Why SUVs are a big problem
In this guest blog by Oliver Lord, UK Head of Clean Cities Campaign, he explains what ‘carspreading’ is and why we should be worried.
Did you know that new cars are getting 1cm wider every two years? This is one of those crazy facts I just can’t get out of my head at the moment!
Over the past few years whilst cycling in London I’ve honestly been thinking I’d got a bit larger in my old age or even the streets had shrunk but this analysis has been done – thanks to the clever folks at T&E – new cars are indeed getting bigger and bigger.
As I’ve begun to talk about this issue with other campaigners, young parents, local politicians and friends, I’ve been feeling a mix of emotions. On one side, I’m energised by the volume of people that want something done about this and on the other, I’m troubled by the myriad of problems that bigger and more dangerous cars create in our cities.
I feel like this is an issue that has crept up on us overtime with very few checks and balances in place. In fact, current regs are that a car can be built as wide as a truck, which means it’s been difficult to put a finger on it or sum it up succinctly. But that’s exactly what we have attempted to do with our latest campaign, which has coined the term ‘Carspreading’.
Believe me, once you see carspreading…you see it everywhere!
Let’s look into those problems in a bit more detail.
Carspreading is taking our public space. More than half of new cars in the UK are too wide for urban parking spaces, leaving our streets crowded and congested. Worse still, if we hand over roadspace to bigger cars then we are making it even more difficult to retrofit much needed bus and cycle lanes into our towns and cities.
Carspreading is putting lives at risk. As cars get bigger, so do the risks. People hit by larger cars when walking or cycling are far less likely to survive and this should feel especially troubling to parents of young children.
Carspreading is damaging our planet. Petrol and diesel SUVs burn around 20 per cent more fuel and electric SUVs require more resources and critical battery minerals.
And, let’s be honest, carspreading is mostly a luxury over practicality. SUV sales hit record levels in the UK last year – 62 per cent of new cars sold are now SUVs, up from 47 per cent in 2020 – with sales of the largest models increasing year on year. Carmakers should prioritise practical and affordable cars instead. The Government rightly wants to enable as many people as possible to switch to electric cars but it’s no use if they are massive and costly.
The problems are stark and we know that every campaign needs a temperature check, which is why we drafted in YouGov to help us find out what UK car owners make of it all (spoiler alert they are also concerned!) According to our polling, a majority of UK car owners think that SUVs “are bought more as status symbols than for practical use” (60 per cent agree vs 21 per cent disagree); “will make parking more difficult” (71 per cent agree vs 15 per cent disagree) and are “not necessary in towns and cities”, (59 per cent agree vs 20 per cent disagree).
Just like diesel engines, I see carspreading as a failure of national regulations and we are once again dependent on bold city leaders to act if we are to change anything in the short-term. Cities like Paris and Aachen now have progressive parking policies that are structured so that the larger the car, the more it costs to park it. Sounds quite reasonable, don’t you think?
Preliminary data since Paris introduced this policy last autumn – that I hasten to add a majority of Parisians voted for – has led to roughly two thirds fewer SUVs parked in the city centre. I was also excited to hear from the Deputy Leader of Lambeth at our recent webinar, that the council is calling for evidence on this issue in the context of their kerbside and vision zero strategies.
I will freely admit that I’m no physics expert but I do know one thing for certain – the sheer size of these machines means that carspreading can’t be an issue swept under the carpet. Clean Cities and Campaign for Better Transport are partners in a new SUV Alliance, which is calling for action at a national level. Will any UK authorities help to tackle this head on? I’m all ears on a likely contender!
In the meantime, if you’ve spotted this trend in your city, then please help us by snapping a pic and sharing it on social media using #carspreading and ask your local councillors what they are going to do about it.
Find out more about Clean Cities carspreading campaign.
