Cars are too big for urban centres

It’s not just the likes of SUVs. An Opel Corsa, for example, is 24 centimetres longer and twelve centimetres wider than it was 20 years ago.

Transport & Environment, the European Federation for Transport and the Environment, estimates that the average size of cars in the EU has increased by half a centimetre a year over the last three decades. The increased size doesn’t only create problems when driving on narrow streets. Parking is impacted. Old car parks are becoming obsolete, as spaces aren’t big enough.

Commenting on the situation in Palma, urban planner María Gómez says that new streets are now designed so that they are wide enough for today’s car. “But then there is the existing city, and in the end it’s a question of status: the bigger, the better.”

She points out that garage doors are having to be widened but that on streets in the historic centre there isn’t the room to turn a car easily. Gómez adds that SUVs are too imposing, be this for other car drivers, cyclists or pedestrians.

“They’re a problem because they are high and affect visibility. In the USA there have been awareness campaigns because of numerous accidents involving children, who are smaller than the nose of the vehicle and can’t be seen by the driver. These vehicles are safe if you live in the mountains or in an area with snow. But above all, you have to take into account their energy consumption.”

Cristina Llorente, president of the Palma XXI association, is blunt in her assessment: “The problem is cars, whether they are large or small and however they are powered. The solution lies with public transport and we must reduce the number of tourists in order to reduce the number of cars.”