Car Park Accidents on the Rise Due to Larger Cars
According to a recent study, the increase in car sizes over recent years has resulted in more car park accidents and demands for larger parking spaces.
Larger vehicles vs small spaces
Popular vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz GL-Class and the Audi Q7 measure 5 meters in length and just less than 2 meters in width, whereas the average parking space is 4.8 meters long and 2.4 meters wide.
Smaller cars are seemingly increasing in size year on year too. The latest Vauxhall Corsa for instance, is 16% larger today than it was 15 years ago.
35% more car park accidents
The study, produced by Accident Exchange, notes that car parking accidents now account for more than 30% of all vehicle related accidents. This equates to around 1,859 car parking accidents every day – 35% more than in 2014.
According to the study, the average repair bill for this accident type costs £2,050 – costing the UK approximately £1.4 billion a year.
NCP announce move
The largest private car park operator in the UK, National Car Parks (NCP), has announced plans to increase the size of many of its parking spaces.
However, this has sparked outrage among those who drive smaller vehicles who argue that larger parking spaces will mean fewer spaces for them.
Speaking to The Times, a spokeswoman for the NCP said:
“We are moving towards making the bays wider as we recognise that vehicles are growing in size, especially SUVs.”
However she added that the NCP also recognised that, particularly in busy car parks such as those at railway stations, there is an ‘extremely fine balance’ between the number of spaces available and bigger spaces.
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Source: Sky News
