New analysis from Vehicle Data Global (VDG) has found that the average car now takes up almost one square metre more road space than it did 20 years ago. On a typical 200-metre residential street, that increase is enough to reduce kerbside parking capacity by the equivalent of around four vehicles.
According to VDG, the average car footprint has grown from 7.67 square metres in 2006 to 8.61 square metres today. This is an increase of 12.3%. They also found that this growth has accelerated over the last decade, meaning the pressure on parking spaces is increasing quickly.
Obviously, the popularity of SUVs has contributed to this, but long-established hatchbacks have become noticeably larger over the years as well. For example, the Vauxhall Corsa has increased its footprint by 19.3% since 1995, the Ford Focus has grown by 13.4% since its launch in 1998, and the Volkswagen Golf is now 12.4% larger than its 1995 counterpart.
The impact is particularly noticeable in residential areas. With around 32% of households in England lacking off-street parking, VDG estimates that one in every 22 kerbside parking spaces has effectively disappeared because of the increase in average vehicle length. On streets where parking is permitted on both sides, the remaining carriageway has also become narrower, making it more difficult for traffic to pass through comfortably.
Using a typical 200-metre terraced street as an example, VDG calculated that 94 cars could fit bumper-to-bumper in 2006, compared to 90 today. Allowing a more realistic half-metre gap between parked vehicles, capacity falls from around 84 cars to 81, leaving several drivers without a space.
“While the sheer volume of cars on the road, compared with a few decades ago, tends to dominate media stories about parking problems, our analysis shows the inevitability of even greater parking pain due to the steady increase in vehicle dimensions. With the average car taking up more space than ever before, many drivers without off-street parking are increasingly squeezed out of the spaces they would have had 20 years ago. It shows that the increase in interior space and comfort that we all enjoy in modern cars has come at a significant cost in stress for millions of drivers.”
Ben Hermer, Operations Director of VDG
To make things even more challenging, there are now an additional 5.7 million registered cars compared to 2006. Vans have grown even more, with the average light commercial vehicle now measuring 5.3 metres long and taking up around 11.3 square metres.
Even though vehicles have become larger and increased in number, parking infrastructure has not grown with them. Previous research from the RAC Foundation estimated that around seven million homes replaced front gardens with parking areas, while planning policies for new housing have generally limited parking provision despite increasing car ownership.
The findings also help explain why parking disputes remain common. Other research shows that 71% of Rightmove users are irritated by neighbours’ parking, and the AA previously found that 16% of motorists have argued over parking and 60% believe parking outside their home is a basic right.
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