Carspreading: why bigger cars are becoming a bigger problem
- Christopher Bean
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter January 2026
At Clean Cities, we recently launched the Carspreading campaign to tackle a trend that is quietly reshaping our streets: cars are getting bigger, wider and heavier and the consequences of this shift are significant.
Research shows cars are becoming around 1cm wider every two years, while average vehicle weight has increased by around 400kg in the past seven years. This shift is being driven by the rapid rise of SUVs, which now make up around a third of cars in London. This will continue to increase given they account for around 66 per cent of all new car sales in the UK.
One of the most serious concerns is safety. As vehicles become bigger and heavier, the risk they pose in collisions increases, particularly for children. A peer-reviewed study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) found that children under the age of 10 are three times more likely to be killed if struck by an SUV than by a standard-sized car. This is largely due to bonnet height and vehicle design. Research by T&E shows that higher bonnets are more likely to strike children in vital organs, leading to more severe injuries. This growing danger is especially concerning at a time when the government is encouraging children to walk and cycle more for short journeys, particularly to and from school.
Carspreading is also a question about fairer use of space. Larger vehicles take up more room in streets that were never designed for them. Around 4.6 million cars have been sold in the UK that are bigger than a typical urban car parking space since 2021. The result is increased pavement parking, reduced visibility when crossing the road, and less space for pedestrians and cyclists. For people using wheelchairs, pushing buggies or walking with children, oversized vehicles can make everyday trips more difficult and less safe. As cars grow, the public realm shrinks. There are wider environmental and economic impacts too.
A key policy we are advocating for is fairer parking charges so that larger, more dangerous and polluting cars pay more for taking up more space. Polling by YouGov found that 59 per cent of Londoners agree it should be cheaper to park an average sized car than a large SUV (18 per cent disagree). Agreement increased to 64 per cent when asking Londoners who live in central London. Carbon based parking tariffs are not sufficient to tackle Carspreading given one in four new cars sold in the UK are now fully electric.
In October 2025, Cardiff became the first UK council to introduce a surcharge for larger vehicles (based on the weight of the car, which is a very good proxy for size) as part of a 10-year parking strategy. Paris has adopted a similar approach and according to Le Parisien this has reduced SUV surface parking by two thirds. Residents in Zurich voted in favour of a similar policy to be introduced soon.
Our campaign is about putting people before cars and creating streets that are safer, healthier and fairer for everyone. With Carspreading now firmly in the mainstream, we stand ready to support more local authorities in the UK to take action and to support any groups that want to call for this change.
If you’d like to get involved in the campaign for 2026 please contact Caz at caz.conneller@cleancitiescampaign.org.
Caz Conneller
Clean Cities Campaign