In the USA a federal law ADA blah blah requires that you have special handicapped parking spaces. It also requires at least one 5 foot wide space on which nothing can park, so disabled people can get in and out of vans.
It seems to me that a specially designed pop up vehicle could park in that space and still allow any handicapped persons to step out on the roof of the car and leave as easily as if the car was not there.
When parked the car would assume the size and shape of an 5 ft wide asphalt block with steps in front and wheel chair ramp to the rear. Handrails would be provided, And the paint job would resemble in color and texture asphalt paving with the blue stripes required for such access spaces.
Transformer toy like it changes to an approximation of automobile or delivery van when in use as a vehicle.
UPS or FED Ex might use such a vehicle for making deliveries in crowded urban situations.
Upon waking this morning I am thinking bike or motor cycle laid on it's side would be easier to design.
Blue Striped 5' wide 18" tall bike.
Blue Striped 5' wide 18" tall motorcycle.-- popbottle, Mar 29 2015 Illustrations, please!-- Canuck, Mar 30 2015 //It seems to me that a specially designed pop up vehicle could park in that space and still allow any handicapped persons to step out on the roof of the car and leave as easily as if the car was not there.//
It may seem that way, but those spots need to be the way that they are for a lot of reasons.-- nomocrow, Mar 30 2015 Are you going to explain those reasons?-- notexactly, Mar 30 2015 Vehicles for the handicapped are designed to make use of those spaces. Wheel chair ramps and lifts, guide-rails, cargo loading spaces (for things like oxygen tanks and cart-carried artificial organs) all rely on a clear space of some width being available on the side of the vehicle.-- Voice, Mar 30 2015 This is clever.-- doctorremulac3, Mar 30 2015 This idea maintains the free width beside the handicapped space; it just raises the ground there by 18" and provides a ramp. Wouldn't that make it even easier to get people and cargo in and out of the vehicle (assuming the vehicle's floor is at 18")?-- notexactly, Mar 31 2015 When transferring from a wheelchair into a regular car seat it's usually better if the wheelchair is at the same level as the car so the car seat and the wheelchair seat are a similar height. This idea would put the wheelchair 18" higher making going from the car to the chair a significant uphill climb and quite a drop when transferring in the other direction.
If I was getting out of the car using my crutches them having an 18" block alonside the car would make it much harder to stand up as my feet would be out in front of me and the handles of the crutches would be about head height. This would mean having to pull up on them rather than pushing down and then changing grip position before walking off. Much more difficult.
To get an idea of how awkward this would be, set up a chair at a comfortable height, then lower the seat level by 18" and see how much harder it is to get out.
Most wheelchair accessible vehicles (ones where you stay sat in the chair while in the vehicle) are designed to work with the ground level at the same level as the level the vehicle is stood on. Even where they allow for working against a kerb, that's only 6"-8" high.-- oneoffdave, Mar 31 2015 //Wouldn't that make it even easier to get people and cargo in and out of the vehicle// no, it would make it much harder for a lot of reasons.-- nomocrow, Mar 31 2015 // reasons //
Ah. I see.-- notexactly, Mar 31 2015 So a Bicycle or electric bike version only say 4 inches wide/tall, might have a shot in the real world.
The handle bars fold in when it is laid down.
Dealing with wind while riding something similar to a 4 by 8 sheet of plywood would be very tricky. Turn onto 2nd street and the wind pushes you into the next lane.-- popbottle, Apr 02 2015 random, halfbakery