How our cars outgrew our car park spaces
by Simon Usborne from Technology | The Guardian on (#22JPS)
Cars are much wider now than they were 50 years ago - but the standard size of a space has hardly changed. Is it time to design car parks differently?
If you haven't had a ding, you've probably had a job squeezing yourself out of your car, pushing limbs through the door like an octopus escaping an aquarium. At its worst, car parking can be a trial of stress and bodily contortion. What's to blame? Fat cars.
A vehicular obesity epidemic is reportedly putting a strain on the nation's multistoreys, where accidents are on the rise. According to Accident Exchange, a courtesy-car firm, there are now almost 2,000 parking prangs a day.
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