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Autobesity is a growing problem!

The consumer magazine Which? says "modern cars are outgrowing parking spaces". Looking at a Range Rover SE in a standard UK parking bay below:

Standard UK parking bay
16ft L x 8ft W
4.87m L x 2.44m W

Range Rover SE
16ft 7" L x 6ft 8" W
5.052m L x 2.047m W

Width of bay less width of car = 15.4"
So 7.7" space either side to edge of bay

Note the width of Range Rover SE with wing mirrors out is 2.209m so the space either side to the edge of the parking bay is only 4.5" - that's typically the width of your hand!

Relative visibility is a growing issue for classic car drivers - see our article

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An MGBGTV8 parked up at Goodwood with the airfield beyond the fence but alongside is a Range Rover - not the most recent and larger model, but a tall and wide vehicle with large doors to open. Fortunately there was plenty of parking space at Goodwood but that is not always the case these days when you park in public and private car parks.

Which? magazine reports "the size of a standard UK parking space has stayed more or less the same for decades, but as cars get bigger and heavier - a phenomenon known as autobesity - do our car parks also need to grow?"

Which? adds "We've found 161 cars from our testing - up from 129 in 2018 - which are longer than a standard UK parking bay - 16ft x 8ft (4.8m x 2.4m) - and 12 of these exceed the limit by more than 11.8 inches (30cm). We've also found 27 cars so wide you may struggle to open the doors when parked in a bay alongside another car."

The risk of some thoughtless person opening their door and hitting the bodywork of a car alongside is a serious problem resulting in dents and other paintwork damage.

Increasingly many large cars like Range Rovers are seen parked straddling two standard UK parking bays so the driver will be able to get back into the car on their return to the parking bay if other cars are parked nearby! In urban areas these large vehicles are often known as "Prat x Fours"!