Your Modern Car Is Fat: City Widens Parking Spots To Accommodate
Read the full story on The Auto Wire
People are laughing after a city announced it's widening parking spaces to accommodate larger modern vehicles. The news has also fueled a debate about whether or not modern vehicles are all that large, why they're growing, and what else it's impacting.Colchester City Council in the UK says it's widening at least some parking spots so larger modern rides can fit. It's included in an improvement plan for certain areas in the city, reports the BBC, but people seem to be concentrating on the parking stall issue above the rest of the improvements.
Some Americans have seized on this news and used it to rail against Chevy Suburbans, pickup trucks in general, or whatever type of vehicle they don't like. What they fail to understand is up until a few years ago, crossovers weren't too common in Europe, including the UK (we know some Brits claim they're not part of Europe).
But there's been an explosion in the number of crossovers on the continent, which has put the pinch of things like parking areas, since they tend to be wider than the wagons which used to be so popular.
Just like here in North America, ever-stringent safety standards for cars in Europe have helped fatten them up, too. After all, designs to keep drivers and passengers safe in a side impact means thicker doors, wider frames, etc.
It doesn't help that people are getting bigger as well. Everyone can debate how or why that's happening, but car seats have grown in size, making it necessary to expand the width of vehicles.
This parking crunch has hit many other places, with some deciding to just repaint the lines so modern vehicles fit without issue. But some people want to put the blame on the size of the current Chevy Silverado, of which there are likely few, if any, in Colchester City.
Image via Jan Kopriva/Pexels
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