Owner of American-style ute infuriates Aussies with 'disgusting' park
Another damning photo has emerged of bad car park behaviour from an owner of a big SUV.
There's a certain stigma that comes with buying an oversized, American-style ute, one that owners of the vehicles say is thanks to "a minority" of inconsiderate drivers.
And going by the wave of criticism, one of those motorists was spotted in Melbourne on Saturday.
In a photo shared to Reddit, a giant Chevrolet SUV can be seen taking up three spaces in a car park, including a disabled spot. According to the Reddit user, the driver claimed his vehicle "doesn’t fit in normal people spots".
Unsurprisingly, the picture was inundated with expletive-laden comments slamming the driver.
"That's a disgusting photo," one person remarked.
"These oversized vehicles should 100% be banned," another said.
Melbourne council wants new tax for big utes
And while not seeking an overall ban as such, Melbourne's City of Yarra council is indeed exploring options to deter the ownership of giant SUVs. One of the steps they are looking to take is a parking tax on big trucks, similar to a rule rolled out in Paris earlier this year.
"It's nerve-racking having these big giant vehicles bearing down on you," Councillor Sophie Wade told Yahoo News Australia.
The vehicles remain heavily divisive, with owners passionately jumping to their defence. Chris Maujean is the owner of a US-style pick-up truck and argued the vehicles have been painted in a bad light thanks to the parking of a select few. "I think it’s just about being considerate... you've got to be aware of other people and pick your spots," he told Yahoo.
And that was the consensus of owners of larger vehicles in response to the latest damning photo to emerge online.
"If you choose to drive an unconventional vehicle, you accept the inconveniences that come with that, you don't push them onto others," one person wrote.
"We have a very small camper and whenever we do have the displeasure of going into a shopping centre car park with it on, its straight to the outer edge to park away from everyone," another explained.
Australia shouldn't accomodate big vehicles due to safety fears, councillor says
While Standards Australia has called for larger parking spaces in Australia to accomodate the increase in bigger vehicles, The Australia Institute said such a move to do so and also widen Australian roads would be of "great expense and to the detriment of urban greenery".
Cllr Wade said simply adapting for such vehicles was "pretending the problem doesn't exist".
"When you've got stats that show SUVs are eight times more likely to kill a child when they hit them than standard cars, I think that's the sort of thing you shouldn't try and accomodate."
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