Paris residents voted to triple parking fees for big cars. Should Sydney do the same to make its streets safer?
Drivers of oversized SUVs and utes should pay higher parking fees in a bid to get them off Sydney roads, as concern grows about the environmental impact and safety of big cars.
Yarra Greens councillor Sophie Wade’s motion said the increasing size and weight of vehicles such as Ram trucks and the Land Rover Defender pose dangers to pedestrians including children, who are “eight times more likely to die when hit by a SUV compared to a normal passenger car”.voted to triple parking fees for large SUVs
“One option could be for charges to be based on postcode, given many western Sydney residents have no choice but to drive because of the lack of public transport services,” she said.Standards Australia last year proposed increasing the required length of off-street parking spaces by 20 centimetres to accommodate larger vehicles.