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EC road widening “Urgent.”
By Raph Drivelot.
European Car manufacturers today handed a 4000 page report to EC transport minister Loyola de Palacio requesting an immediate and comprehensive road widening program.
Average car sizes have increased by 30% over the last 5 years with fatties such as Renault’s Espace, Fiat’s Multipla and utility vehicles such as the currently fashionable Jeep pushing up the averages.
 While the change has been market led in the US, where people sizes are increasing even faster than car sizes, in Europe where girth and height are relatively stable, it’s just a question of fashion, a fashion creating a whole new group of victims.
The winding roads of historical town centers in many of Europe’s cities are already out of bounds for the lastest jumbo-size people carriers and dissapointed owners are increasingly being forced to park their cars and walk.
“People driving SUV’s and huge four wheel drive vehicles are increasingly irritated by successive government refusals to acknowledge their needs. It’s very upsetting for the buyer of a Ford Cherokee to have to watch pushbikes and pedestrians sailing past because his car simply won’t fit through some narrow street, or under an old bridge.” Bill Bradford from the UK car manufacturers association explained.
“It’s happening every minute of every day to some poor utility vehicle owner and it’s happening anywhere that roads haven’t been properly thought out and kept up to date.”
Bill went on to shame towns such Lewes in Sussex and Antibes in France as the least SUV-sensitive towns in Europe.
“Our clients simply can’t near those crumbly old places...” He claims. “It’s bad for local business and it’s unfair and undemocratic for our clients. It’s all very well going on about disabled access but SUV owners have rights too.”
As car sizes become ever larger - and there is no sign that the trend is abating - the only answer, according to Bill, is to remodel offending towns from scratch.
The ECM folder names towns “Of the future”. Models, they say, everyone should be following. Top score for accessibility go to ”Milton Keynes and Birmingham in the UK.” With SUV and People carrier access judged “excellent.”
 The ECM report ends urging SUV owners to take direct action to support their campaign. “I think that while awaiting a European wide program SUV owners should just move to Milton Keynes. It’s the only thing that’s going to make the government sit up and listen.” Bill told BigFib.
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