We we going to see larger parking spaces?

[Foliage]

Jagmanv12 said:

Has it not occured to you that you are using a standard that is forty years out of date?
Other companies/industries move with the times or go under. As you write cars have got bigger therefore you should be designing larger spaces.

Practices that were common in your industry in the 70's are not allowed these days due to H&S regulations so it is possible to change. I would suggest that your industry needs to come up to date on this matter.

Road sizes are still designed to this standard, its the car manufacturers that are the problem, not the roads, we only have so much space in the UK, we cant waste it on making parking spaces larger because huge corporations deem it necessary to build larger cars, cars should be fit for purpose, fit for the UK road system. Roads shouldn't have to be redesigned for profit hungry mega corporations. Roads are infrastructure.

[kambites]

Foliage said:

its the car manufacturers that are the problem

No it's the car buyers that are the problem. Manufacturers are only, quite rightly, producing what people want to buy. It just needs to be made clear (by punitive fines, if necessary) that it's not acceptable to try to park big cars in spaces they don't fit in; then there will be a market for producing more expensive car parks with bigger spaces and the problem will correct itself.

[mikecooperuk]

Have a baby, being able to park your pride and joy in an extra wide parent space is an utter delight!

[PHlL]

It's not even the car being that wide. A 2dr Coupe can have such long doors they need to open wider to physically get out.

At work we have levels in the multi-storey soley for small cars which fit 3 wide and then space for big cars which are 3 wide

[irocfan]

kambites said:

irocfan said:

errrrrm - except that oh so tidy sized B-Max you suggest is over 2000mm wide.....

Excluding mirrors the B-class is 1786mm wide compared to 1886 for the Mondeo. Including mirrors the B-class is 2010 and the Mondeo is 2121mm.

So by any metric the Mondeo is at least 10cm wider than the B-class; it's over 11cm wider in total width.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 30th July 15:12

to be fair I'd actually got 2 posters confused, I thought that Mr Gear was the chap below... so the fact would still appear to be that people think a 2m car is too wide. I've just used a car suggested by Mr Gear as being a decent size and it turns out it's also a bloater by some standards. BTW you try squeezing out of a car door if there's only 10" or so in total available

sjg said:

Why should spaces get bigger? Why can't people buy smaller cars again? Why should every public car park be able to accommodate a row of 2m wide, 5m long oversized cars?

[IATM]

sjg said:

Why should spaces get bigger? Why can't people buy smaller cars again? Why should every public car park be able to accommodate a row of 2m wide, 5m long oversized cars?

I know exactly right. Why bother buying a house when you can fit in a wheelie bin and watch tv on your ipad.

[aeropilot]

Foliage said:

Jagmanv12 said:

Has it not occured to you that you are using a standard that is forty years out of date?
Other companies/industries move with the times or go under. As you write cars have got bigger therefore you should be designing larger spaces.

Practices that were common in your industry in the 70's are not allowed these days due to H&S regulations so it is possible to change. I would suggest that your industry needs to come up to date on this matter.

Road sizes are still designed to this standard, its the car manufacturers that are the problem, not the roads, we only have so much space in the UK, we cant waste it on making parking spaces larger because huge corporations deem it necessary to build larger cars, cars should be fit for purpose, fit for the UK road system.

Seeing as we in effect don't have a domestic car industry anymore, and generally, most cars these days are global designs, I can't see any 'foreign' manufacturers specifically designing cars exclusively for the UK market with our congested lack of space. I am surprised though, that the Japanese makers, who do offer more compact types for their own compact, space limited country don't try to sell those models here in the UK?

[kambites]

irocfan said:

BTW you try squeezing out of a car door if there's only 10" or so in total available

The door of my car wouldn't even clear the sill with only 10 inches of space. Fortunately I can take the roof off and climb out that way.

[sjg]

I find it hilarious that there's several hundred pages of bad parking threads on here where selfish people are berated and shamed for not parking within the lines. But park an oversized car in a regular, standard-sized (and unchanged for decades) space, spilling over the lines and that's not selfish at all - the spaces aren't big enough. They should be made bigger, at the expense of the number of spaces, in order to accommodate the oversize cars that people are choosing to buy.

We've had a gradual creep of size and weight of cars - many manufacturers are addressing the latter without compromising safety, comfort, NVH and the rest via better engineering. Hopefully they can do the same for dimensions too.

My ideal carpark would have 3 grades of space with dimensions (and scaled parking fees) to match. No overall loss of spaces, the people who need more space to park can pay for the extra square footage needed to accommodate them.

[knitware]

Jezzerh said:

When I go to Sheffield I use the Q Park on Rockingham St. The spaces are big enough (the actual spaces are painted on the floor rather than the lines) and they're set out diagonally, so even the poorest Parker can swing in and out. Brilliant.

I agree, probably the best car park I've been in, wide spaces and large gaps between cars, secure and in the city center.

[RB Will]

sjg said:

I find it hilarious that there's several hundred pages of bad parking threads on here where selfish people are berated and shamed for not parking within the lines. But park an oversized car in a regular, standard-sized (and unchanged for decades) space, spilling over the lines and that's not selfish at all - the spaces aren't big enough. They should be made bigger, at the expense of the number of spaces, in order to accommodate the oversize cars that people are choosing to buy.

I cant think there are many cars that wont fit in a regular space. As I said I used to be able to fit my Ram between the lines in any carpark I chose to use. could often be a squeeze getting out though.

Problems occur when people dont park centrally or over the lines leaving tiny gaps for others to fit in.

Remember 98% of the population are not driving gods like us and struggle to fit a micra in a normal bloody space so if all spaces were a little bigger there would be less bad parking, fewer wasted spaces and lass damage done to everyones cars from door dings and parking bumps.


It doesnt even need to be a big car to give you problems. Something tiny like an Elise is a struggle in a normal space as the doors and sills are about 8 inches thick and need to open a long way to get anyone out. Similar problem with a lot of small cars these days, my other halfs Swift was a 3dr which has pretty big front doors that again open a long way.

Not everyone wants to drive around in a Pug 1007.

[irocfan]

sjg said:

I find it hilarious that there's several hundred pages of bad parking threads on here where selfish people are berated and shamed for not parking within the lines. But park an oversized car in a regular, standard-sized (and unchanged for decades) space, spilling over the lines and that's not selfish at all - the spaces aren't big enough.[b]They should be made bigger, at the expense of the number of spaces, in order to accommodate the oversize cars that people are choosing to buy.[/]

We've had a gradual creep of size and weight of cars - many manufacturers are addressing the latter without compromising safety, comfort, NVH and the rest via better engineering. Hopefully they can do the same for dimensions too.

My ideal carpark would have 3 grades of space with dimensions (and scaled parking fees) to match. No overall loss of spaces, the people who need more space to park can pay for the extra square footage needed to accommodate them.

hang on a second mate... you've just done a 180. What should it be, smaller cars or bigger spaces?

sjg said:

Why should spaces get bigger? Why can't people buy smaller cars again? Why should every public car park be able to accommodate a row of 2m wide, 5m long oversized cars?

[sjg]

It's my sarcastic repetition of the general tone of this thread. "Woe is me, I bought a car too large to comfortably park in a normal standard space - please can everyone redesign their car parks to fix my self-inflicted problem".

I have no problem with anyone owning whatever they like, but you have to accept the compromises of oversize dimensions (or long doors, or wide sills) and be more choosy about where you park.

Cars to meet all practicalities exist within the footprint that can fit in a standard sized space. The rest is personal preference, which is usually misguided ideas about image, safety or how much unnecessary kiddy stuff they feel the need to cart around.

[irocfan]

sjg said:

It's my sarcastic repetition of the general tone of this thread. "Woe is me, I bought a car too large to comfortably park in a normal standard space - please can everyone redesign their car parks to fix my self-inflicted problem".

I have no problem with anyone owning whatever they like, but you have to accept the compromises of oversize dimensions (or long doors, or wide sills) and be more choosy about where you park.

Cars to meet all practicalities exist within the footprint that can fit in a standard sized space. The rest is personal preference, which is usually misguided ideas about image, safety or how much unnecessary kiddy stuff they feel the need to cart around.

ok then could you please recommend me a new car the size of a Ford Anglia with the same interior space and an original Mini? At the same time I do need these cars to comply with all the relevant current safety rules and regs.

As it happens I do (kind of) agree with you that modern cars are porky - but then again as a nation so are we and the safety requirements force an up-size in car size too

[V8RX7]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Buy a car which fits the world around you. Don't buy a huge truck and then start complaining!

I have a few huge trucks including a Dodge Ram and F150.

I have no issues parking, they fit between the standard lines, others may complain when I park near them though - mine have relatively short doors and I'm slim, if you are larger, have a coupe, have parked badly, you probably aren't going to be able to get in.