Carparks, 4 Wheel Drives, Roads and *Big* Vehicles

Whilst I agree with your comments re the 4WDs and the older generation - however with seeing the inconsiderates up here that even park in the disabled spots - why would they stick to 4WDs and smaller cars? Also the disabled parking in the mums/dads with prams spots.
However I agree with you re the visibility - it’s the same when they’re the last on the row and you’re trying to turn out and cannot see the way you want to go.
I don’t know what the fix is and guess these parking issues will go onto the end of time. I guess in the ideal world it would be fixed but we know we don’t live in an ideal world and just have to take it as we can and bear up.

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These days towbars are made in two common configurations. One requires undoing two bolts and the tongue is removed, the other only requires removing a pin and sliding the tongue from its socket and as long as it gets removed regularly it does not cause any greif.

Therein lies a problem. Regardless of laws that supposedly regulate unused tow hitches and bike racks they are rarely enforced. They are also fuzzy such as “not protrude dangerously when not in use”. Who decides whether it is dangerous or not at the moment and by what guidelines?

One can go through most any car park and see numerous hitches protruding ~300+mm behind the vehicle, or worse just the tow bar with the tow ball removed, making it even harder to notice. Perhaps if it was mandated they needed to be painted dayglow orange for visibility the proud owners would remove them more often, or at least the rest of us would have a better chance of seeing them to avoid impact.

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Many do use the configurations you mention but many don’t. If is made a requirement that they be removed a lot of vehicles will need new towbars, including my 2.

I drive a 4WD, and whilst it’s primary purpose is to cart the family and all the gear we carry as an active family, I still need to drive when I’m working or shopping. Just yesterday I was driving around a shopping mall car-park and feeling that I was the one who was discriminated against. In this particular instance what I could find was designated small car spots, disabled spots and parents with pram spots - and I met none of these criteria, There was one or two 'normal spaces" that I could have fitted into but not opened my door and would have been at risk of car damage so didn’t take them. The car parks are designed to maximise the number of parking spots, 4WD are a legitimate vehicle and it’s not the fault of the 4WD vehicle drivers, we just have to deal with what’s available to us, and we pay the same for fewer available spots.Even if we park as sensibly as we can when we park, we cannot guarantee that it remains that way when someone parks next to us. I have one particular photo of an instance where I came back to my car and was forced to climb in through the boot…a greater quantity of larger car spaces would be helpful, but it’s not in the best financial interest of the car park owners.

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What about All Wheel Drives and SUVs? Or is this just about a specific BMW driver that lives on your street that you have an issue with? These larger vehicles are very functional for getting small kids in and out of cars quickly and easily so for school dropoffs it means that there is less of a queue past your driveway for the school down the street. For active families they offer excellent cargo space to cart equipment. They are also very functional for work as they offer a flat entry to the boot for heavier bulkier items. Just because you cannot see the value doesn’t mean it’s not there. Many of these cars are more efficient than a traditional station wagon so you should include those in your rant as well.

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Have you considered buying a Smart and hanging it off the back like a tender boat? That way you could park blocks away and shuttle back and forth to your 4WD :laughing:

PS, even with more modestly proportioned vehicles we often experience the same problems these days, although probably not as often nor as aggravating.

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it would be like carrying a spare battery pack :slight_smile:

It is amazing that any of us we managed to get by growing up, but we did with a family of 8 siblings and a humble holden station wagon
No such thing then as a SUV not even specialist people movers were not thought of.

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When I was little, our family of 8 happily crammed into a standard 5-seater - until the rules changed.

I was well grown up before the nanny state really got going.

I’m a bit late on this, but your experience with “small” car parking spaces is the same as the roadside traffic signs saying “Slow vehicles keep left” - NOBODY drives a slow vehicle!

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Supermarket car parks of Coles and Bunnings are NOT owned by either Bunnings and Coles only lease the interior floor space of where they are, Centre Management/ Council ?Owner of site is responsible for the car parks, Woolworths if not in a complex own the property and are responsible. The local Council Specifies the number of car parking spaces that can be placed in any car park, also positioning of Disabled spaces., so attacking Coles / Bunnings/Target/Office Works, Kmart/ you are falling on deaf ears as they can only pass on complaints to centr management and local stores have to pass that complaint to State Head Office as they are the leasee of the lessor.In almost all Instances complaining DIRECTLY to Centre Management will in some circumstances get a result faster than going through Wesfarmers group of companies.

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Where I live half the population drives a 4x4, because, well, you need to. There’s also a goodly number of left hand drive vehicles which add variety (you know, the spice of life) to driving and parking, I feel sorry for them trying to get out of a parallel park …

But then there’s terrorist season … ahem, sorry tourist season, and we get people like this … lots of them !!! either creatively straddling car parks like this, or expunging 3 spaces on the side of the road. It happens all the time - not uncommon to see half a dozen or more at any one time in the Coles car park …

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Exactly my sentiments. And you can also park in the street and carry your groceries to your car as we do. Plus you benefit from the exercise!

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We have found Costco car parks by far the most generous with size of bays. A couple of years ago I was in Canberra and was listening to the local radio station and I heard one of the local politicians say that ‘we are reducing the size of car spaces because everyone drives smaller cars these days’. What the …!

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Years later the writing is on the walls as the ‘modest sized’ American behemoths start arriving.

The 4WDs that started this topic are mini’s in comparison to what may be coming. I don’t look forward to seeing these in car parks or most of our narrow roads.

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I reckon there would be plain old trucks that can load or tow that much for far less than $170,000. Although I know somebody who would own one if he could even if it never left the drive, it would just have to sit there and look shiny and attract comment. With a claimed fuel economy of 16l/100k I wouldn’t want to actually take it anywhere. Maybe there is a market for plastic replicas …

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When the kids are back in class.
Coming to a school drop off and pick up zone near you…

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