Car Parks ?

[Observer II]

Are SUVs too big to fit between the lines in a normal space or are they just driven by bad drivers ?

[Davy51]

Car parking spaces aren't big enough. I struggle with a Fiesta because i need to open my door fully to get in & out. Impossible if there is a Chelsea tractor in the next space.

[Evil Sid]

According to what i have looked up a "standard" car park space "should" be 2.4 M wide by 4.8 M in length minimum. (7.9 ft by 16ft in English money) Although as far as i am aware those figures are just a guideline.

All car parking spaces are designed to get the most cars in the minimum space. (The old bums on seats methodology) 40 cars will take up 96 metres in width at 2.4metre per car. if you increase that width by 100mm (4")  to 2.5 metres then those same forty cars will occupy 100 metres of space. the extra space taken up could easily accommodate an extra car at 2.4 metres width so 41 cars per 100 metres with about 1.5 metres spare space.

what parking spaces do not take into account is the fact that you have doors on a car that need to be opened. My "car", whilst only 1.3 metres wide, has doors that open almost 90 degrees and the doors are quite wide. So even if i park in the exact centre of a parking space if some body parks close to the line in the next space then getting in the car is somewhat akin to putting size six shoes on size nine feet. (possible with a bit of patience, a shoe horn and plenty of Vaseline or so i am told)  👠

[Observer II]

I've taken to using two spaces (yes I know it's wrong but) - friends have told me horror stories of their new cars being damaged in car parks, where the offender has scarpered; fortunately in one case,  another motorist filmed the offender on their mobile phone and provided it for the insurance claim. Perhaps all such car parks should have CCTV ?   Whilst sitting in the car, I've observed the antics of drivers trying to park;  and (I know it's a stereotype), but females in SUVs  appear to be the biggest offenders,  they don't seem to have any sense of their vehicle size or spacial awareness.  

[Stallard12]

Parking spaces in the US are 10 ft x 20ft, which is still tight for my 7ft x 17ft SUV., but not bad for cars.    Good news is, its high enough to where a car door only hits the side of the running board.

Had an interesting event the last time I was in the U.K. and parked at the Golden Sq mall lot.  There was a badly placed pipe column blocking the exit and there was a guy directing big cars one way around it and small cars the other - unique !   It was very tight and the adjacent wall was covered in every car color made - what do you think Obs, all women ?

[Evil Sid]

it always puzzles me why somebody will spend ten minutes reversing into a space to save about thirty seconds by being able to drive out forward. The most amusing is when they have to pull out because they can't get to the back hatch to put the shopping in.

 

[Observer II]

Some insane drivers around - and it seems insanity can get you away with murder now !

[asperity]

It's easier with a ship, you usually have the wind and/or tide dictating whether you back in or not 😉.

[Observer II]

Still on S/Market car parks - ASDA has quite a few traffic calming humps at the same height as the surrounding pavement - it seems pedestrians have got the idea that they have right of way on these humps, even though they are not marked as zebra crossings - so who's got right of way ?

[asperity]

Pedestrians all day long. It's a car park not Le Mans (hence the speed bumps) and cars should be driven with pedestrians in mind (cars being lumps of metal, pedestrians being lumps of delicate flesh and fragile bone).