes a big perception problem where people think the mirror width is as important as the body width or track width when negotiating kerbs and narrower lanes. Mirrors are often pushed aswide as possible to meet indirection vision requirements easier.

The Golf IS a much smaller car.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Thes a big perception problem where people think the mirror width is as important as the body width or track width when negotiating kerbs and narrower lanes. Mirrors are often pushed aswide as possible to meet indirection vision requirements easier.

The Golf IS a much smaller car.
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The body width isn't much different either in most cases, my context being space between cars in parking spaces it isn't a much smaller car.
 
If you have a large car, just do what all the other large car drivers do and park in the Disabled bays.
Ditch the SUV and get a pickup or a white van, then you'll fit right in with the rest of them.
 
Nasher said:
No mention so far of cars are getting large, because owners are getting large :D
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American pickup trucks have gotten way bigger even since some idiot at the EPA decided vehicle emissions should be X per 1,000lbs of vehicle and magically all the manufacturers just made their pickup trucks heavier as it was cheaper than making them run cleaner.
 
'...bigger cars are more dangerous and bad for the environment' - it's a load of rubbish.

I may have a bigger car, but I may use it far less that people with small cars. Plus it's already cost me more to buy, more to tax, more to insure and more to run. Now it's going to cost me even more to park? It's not like city parking is cheap as it is.

Charging such owners more to use certain cars is punitive and doesn't actually fix anything. Cars have grown, roads and parking spaces have stayed the same for decades. Typical Council/Government stick approach to a issue to relieve tax payers of more money, without actually tackling the main issues. Provide larger car parking spaces, charge more for the privilege and let people decide.
 
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