I go to park in a nice quiet car park - not a busy one at a supermarket, a town centre on Saturday or a railway station in the morning peak. Plenty of empty spaces, some parts deserted.
I choose a space well away from any other vehicle - I don't want anyone parking beside me because I've suffered damage from clumsy oafs who can't get in/out of their car without whacking mine with their door.
When I come back my car is surrounded. There are still loads of empty spaces and some parts of the car park are STILL deserted. Why are some - most? - people irresistibly drawn to other cars when choosing a space? Aren't THEY worried about bodywork dings from their careless fellow motorists?
Bah! B-aaaaaa-h!
|
Ooo! Ooo! I know this one!
It's because there are a number of drivers out there who, whilst wanting to park in a space (rather than 2) have some trouble getting in between the white lines. So they park next to a car that's already there as it's easier for them to only take up 1 bay and park straight!
|
|
|
The only thing I can think of is;
* It is easier to park with other cars as frames of reference, althought this depends if the frames of reference are well parked;
or more likely I think;
* People are worried about their car getting broken into/stolen and it feels safer if your vehicle is parked amongst others and not on it\'s own in a deserted part of the car park.
Personally I do worry about getting pranged, as my car has been hit twice whilst parked in the last year; The offender failed to leave a note on both occassions. Conversely I wouldn\'t like to leave my car on it\'s own in a deserted part of the car park. I try to park in corners with a wall or bollard etc to one side and then get as close to it as possible leaving maximum room for any car next to me to park. Ialso pull as far forward as possible if the space is in front of a wall etc.
|
|
|
They think your car looks lonely and park next to it so it has company.
John R
|
Mad Maxy,
I started a thread on this one a few months ago.
They are just sad, sheeplike souls.
As long as there are plenty of empty spaces, park accross 2 bays; this tends to throw them...
|
|
Have to be careful about this in my area - the wardens will slap you a ticket for taking up two bays - £40 thanks very much!
|
A couple years ago I had a business associate from Germany come to visit me.
I decided to take him to a restaurant one evening. We got there very early (before the restaurant actually opened) and so had to wait in the car for 10 mins. The car part was big and almost completely empty.
It was a very hot day so we both opened our doors to let some air through the car.
After a few mins another customer pulled in and decided to park in the bay right next to us - he pulled up, tooting his horn and reving his engine to get my German friend to close his door so that he drive into the bay.
There were maybe 50+ empty bays and only 2-3 occupied!
I explained this to my astonished German friend as a quirk of the British personality - gaining comfort from close proximity to others. Maybe its a consequence of living on a very crowded island?
|
Ah, now I think I'm beginning to understand!
Point about the dangers of 'deserted' is well made. Once left my beloved Mk2 Golf GTI 16V in a pretty deserted but dimly lit multi-storey part of a car park in Bath. Came back to find some PFDs had smashed a side window and nicked my nice speakers from the rear shelf (not the theft-protected radio though). No wonder all the rest were parking out in the open...
I reckon if the car is on its own but easily seen from round about, some ne'er-do-well messing around with it will be more obvious than among a mass of cars. That's if the sheep can stay away...
|
|
|
it's amazing! it doesn't only happen on car-parks!,but also in the middle of the irish sea!. we can be all alone fishing at anchor,with literally miles of empty sea all around us, then then another boat will approach and drop anchor just out of verbal-abuse range, only to be followed at intervals by more and more, within minutes it seems, there are half a dozen boats all anchored-up trying to fish "our little rock".the thing that really annoys us though, is the "grockles" that will insist on parking in the "gap-in-the-bank" where we take the tractors through onto the shore,we used to ask them politely to move, but often recieved a mouth-full in reply, the sight of a big double-wheeled "brown",belching black smoke, and showing no indication of stopping (hee-hee), soon persuades them to move and huddle up amongst the other pile of cars that are also in a heap on the otherwise empty carpark.
billy.
|
|
|
|
|
I know one reason which no-one has mentioned yet. The theory is to park next to any vehicle more valuable/desirable than your own. Then the pondlife attack that, ignoring yours. Don't know how effective it is though.
And Nitro - that is a certain way to get up lots of noses - when the last 2 spaces in the park are occupied by one car.
|
I too, try to park away from other cars - mainly because with a baby, toddler and small child I need plenty of room to open doors and strap them in. As mentioned already, I can be wrestling one of them in/out of car and someone will pull in alongside despite acres of space all round.
Do they not realise that I am doing it for their benefit? With my fat arese hanging out the door wriggling around, it can be difficult to control how far the door will swing open. Also the small child can now open his door - have you ever seen a small child open a car door (flung open with all their might) - with absolutely no regard to the proximity of other cars.
|
Particular fun can be had when trying to extricate small infants from the car, carefully parked in an isolated empty area, when said idiot angrily insists you shut the door to allow them to park in the adjacent space.
They never seem to notice the other two options;
a) exercise patience, live your own life and let me live mine, and wait for maybe 45 seconds
b) park in one of the many other empty bays
I've often been tempted to tell them exactly what I think of their intellectual abilities but wouldn't want my children to hear that kind of language....
|
Also funny with kids in the car is when other drivers can't be bothered hunting for the few spaces that are left, so they lurk like vultures when they see you return to the car ("this one's mine!"), and wait for you to leave your parking space. That can take time with kids...
This happened in the Trafford Centre on Saturday: as we return to the car, an A3 pulls up 5 yards away from our car and waits; all other cars behind wait patiently for a few moments, then realise it's staying put, and have to squeeze past on its left.
We calmly extract 18-month-old and 3-year-old from push-chairs, strap kids into car-seats, tighten straps, fold up push-chairs and put them in the boot, along with accumulated shopping.
A3 still waits with engine running. More cars squeeze past it.
3-year-old announces she wants a wee, so SWMBO gets potty from boot, un-buckles 3-year-old, and lets her do her thing.
A3 still waiting.
SWMBO walks off to the far end of the car park to empty the potty, and returns a minute or two later. (She's enjoying this.)
A3 still waiting.
We get back in the car, distribute sweets to the kids, settle arguments, and start the engine.
A3 creeps closer, so there's not enough room for us to reverse out.
We reverse out anyway, stopping a couple of inches from A3's bumper. A3 driver gets the hint and moves back. Fortunately for him, the driver behind has left him room to do that.
After waiting for five or six minutes, the vulture in the A3 finally gets in *his* chosen parking space. By now the other drivers who had been behind him have all parked up and are probably half-way round the shops.
Smart.
|
|
|
|
|
I don't think this has much to do with cars. Some people do just the same in a large empty campsite. Do you all remember the seventies TV film 'Nuts in May'? Maybe they are over-sociable, or perhaps feel there is more safety in numbers.
|
discussed this with mate over a pint last night,
he reckons that it's not the drivers fault!,as he explained, cars are a mass of metal, surrounded by electrical cicuits, which literally turns them into electro-magnets, so naturally they will be attracted to each other! :-)
billy
|
I hate it, especiall when you have a brand new car.
In the House of Commons it is known as "doughnutting", I suppose it is so the your party looks as though it is terribly interested in what you have to say.
Don drbe
|
I share the same concerns about 'clumsy oafs' etc., but isn't parking next to an already-parked car (but where you're able to leave a goodly separation) a case of 'better the devil you know'?
Oz (as was)
|
The same thing happens in boating. You find a nice deserted spot of riverbank and someone will come and moor next to you. It wouldn't surprise me if fishermen find this too.
|
|
And once they've moored they either start partying noisily, run a generator for 2 hours or light a barbecue and smoke you like a kipper.
|
Hello
Dont you just hate it when you come back to your car get in and notice that both of your wing mirrors are knocked out of adjustment by people with trolleys.
I caught a lady with a trolley doing that one day so i approached her and she just stuck her nose up at me.
Kind Regards
Martin Winters
|
On a trip to the cinema you get the herding in the car parks but the complete opposite when you actually get inside. Everyone leaves at least 2 chairs between them and the stranger in the same row, sometimes choosing a different row entirely! You can see the mild panic on the face of those that arrive late and realise they may have to actually sit next to another human being that they've never met!
Fill what's empty, empty what's full and scratch where it itches!
|
You get an even more extreme avoidance in the, um, gentlemen's facilities. One bloke walks in, goes to the far end. Another bloke arrives a moment later, picks the spot which is the furthest possible from the first bloke. Third bloke arrives, goes to the spot exactly in the middle between the first two so as to be no closer than necessary to either of them.
Probably trying to avoid seeing each others' car keys ....
andymc
|
Er, no. Don\'t think so.
ND
|
Public transport is another obvious example - anyone remember Ben Elton's 'got to get a double seat' routine?
The fact that people avoid this type of behaviour in every other situation, where it doesn't really matter, makes it seem all the more strange in car parks, where it might.
|
don't know if ND will let this escape!
i can usually guess what type of vehicles that they drive!
bmw + jag drivers usually accelerate up to speed and pull away smoothly in seconds.
old fiesta, skoda drivers tend to start and stop, and splutter quite a bit,
but the worst are the fork-lift drivers, who leave the "side-shift" engaged, and get my leg!.
|
|
Nah, you're alright there. Now go and find the medication...... Amber, isn't it?
|
|
|
