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Finding a safe parking spot
A brief look at the statistics would suggest that shoppers’ car parks are the least safe places to park a car. A survey by the Sydney-based NRMA Insurance found that 15% of collision claims in NSW are the result of bungled parking.
The problem peaks at prime shopping times and the insurers have even identified Sydney’s “collision parking black spot”. It’s Chatswood on a Thursday night. A similar survey in the UK last year found that British motorists paid out a staggering $11 billion annually to repair car park dents and scratches caused by fellow motorists who did not leave notes admitting the damage.
All told there were 22 million motorists who fell victim of “dent-and-run” incidents. Of these about 15 million motorists had inadequate insurance cover and paid on average $750 for repairs. (As one wit wrote in a recent motoring blog: “I’ve had more cars damaged by supermarket trolleys than other vehicles.”)
Meanwhile some new gadgetry from Nissan may go someway to reducing the problem—although not in persuading the “dent-and-runners” to own up. Nissan, as illustrated above, has introduced what it is calling the world’s first “around view monitor”. It uses a series of four wide-angle high-resolution cameras fitted to the front, rear and sides of the vehicle to provide the driver with a bird’s eye view of parking spots. According to Nissan the resulting images will enable divers to “steer easily and precisely” into a parking space.
