Big cars are a big problem for our roads and our planet
Readers on the growing popularity of SUVs and other large polluting cars
Your editorial (22 January) about the antisocial aspects of SUVs and other large cars calls to mind the time when the congestion charge was introduced in London under the aegis of Ken Livingstone. I wrote to him suggesting that the charge should be based on the length of car, pointing out, for example, that you could get two Minis in a meter bay but only one Ford Cortina or Rolls-Royce. If the charge was truly designed to combat congestion as he claimed, the charge should be based on the amount of road space occupied. I never got an answer.
Robert Parkhill
London
Some honesty in advertising might help people think more about the problems of modern car ownership. The Advertising Standards Authority should require that any advert showing a car on the open road or in a glamorous location cannot be repeated until it has been followed by a complete series showing the car jammed into a multi-storey space; circling a full car park; parked on the pavement in a street full of cars; standing at the lights; creeping in urban traffic with passing bicycles; and on a crowded motorway.
Steve Loveman
Sheffield
It’s not just roads that our cars are getting too big for – it’s driveways as well. Many UK driveways do not have the depth for one or more large vehicles. The result is that owners let their vehicles overhang on to the public pavement. Once again, it is pedestrians who are put at greater risk from this behaviour.
It is interesting that these reports always mention attempts by public authorities to rein in the size of cars. Why do car manufacturers not take some responsibility? Or, indeed, the consumers who buy the things?
With the growing public awareness of the climate emergency and all that it will entail, it fills me with utter despair that people are willingly going out and buying larger and larger cars. Well done, everyone!
Sam Gibson
Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire
Large cars are certainly a problem in all the ways you mention, but the huge issue for me, and many other drivers according to recent RAC research, is the dangerous dazzling effect of higher, brighter LED lights. I am an older driver, and acknowledge this is likely to impact on my night driving, but my optician has assured me that it’s not me, it’s the cars. I find night-time driving, if there is a lot of oncoming traffic, utterly terrifying, and feel trapped at home on winter evenings. It’s time for a close analysis of accidents attributed to dazzle, and legislation to ensure the safest possible headlight design and position.
Sheila Hutchins
Tregony, Cornwall
Cover photo: ‘It fills me with utter despair that people are willingly going out and buying larger and larger cars.’ Photograph: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
