Car parking spaces

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I noticed a thread on bad parking in the jokes section which led me to post this.

What's your opinion/view on the size of car parking spaces and layouts? I want to give you two extreme examples. We have a smallish drop-in Coop in our town. Only has circa 12 spaces configured into what's a relatively tight overall piece of tarmac. However, compared to many car parks, the spaces are massive width wise! Ok maybe not massive, however I reckon they're easily 60cm/24in wider than a typical space. It makes parking a breeze and no concerns about door dings! They could no doubt have created another 2-3 spaces but obviously made a conscious decision to have wider spaces so well done them.

Compare that to the local retail park. Very tight spaces unless you drive a supermini and lack of cordoned off sections at row ends making it VERY difficult to pull out into the traffic flow especially if it's an SUV parked at the ends! This isn't just a legacy issue as they recently carried out remedial work at one section, however no increase in space size and no cordoned off row ends!

I get that retailers want/need to ensure maximum parking, however given the average size of a vehicle today, surely the regulations around the creation of parking should have kept pace over the past 20+ years? It can even be argued there's a risk to public safety. Ok, just now places are a lot quieter for obvious reasons, however venture into a retail park on a busy weekend and it's rare not to see at least one or two near misses, whether cars or cars almost hitting people!

And let's face it, throw into the mix the fact that many people can't park properly and you have a recipe for disaster.
 
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I noticed a thread on bad parking in the jokes section which led me to post this.

What's your opinion/view on the size of car parking spaces and layouts? I want to give you two extreme examples. We have a smallish drop-in Coop in our town. Only has circa 12 spaces configured into what's a relatively tight overall piece of tarmac. However, compared to many car parks, the spaces are massive width wise! Ok maybe not massive, however I reckon they're easily 60cm/24in wider than a typical space. It makes parking a breeze and no concerns about door dings! They could no doubt have created another 2-3 spaces but obviously made a conscious decision to have wider spaces so well done them.

Compare that to the local retail park. Very tight spaces unless you drive a supermini and lack of cordoned off sections at row ends making it VERY difficult to pull out into the traffic flow especially if it's an SUV parked at the ends! This isn't just a legacy issue as they recently carried out remedial work at one section, however no increase in space size and no cordoned off row ends!

I get that retailers want/need to ensure maximum parking, however given the average size of a vehicle today, surely the regulations around the creation of parking should have kept pace over the past 20+ years? It can even be argued there's a risk to public safety. Ok, just now places are a lot quieter for obvious reasons, however venture into a retail park on a busy weekend and it's rare not to see at least one or two near misses, whether cars or cars almost hitting people!

And let's face it, throw into the mix the fact that many people can't park properly and you have a recipe for disaster.
So many Chelsea tractors,pick ups and big suv about now .
 
I noticed a thread on bad parking in the jokes section which led me to post this.

What's your opinion/view on the size of car parking spaces and layouts? I want to give you two extreme examples. We have a smallish drop-in Coop in our town. Only has circa 12 spaces configured into what's a relatively tight overall piece of tarmac. However, compared to many car parks, the spaces are massive width wise! Ok maybe not massive, however I reckon they're easily 60cm/24in wider than a typical space. It makes parking a breeze and no concerns about door dings! They could no doubt have created another 2-3 spaces but obviously made a conscious decision to have wider spaces so well done them.

Compare that to the local retail park. Very tight spaces unless you drive a supermini and lack of cordoned off sections at row ends making it VERY difficult to pull out into the traffic flow especially if it's an SUV parked at the ends! This isn't just a legacy issue as they recently carried out remedial work at one section, however no increase in space size and no cordoned off row ends!

I get that retailers want/need to ensure maximum parking, however given the average size of a vehicle today, surely the regulations around the creation of parking should have kept pace over the past 20+ years? It can even be argued there's a risk to public safety. Ok, just now places are a lot quieter for obvious reasons, however venture into a retail park on a busy weekend and it's rare not to see at least one or two near misses, whether cars or cars almost hitting people!

And let's face it, throw into the mix the fact that many people can't park properly and you have a recipe for disaster.
In general people are getting more lazy..They go everywhere in a car and will not walk more than 5 yards and neet a fukoff big SUV for all the kids clobber they cart about and drop them off at school.
 
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So many Chelsea tractors,pick ups and big suv about now .
This is part of the problem when in a car park that doesn't have cordoned off / hatched parts at the end of a row. You're trying to pull out with something like a Range Rover parked immediately to your left and an Audi Q5 to your right! Good luck trying to see oncoming traffic. So you end up doing the 'edging out' routine and risk someone not paying attention running into you! The same holds true when getting out of the space itself if you have these tanks either side of you. Mind you, can you imagine suggesting at a retail park project planning meeting 'Instead of the planned 1000 spaces, should we make it 850 so we can create slightly wider spaces and non parking areas at the end of rows so drivers can pull out safely?'

'No' would very likely be the response.

It's like the farce of garages in new build houses. Again if you have a supermini then you might get that in. Absolutely pointless other than as additional storage. Where's the legislation around all this stuff?
 
My old workplace was built in the early 70's and the car park was lined for 1970's vehicles. every now and again they'd remark over the original lines.
Great if you owned a BMC mini or a 70's escort.
Costco are really good on spaces.
My local Sainsbury's used a double line closed at the end that at least gives 6" between where next door's car space stops and your begins.
But some people just park their car like a scalectric so their bonnet aligns with the white line.
 
Minimum, (and therefore average), car parking space in UK is 2.4 metres wide. Average car width in UK is around 2 metres.
This gives a space of 30cm either side of a car. Which equates to around 12" either side. How ludicrous is this in this day and age?

BTW, average width of the car does not include side mirrors, some of which don't fold in when you park.
 
This is part of the problem when in a car park that doesn't have cordoned off / hatched parts at the end of a row. You're trying to pull out with something like a Range Rover parked immediately to your left and an Audi Q5 to your right! Good luck trying to see oncoming traffic. So you end up doing the 'edging out' routine and risk someone not paying attention running into you! The same holds true when getting out of the space itself if you have these tanks either side of you. Mind you, can you imagine suggesting at a retail park project planning meeting 'Instead of the planned 1000 spaces, should we make it 850 so we can create slightly wider spaces and non parking areas at the end of rows so drivers can pull out safely?'

'No' would very likely be the response.

It's like the farce of garages in new build houses. Again if you have a supermini then you might get that in. Absolutely pointless other than as additional storage. Where's the legislation around all this stuff?
Many people take great delight in parking across the bays etc...attention seeking cretinous nobends
 
Cars have got bigger.

My current car is a mondeo, I find I gave to ignore lots of parking spaces in a car park as they are too tight - because either side are big cars and / or parked offset so the available space is narrow.

Annoyingly the car has a window line that sweeps upwards towards the back, so to park in a space without cars either side is really tricky - I have to be a long way from the space to be able to see the lines.

And I'm not great at parking - I always seem to need to straighten up at least once.
 
Aldi and Lidl car parks are the best I've found,

I agree with all that's been said above.

In Chelmsford all the car park spaces are rediculosly small, even super minis are tight in the parking spaces
 
This gives a space of 30cm either side of a car. Which equates to around 12" either side. How ludicrous is this in this day and age?

Especially when you consider the average zeppelin who is trying to squeeze their fat ass through the tiny door opening, even if they managed to get the car in the space:ROFLMAO:
 
Many people take great delight in parking across the bays etc...attention seeking cretinous nobends
I tend to agree with you, however I can see why some do this. If your car is your pride and joy, whatever its age and/or value, and you need to go to the supermarket for example, even if you park 20 miles away from everyone else with tons of empty spaces around, sure as fate when you come back out someone will have parked beside you, and maybe left a little present in the shape of a door ding.
 
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