Explainer: What is Carspreading and What Can We Do About it?

We have all heard of mansplaining, manspreading, but how about carspreading?

We’ve all been there. At an intersection, as a giant SUV or pickup truck pulls up alongside. A truck so big there is a fair chance the driver cannot see anyone — other vehicles, cyclists, children on the sidewalk, anyone — in a wide radius around the gargantuan vehicle. It’s a high risk situation, and one that is completely avoidable.

Welcome to the age of carspreading, a troubling trend where vehicles keep growing in size while our city streets, parking spaces, and pedestrian infrastructure stay the same—or shrink.

For urban cyclists, this is more than an aesthetic concern. It’s a threat to safety, space, and the long-term viability of city cycling.

Bigger Cars, Smaller Cities

Over the past two decades, according to a campaign in the UK by Clean Cities, the average car has ballooned in width—roughly one centimetre every two years. The average SUV now often exceeds the width of urban parking spaces, with more than half of new cars in the UK considered too wide for city infrastructure. Cyclists in cities from Toronto to Berlin are being squeezed into ever-narrower margins by increasingly oversized vehicles.

The streets aren’t getting wider. And neither are bike lanes. It is carspreading.

The Danger of Impact

The stakes are high when it comes to cyclist safety. Heavier, taller SUVs, according to Clean Cities, are significantly more lethal in collisions. Studies show that people walking or cycling are much less likely to survive when struck by a large SUV compared to a smaller car. These vehicles have higher front ends, creating more severe impact zones and increased blind spots—particularly dangerous for children and cyclists at intersections.

Carspreading isn’t just a theoretical concern. Anyone who rides regularly has likely had the experience of being brushed by a bulky SUV or left invisible at a crossing because the vehicle’s driver couldn’t see past the oversized hood.

Environmental Hypocrisy on Wheels

Cycling is part of the climate solution. SUVs are not. Internal combustion SUVs burn around 20% more fuel than smaller cars, while electric SUVs demand significantly more resources—especially critical minerals for their larger batteries. The idea that an electric SUV is somehow “green” ignores the toll its sheer mass takes on the planet.

If cities want to be climate-resilient, they need to stop making room for oversized cars and start making more room for bikes.

X-large trucks on display (photo: Stephen Lee Davis, Smart Growth America)

A Luxury That Costs Everyone

SUVs are no longer niche luxury items—they now dominate new car sales in many regions. But the benefits of these bigger, bulkier vehicles skew to the wealthiest drivers, while the costs are distributed across society: in safety risks, public space loss, road damage, and environmental impact.

Smaller vehicles—and bicycles—are subsidizing a luxury trend that eats up curb space and endangers vulnerable road users.

What Cities Can Do

Stopping carspreading starts with smarter policy:

• Fair Parking Pricing: Bigger cars should pay more. Variable parking fees based on vehicle size are already in place in cities like Paris. It’s time more municipalities followed suit.

• Set Size Limits: Governments should cap the maximum width and height of new passenger vehicles. Right now, regulations allow cars to be built as wide as commercial trucks. That needs to change.

• Support Alternatives: Infrastructure should prioritize people, not oversized machines. Every SUV-width curb cut should be matched with protected bike lanes, traffic-calming zones, and public transit upgrades.

In Paris, for instance, Mayor Anne Hidalgo is moving to ban heavy vehicles like large SUVs from city streets. And why not? These types of large vehicles are an environmental atrocity, and are invariably single-occupancy as well. It’s a no-brainer to just say no.

Cyclists: Speak Out

The #Carspreading campaign by Clean Cities is raising awareness, and cyclists can play a key role. Share photos of oversized vehicles encroaching on sidewalks and bike lanes. Tag them with #carspreading. Write to your local elected official. Demand equitable policies that protect space for active transportation.

Because every centimetre counts. Especially when you’re riding a bike.