In our small college town pretty much all parking is parallel parking. Just a fact of life and been that way for a hundred years. I have noticed a disturbing trend recently. On the evenings I teach, I come up town and look for a parking spot. I spot one and I:

1.Turn on my signal.
2. Slow down and stop.
3. Make sure there is enough room between me and any car behind me so they have time to stop well back.
4. Put my car into reverse so the backup lights go on.

Out of the last 10 times I have parked, at least half the time, the person in a car behind me pulls right up on my bumper even though they had plenty of time to stop and leave space for me to back up. And they simply refuse to back up or pay any attention whatsoever. So I end up going around the block again and hunt for another spot. I don't know what the problem is, lack of common courtesy, inability to empathize, stupidity, ignorance. It really chaps my a$$. If I see someone in front of me put on their signal in the middle of a block and slow down and stop next to an open parking spot, I assume they are going to park and leave plenty of space if possible. Is this not normal behavior?

---

Athens, OH

My wife would sooner walk 4 miles than even try to parallel park. Many people feel the same way. She always thinks it's just short of a miracle when I parallel park while she's in the car.

---

**************************************
MacResource User Map: [www.zeemaps.com]#

I agree with arch. That's the only way to parallel park. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it, but there is no doing it if someone is riding your a$$ and not giving you the room to back in. I feel your pain.

Quote
ztirffritz
My wife would sooner walk 4 miles than even try to parallel park. Many people feel the same way. She always thinks it's just short of a miracle when I parallel park while she's in the car.

How can she ever find a place to park? I wish there were more people like your wife around. That would leave more parking spaces free for me. The drivers license test here requires that you parallel park under the watchful gaze of the examiner. Isn't that also true where you live?

As to the original post, I've never encountered such behavior. There's no way I'd move given the behavior as described. If necessary I'd get out of the car and walk back to ask the offender to please get out of the way so that I can park.

---

"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2016 04:51PM by davester.

Quote
archipirata
Is this not normal behavior?

It used to be.
Get out and raise the hood.
They'd probably find your activity a perfect opportunity to finish their text without any distractions though.

I usually just put it in reverse and start backing up... they'll figure it out. Sometimes before my bumper hit's 'em, sometimes after...

---

Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

--
Eureka, CA

You missed step 5 - actually start backing up. The idiot behind you has to feel threatened if you want them out of your way. If there is a collision, you know who's at fault. The ONLY good thing about driving my old clunker Dodge Dart Swinger (first car) was that I won EVERY game of chicken. No one wants to mess with a gigantic 'mid sized' car made out of real steel!

Quote
archipirata
In our small college town pretty much all parking is parallel parking. Just a fact of life and been that way for a hundred years. I have noticed a disturbing trend recently. On the evenings I teach, I come up town and look for a parking spot. I spot one and I:

1.Turn on my signal.
2. Slow down and stop.
3. Make sure there is enough room between me and any car behind me so they have time to stop well back.
4. Put my car into reverse so the backup lights go on.

Out of the last 10 times I have parked, at least half the time, the person in a car behind me pulls right up on my bumper even though they had plenty of time to stop and leave space for me to back up. And they simply refuse to back up or pay any attention whatsoever. So I end up going around the block again and hunt for another spot. I don't know what the problem is, lack of common courtesy, inability to empathize, stupidity, ignorance. It really chaps my a$$. If I see someone in front of me put on their signal in the middle of a block and slow down and stop next to an open parking spot, I assume they are going to park and leave plenty of space if possible. Is this not normal behavior?

Quote
davester

Quote
ztirffritz
My wife would sooner walk 4 miles than even try to parallel park. Many people feel the same way. She always thinks it's just short of a miracle when I parallel park while she's in the car.

How can she ever find a place to park? I wish there were more people like your wife around. That would leave more parking spaces free for me. The drivers license test here requires that you parallel park under the watchful gaze of the examiner. Isn't that also true where you live?

There was no parallel parking requirement in PA where I took my test. Just a 3-point turn. I don't know what is required in Washington. I just had to pass the written part of the test to get my WA license.

My wife is known far and wide as a walker. Her friends joke about going on short 10 mile 'strolls' with her in high school. She also has no spacial awareness. I asked her to park in the street in front of our house and I came out and found the car parked 2 feet from the curb, basically in the middle of the street. She'd left it there like that for several hours. When I asked she said it was as close as she could get it. She always complains about how bad the turning radius is in her car, then marvels at how well it behaves for me.

---

**************************************
MacResource User Map: [www.zeemaps.com]#

Quote
davester

Quote
ztirffritz
My wife would sooner walk 4 miles than even try to parallel park. Many people feel the same way. She always thinks it's just short of a miracle when I parallel park while she's in the car.

How can she ever find a place to park? I wish there were more people like your wife around. That would leave more parking spaces free for me. The drivers license test here requires that you parallel park under the watchful gaze of the examiner. Isn't that also true where you live?

If she was 16, that might be fresh in her memory.

Quote
ztirffritz
There was no parallel parking requirement in PA where I took my test. Just a 3-point turn. I don't know what is required in Washington. I just had to pass the written part of the test to get my WA license.

Interesting. It is a requirement in Maryland. I parked in seconds, it was easy. Parking on the street, with traffic, with other cars, with pedestrians, that's harder and I haven't done so in years. Well, I park in visitor parking at my home sometimes (yeah, visitor parking, long story), but that's generally pretty easy, cars are far enough apart and the problem there is getting too close to the curb, because then you can't exit on the passenger side very easily (there's a fence just off the curb).

Quote
archipirata
In our small college town pretty much all parking is parallel parking. Just a fact of life and been that way for a hundred years. I have noticed a disturbing trend recently. On the evenings I teach, I come up town and look for a parking spot. I spot one and I:

1.Turn on my signal.
2. Slow down and stop.
3. Make sure there is enough room between me and any car behind me so they have time to stop well back.
4. Put my car into reverse so the backup lights go on.

Out of the last 10 times I have parked, at least half the time, the person in a car behind me pulls right up on my bumper even though they had plenty of time to stop and leave space for me to back up. And they simply refuse to back up or pay any attention whatsoever. So I end up going around the block again and hunt for another spot. I don't know what the problem is, lack of common courtesy, inability to empathize, stupidity, ignorance. It really chaps my a$$. If I see someone in front of me put on their signal in the middle of a block and slow down and stop next to an open parking spot, I assume they are going to park and leave plenty of space if possible. Is this not normal behavior?

That would never work in NYC, your spot would be taken by the guy behind you.
Disregard completely the steps one through four.
1. Swoop into the open space, even if you can get only half way into it, three feet from the curb
2. After making sure there is nobody behind you able to steal your space,
3. pull out and start backing up process

Alternative method:
1.Pull up behind the space you need, let out your passenger/accomplice.
2. He/she steps in front of the idiot behind you, blocking traffic.
3. You move up and proceed to park your car.
4. Your accomplice waves at the traffic.....

I see that all the time around here, drives my husband nuts when they pull up so close, he'll just sit there and out wait them, or yell out the window

I think it's stupidity more than anything, like they just don't understand what you're trying to do...

Me parallel parking:
[youtu.be]

vs my wife:

---

**************************************
MacResource User Map: [www.zeemaps.com]#



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2016 05:26PM by ztirffritz.

Consider yourself lucky if it's taken you this long to realize people on the road are selfish, inconsiderate jerks.

I agree with the others, keep it in reverse and slowly back up. Or pull into the spot far enough for them to pass, then back out and park properly.

yea, on th bumper happens here to, especially on the main thoroughfares

---

!#$@@$#!

proofraed by OwEn the c@t.



Nobody remembers their first download, but everyone remembers their 1st LP.

Quote
hal
You missed step 5 - actually start backing up. The idiot behind you has to feel threatened if you want them out of your way. If there is a collision, you know who's at fault. The ONLY good thing about driving my old clunker Dodge Dart Swinger (first car) was that I won EVERY game of chicken. No one wants to mess with a gigantic 'mid sized' car made out of real steel!

This is why I love my 33 year old car. I look like I don't have insurance and I can take the dents and door dings. Even with regular parking, it's a narrow car with protective door trim so as long as it actually fits, I can fit into spaces too narrow for most modern cars.

Quote
archipirata
In our small college town pretty much all parking is parallel parking. Just a fact of life and been that way for a hundred years. I have noticed a disturbing trend recently. On the evenings I teach, I come up town and look for a parking spot. I spot one and I:

1.Turn on my signal.
2. Slow down and stop.
3. Make sure there is enough room between me and any car behind me so they have time to stop well back.
4. Put my car into reverse so the backup lights go on.

Out of the last 10 times I have parked, at least half the time, the person in a car behind me pulls right up on my bumper even though they had plenty of time to stop and leave space for me to back up. And they simply refuse to back up or pay any attention whatsoever. So I end up going around the block again and hunt for another spot. I don't know what the problem is, lack of common courtesy, inability to empathize, stupidity, ignorance. It really chaps my a$$. If I see someone in front of me put on their signal in the middle of a block and slow down and stop next to an open parking spot, I assume they are going to park and leave plenty of space if possible. Is this not normal behavior?

Quote
ztirffritz
My wife is known far and wide as a walker. Her friends joke about going on short 10 mile 'strolls' with her in high school. She also has no spacial awareness.

Which is exactly why those walks ended up being ten miles long.

---

It is what it is.

Quote
ztirffritz
Me parallel parking:
[youtu.be]

vs my wife:

You wife is a Chicago Police officer?

---

In tha 360. MRF User Map

I have a different parallel parking rant...people who park by braille, intentionally. You can recognize these folks by their totally trashed front and rear bumpers. I don't understand how they can think it OK to smash into and cause such damage to other people's cars deliberately. It happened to me just the other day. I was walking towards my parked car and saw this guy trying to get out of the parking space in front of mine. He ran into the car in front of him. Then he started backing into my car...I ran over and yelled for him to stop but he slammed into my car, scraping the front bumper. I walked around to talk to him but he just drove off. What an ass!

---

"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

OK, as long as we're ranting about idiots when you're trying to park, what REALLY gets to me is someone sees you getting into your car, wants your space, and pulls up ready to back in, but you can't get out because they're in the way. When that happens, I start to get out of my car and they leave and I can get out. Eejits!

---

in the city, there is no parking other than parallel parking and you have to learn to do it in traffic, with peds crossing at your bumper, bikes coming down the lane, etc.

as far as backing up, not always possible, there could be a queue behind the dummy, and he can't back up. and he can't go around you because he's on your ass. and too dumb.

the solution is to put on the blinker or emergency flashers, to tell them you will be a road hazard in a few seconds. now, don't pull up to the front of the space! stay at the back of the space until all is clear. then, pull up and do your thing.

if you are too slow and a nervous parker, then I really can't help you. it's a god-given gift, after all; some of us just have the gift.

[www.youtube.com]

---

Hurts like a bastid...

Maybe your turn signal bulb is burned out.





I'm an eternal optimist.....

---

[www.zeemaps.com]

I took Driver's ED in the summer of 1969. The instructor showed us a simple technique for parallel parking that has never failed me. Our road classes were in Manhattan and Brooklyn. I passed my road test the first time and received a Senior License when I was 17 ( a rare feat in NYC).

Quote
Paul F.
I usually just put it in reverse and start backing up... they'll figure it out. Sometimes before my bumper hit's 'em, sometimes after...

I learned to drive in The Bronx, in the sixties. The only parking available WAS parallel parking. I can park correctly, first time, every time. LOL

---

richorlin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2016 10:52PM by richorlin.

Parallel parking is still on the road test here in MA. First did it when I got my license over 40 years ago, and taught my sons to do it for their tests a few years ago. In between I also once had a MA Class 2 license, had to do the parallel parking bit for that in a 35' manual transmission school bus.

Parallel parking is on the WA driving test. Has been for decades. I had to retake my test in 2012 to prove I was safe to drive with my bad hip. Anyway, 100 point test, failing parallel parking is only minus 4 points, passing is 80 or higher. You can still get a license, even if you refuse to even try.

I got an 88 with 2 vicodin in me, and some MS contin. 8 points I could have argued, but passing is passing.

Anyway. Parallel parking is some basic steps, that following precisely, work, as long as there is adequate room.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2016 02:19AM by Racer X.

Stop before the empty parking space.
Get out of your vehicle.
Place two orange cones in the lane behind your vehicle.
Drive forward and parallel park.
Exit vehicle and pick up the cones.


Sometimes desperate times call for extreme measures.

Quote
archipirata
Out of the last 10 times I have parked, at least half the time, the person in a car behind me pulls right up on my bumper even though they had plenty of time to stop and leave space for me to back up.

Try parallel parking in DC.

You start to back into a spot and a dozen jaywalkers rush to fill in behind you.

---

Quote
testcase
I took Driver's ED in the summer of 1969. The instructor showed us a simple technique for parallel parking that has never failed me. Our road classes were in Manhattan and Brooklyn. I passed my road test the first time and received a Senior License when I was 17 ( a rare feat in NYC).

Details please?

Pull alongside and parallel to the car in front of the space you want to park in; the side view mirrors should be close (but not touch). When safe, start to slowly back straight up. When your steering wheel is alongside the rear window of the car next to you, quickly turn your steering wheel fully clockwise. Your car's nose will swing left (out into possible traffic) and the tail will swing right, starting into the parking space. When your car is 45º to the curb, start turning your steering wheel counter-clockwise. With a little bit of practice, you'll learn the rate that said counter-clockwise turn needs to be, to effect getting the nose of your car clear of the forward parked car and, successfully into your parking space with the car close to the curb. If the forward vehicle does not have a rear window, you guesstimate where it would be and, start your CCW turn accordingly. Center your car within the parking space and you're done. To pull out, you'll probably need to back up some so that there'll be more room for your car's nose to easily clear. All three students in our Driver's ED car mastered this quickly. This technique has worked for me in any vehicle I've wanted to parallel park.

Quote
davester
I have a different parallel parking rant...people who park by braille, intentionally.

SOP in Paris. When we were apartment hunting, we were sitting in the car talking to our agent when *BAM* some guy smacks into her car. She just turned and yelled at him than turned back and calmly continued talking to us. Mind you that she was not heard yelling outside the car. It was just a minor annoyance. The interruption in the conversation was more of a concern than the actual contact.

On flat streets, you are expected to leave your car in neutral with the parking brake off so that your car can be deliberately moved to adapt to the different sized cars that park during the day. If you have ever been to Paris, you probably noticed that the cars are all touching and wondered how they park like that. That's how.

People with nice cars park underground.

Quote
Janit

Quote
testcase
I took Driver's ED in the summer of 1969. The instructor showed us a simple technique for parallel parking that has never failed me. Our road classes were in Manhattan and Brooklyn. I passed my road test the first time and received a Senior License when I was 17 ( a rare feat in NYC).

Details please?

I'd like details, too. I got my license at 17 in 1975 - all that was required was to take a driver's ed class, same as today outside of NYC in NY. My youngest just passed his road test, and will receive a full license in April, on his 17th birthday. (We live on Long Island.)

From the NYS DMV website:
If you have a Class DJ or MJ junior license, you cannot drive within the five boroughs of New York City under any circumstances.

Junior permit holders who consistently drive in New York City should delay their road test until their 18th birthday to allow for continued practice driving with approved supervising drivers in vehicles with dual controls (dual brakes).

This prohibition does not apply to 17 year old drivers who have completed a State Education Department approved Driver and Traffic Safety Education Course (and submitted to DMV their MV-285 Driver Education Course Completion Certificate) and received their Class D, adult license. With a Class D license, a 17 year old may drive unrestricted anywhere in New York State.