Angle

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone know the angle of the White lines in a carpark in late 1970's/early 1980s. I just want to know if they were 45° or 90° or weather there was any put down. I would just like to know which angle to paint the lines on my station carpark.

Cheers Connor

Both 45 or 90 were used or 75. It really depends on how much maneuvering space the car has to turn into the parking space.  Angled spaces were used when space was limited.  Angled parking is almost always used  with a one way system in the car park. You can't easily turn around to come back the way you drove in. 90 degree parking allows you to exit the parking space in either direction.

In most car parks nobody seems to keep within the lines anyway so I wouldn't bother putting them there. It wasn't until the likes of NCP and other parking firms, that wanted to maximise the parking in an area without any thought to manoeuvrability that they started to appear.

Angle parking isn't only at 45 degrees.  It can be at 30 or 60 degrees.  It can be at any angle depending on the local situation.  In just about every case the angle will be determined by the need to offer the maximum number of parking bays in a given area.  The shape of that area is seldom a convenient square or rectangle meaning odd corners and angles have to be accounted for.

Roadside parking will again be dictated by local conditions inasmuch as sea-front locations where more spaces might be preferred may offer angle-parking if the road is wide enough.  Traffic levels also play a part; reversing from an angle park you are at greater risk then emerging forwards from a parallel park.  Angle-parking is often avoided on busy streets for that reason.