Row over how best to deal with large and heavy vehicles
Councillors have clashed over calls to use parking charges to discourage larger and heavier vehicles from the streets of Edinburgh.
Green Inverleith councillor Jule Bandel said SUVs were more dangerous to pedestrians than most cars, and hiking parking charges for such vehicles would only hit the wealthy.
But Conservative Morningside councillor Marie-Clair Munro said the heaviest cars were electric vehicles, and said some SUV owners would not class themselves as wealthy.
The row came as the council’s transport and environment committee discussed road safety and a report requested from officials on potential measures to deter large and heavy vehicles. The report said increasing parking permits costs could only influence car owners who required a permit, and varying on-street charges would mean upgrading ticket machines.
Cllr Bandel said: “We know from existing studies that pedestrians are more likely to die when hit by a larger or heavier vehicle, especially children.
Research suggests children are eight times more likely to die when struck by an SUV than when struck by a lighter passenger car.
“The smaller you are, the less likely it is the driver will see you and the more likely it is the bumper will hit you in the chest or even the head. SUV drivers have also been shown to be more likely to take risks on the road because they feel protected by their big car.”
She added that SUVs were “incredibly polluting” and also took up more space, often not fitting into regular parking spaces.
“For all of these reasons we are proposing Edinburgh should follow cities like Paris to discourage the use of larger and heavier vehicles by raising parking charges – which, since these vehicles tend to be quite expensive, means it should only affect wealthier residents – and raise additional revenue which should be put back into road safety.”