Cardiff Council votes on higher parking fees for SUVs

Cardiff Council votes on higher parking fees for SUVs.

Cardiff Council could be the first in the UK to raise parking rates for larger vehicles in an effort to improve road safety.

Councillors will vote today (Thursday, October 16) on plans to combat the plague of ‘carspreading’ by implementing fairer parking costs for the city’s heaviest vehicles under a Paris-style model.

According to the official conclusions of the council’s new City Parking Plan, “large heavy vehicles take up more parking space and are a danger to other road users”.

In a study presented to councillors, it is proposed that “a surcharge for vehicles over 2,400kg Revenue Weight will be implemented to encourage drivers to switch to smaller vehicles.”

This will eventually be reduced to 2,000 kg (for non-electric vehicles). Permits will not be issued for very large cars (vehicles weighing more than 3,500 kg in revenue).

Last year, Paris increased SUV parking rates, from €6 (£5.20) to €18 (£15.61) per hour in the city centre and from €4 (£3.47) to €12 (£10.41) in the suburbs – and several authorities, including Lambeth in south London, are considering similar regulations.

Cardiff people have warmly welcomed the proposed measures. In a council consultation, two-thirds (66%) of respondents agreed that larger cars should pay higher permission fees.

Less than one-fourth (24%) disagreed. The announcement comes after hundreds of homeowners signed a petition seeking for “fairer parking charges based on car size to reduce congestion and road danger”.

The petition states that “the higher the vehicle front, the more likely a person will be knocked under the car, rather than pushed to the side.” And the risk to youngsters is especially high.”

Helen Edwards welcomed the announcement, telling councillors of her young teenage son who was injured by a car last year.

“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare to come out of the home and see their child lying in the road. When he arrived at the hospital, the doctor’s first question was what size car he had been hit by.

The wait to see if his internal organs were injured was agonising; we felt absolutely helpless.” She went on to say, “Families like mine face the daily effects of our streets being controlled by ever-larger automobiles.

This is not about punishing drivers; it is about safeguarding children, pedestrians, and our communities. If this change saves even one family from what we went through, it will be worth it.”

However, the RAC Foundation stated that Cardiff’s proposals should not be interpreted as a crackdown on SUVs. Steve Gooding, head of the UK charity, said:

“While most people will wonder why a car more suited to the wilds of Wales has to be driven in Cardiff, it is misleading to portray this as an attack on SUVs because many SUVs are small and light, and not all huge and heavy cars are SUVs.

“There is a debate to be had about whether particular types of vehicles should be paid extra to park, but the council must be clear about the problem they are attempting to address. Is it about how much road space particular automobiles take up? Improving roadway safety? Or trying to tackle emissions?”

Clean Cities, a European network of organisations advocating for healthy and climate-friendly transportation in cities, is campaigning for action on’supersized SUVs’, which are either more than 1.8m wide or 4.8m long and are said to be increasing in popularity and “crowding out space” in towns and cities, causing more road wear and being more likely to cause fatal injuries for children, cyclists, and those driving smaller cars.

According to Clean Cities, around 4.6 million cars larger than a standard urban car parking space have been sold in the UK since 2021, or more than 1.2 million per year, with the number increasing.

It further claims that the parking overhang of these massive SUVs would span 192 kilometres from London to Leeds.

The shift towards larger automobiles has major road safety implications. A UK research paper published earlier this year found that heavier cars are more likely to be involved in fatal incidents, and the average car weight in the UK is rising.

If the trend continues, academics warn that deadly crashes will increase. Reducing automobile weight may reduce the severity and frequency of collisions, while academics recommend that policymakers investigate “taxation on heavier cars” and “local authorities could adjust parking policies to charge higher fees for heavier cars.”

The study, lead by civil engineer Ruth Carlson and a co-author from the University of Huddersfield, is based on preliminary data, and the full publication will be published soon.

Clean Cities’ research also revealed substantial popular support for fairer taxation in favour of lighter and more appropriately sized cars, as well as parking fees in cities based on vehicle size.

When asked how the money gained from higher SUV taxes should be used, car owners’ most popular suggestions were to address the millions of potholes (54%) on Britain’s roads, which increase hazard and repair costs for motorists and cyclists. This was followed by safer roads (40%), and improved public transport (36%).

According to a YouGov study commissioned by Clean Cities, only 19% believe that no additional measures should be implemented for SUVs.

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