Mega truck parking fail in Coles carpark highlights major problem
The rise of the mega utes in Australia means drivers are taking up multiple spaces as they're simply too big to fit in some carparks.
A US-style Ford mega truck's parking fail has sparked a serious discussion about Australia's ability to cater for enormous vehicles.
There is an increasing number of large utes appearing on Australian roads but their size is proving problematic when it comes to parking — with the one in question parking over two bays in a Coles carpark in southeast Melbourne.
A shopper snapped a picture of the imposing truck and shared it online, joking it was so big it should be treated similarly to a plane.
"Should have his own traffic control team riding around in him with the size of that rig," the man wrote. However, others pointed to the fact that the driver had no other choice than to claim two parking spaces as the truck wouldn't fit into one.
"Look, it's not their fault that the parks aren't big enough," one said. "If he tried to park within the lines he’d be wasting his time, [it's] logical to park this way to leave room. Take out 2 parks instead of 3," another said.
Aussies' mixed feelings about mega trucks
In 2021 more than 50 per cent of cars sold in Australia were SUVs according to Budget Direct and their popularity certainly doesn't seem to be diminishing. In 2023 the best selling car model was the large Ford Ranger ute.
While some complimented the driver on his "nice rig" others were against such large vehicles being on Aussie roads.
"Why the hell do you need something this big?" one questioned, while another sharing they believe the manta "can’t park it, don’t drive it" should be adopted.
Push for larger car parking spaces
Standards Australia have proposed the length of a standard car park space be increased to keep up with the boom in large car purchases. However, an expert claims big infrastructural changes would need to be made in already size restricted cities to accommodate for these trucks.
"The question becomes, how do we use this space? If we want to make our car parks bigger, we get fewer of them, we lose space for bike lanes, we lose space for parks, we lose space for shops," Monash University lecturer Julian O'Shea told Yahoo News previously.
Different countries are suggesting higher parking fees should be paid to park these trucks and even restricting areas where they can be driven when space is "at a premium".
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