Heavy vehicles on the sidewalk: Parking on the hips is widespread on inner-city streets, and not just in Frankfurt.
Image: Ben Kilb
Very heavy cars should no longer be parked in residential areas – this is what the local council in Frankfurt’s Nordend is demanding. It’s about SUVs, vans, transporters or camper vans over 2.8 tons gross vehicle weight. The regulation could particularly affect electric cars.
Anger speaks from the flyer that is being distributed in Frankfurt’s north end. There is talk of “despair” about politics and of “absurd justifications”. The originator warns the neighbors that they will soon no longer be able to use their cars. And he calls on them to unite for a common cause. It reads: “Stop this anti-van/anti-SUV application.” What is meant is a push by the local advisory board 3, which is responsible for the Frankfurt district. In their application, the district politicians ask the magistrate to no longer issue resident parking permits for vehicles over 2.8 tons permissible total weight – in the north end and preferably in the entire city.
Large SUVs and vans, transporters and mobile homes would be affected by this regulation. Expensive SUVs such as the Mercedes G-Class, the VW Touareg, the BMW X7, the Audi Q8, the Land Rover Discovery or the Model X from Tesla usually exceed the limit of 2.8 tons permissible total weight. But utility vehicles such as the VW Transporter, the Mercedes Sprinter or the Ford Transit are usually above that – it always depends on the respective technical equipment. Reliable information is provided by the registration certificate, in which the permissible total weight is noted, i.e. the maximum load capacity of a car including payload.