8 July 2013

Monday parking hootenanny

| Barcham
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Start your day right Rioters with a cheap bit of breadish substance from the bakery, a Redeye, and a big pile of parking photos to peruse!

That’s it!

Feeling better now?

Alrighty then, OFF TO WORK!

Perhaps you have procured a perfect picture of poor parking?

Please post it to images@the-riotact.com!

Be sure to include what name you would like to be credited by and the work ‘parking’ in the subject.


1. MsCheeky hid up a lamp post in Goulburn to get us our first shot of the week:

Goulburn isn’t immune from bad parking, either.

Shh

2. Poetix doesn’t live near the beach, so she can’t go whale watching. She makes do:

There were a lot of big cars parked on the grass near Old Parliament House yesterday. Obviously a mass beaching, or ‘lawning’ as we experts call it. Bonnets up, so they were sick beasts.

hhhhhh...

3. Chris wonders what more can be done:

At a Watson apartment complex. Big yellow X on the ground. “No parking” sign. Giant sign explaining why not to park there. And yet….

It's late.

4. The Bus Driver seems to have stumbled upon some kind of bad parking convention:

More parking from Anzac Park West.

Really every time you need to head down past that place you should check it out. Without fail every week day it is parking anarchy. But it is oh so much fun for self confessed parking nutters like myself. I do feel kind of guilty taking these images, but then I rationalise it by observing masses of pay parking less than 50 metres away in the half empty CIT car parks. Accessible to all who buy a ticket.

Gee people, lets face it, if you have to resort to parking on tree roots, footpaths and other landscape, maybe you should be catching the bus?

I'm tired. It's the night before. Well the morning before technically. So shhh. Sleepy. ... See I wasn't expecting so many pictures. There were only a few emails... Wasn't expecting a million photos in each one. Boy isn't my face (eyes) red? ... Yawn. Three... Two... One... DONE!

5. Another Chris wanted you to have this:

Epic jerk. No excuse for this kind of bullsh1t, inhuman behaviour. Pure scum.

(Can you tell it p1ssed me off?)

Ernest & Young carpark, Civic.

No wait... There's more.

6. Terry cares:

This is from the Bing Lee carpark in Belco.

Not content with wiping out the park next to him, this driver didn’t care that it was the only disabled spot in the whole carpark.

Always more...

7. Johnboy picked up this one while he was hanging around in a shady alley in Dickson:

I'm tired.

8. Toby looks on the bright side:

This car was parked on the no parking stripes, about 7pm on Thursday at Belconnen Mall. At least it wasn’t in a Parents With Prams spot…

I already said that didn't I?

9. Bubzie believes a .jpeg is worth a thousand words:

Why am I doing this the night before?

10. Julian delivers up four serves of nasty parking:

Below are a few submissions of parking madness from near Barton during the AFL match at Manuka Oval today.

The ACT Ambulance Servcie must be trialing compact Ambulances as a new cost cutting measure.

I've taken tomorrow off to talk about Vampire Squid...

The go home taxi your drunk occasion. Taken from behind a tree, ASIO style.

Water Bears...

A bus for those who don’t like people around them.

Conan the Bacterium

Then we have those who thought the ACT Government was hard done by & wanted to donate a few dollars to help.

Also camel poo... that sort of thing.

11. Sheep Groper retrieved this for us:

Another from the Woden zebra crossing. The 4WD completely blocked my view of the drug side of the crossing and the view of oncoming traffic from the guy about to cross. Again it was on the weekend with lots of free parking around the corner.

I'll see you all after lunch, good night.

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I use the rear foglights when I’m being tailgated through Red Hill at night. Don’t know why so many people are so aggressive but when I slow down for the kangaroos some idiot comes up behind me and creates hazard number two. A little extra light from the rear usually nudges them back a bit and the front lights are useful for helping me see more kangaroos I might have missed.

I can turn it off if anyone comes the other way or when I return to civilisation.

screaming banshee6:52 am 11 Jul 13

The Antichrist said :

tim_c said :

and secondly, NSW Police actually do something about fog lights being used illegally. Here in the ACT, if you happen to chance a glimpse of a Police car actually driving around, it’ll probably even have the foglights switched on too.

Drive around Sydney for a bit and you’ll notice there are far less people using fog lights in clear weather compared to ACT where it seems nearly everybody that has fog lights has them switched on by default.

Foglights ?? Are you talking about proper foglights with orange or yellow lenses ?? Not many vehicles have factory-fitted foglights at all. I think you are confusing DRL’s (Daylight running lights) with foglights. Its not illegal to use these in daylight hours at all.

The symbol on the switch/dash will tell the tale, and I expect only European cars will have drl’s fitted.

DRL
http://dashboardsymbols.com/2010/11/daytime-running-lamps-symbol/

FRONT FOG
https://www.ultimatesymbol.com/volumedetail.php?id=7005&cid=50

REAR FOG
https://www.ultimatesymbol.com/volumedetail.php?id=7006&cid=50

The Antichrist said :

Foglights ?? Are you talking about proper foglights with orange or yellow lenses ?? Not many vehicles have factory-fitted foglights at all. I think you are confusing DRL’s (Daylight running lights) with foglights. Its not illegal to use these in daylight hours at all.

And just for completeness, here’s the NRMA’s take on the situation.

The Antichrist said :

Foglights ?? Are you talking about proper foglights with orange or yellow lenses ?? Not many vehicles have factory-fitted foglights at all. I think you are confusing DRL’s (Daylight running lights) with foglights. Its not illegal to use these in daylight hours at all.

DRLs are dimmer than headlights. Foglights are more intense — that is their purpose, to be seen through fog. The colour of the lens is irrelevant, though yellow light does pierce fog better due to being refracted significantly less than blue light.

The lights that many cars in Canberra have fitted on their bumper skirts are foglights, not Daytime Running Lights. It’s especially funny when drivers think it’s cool to turn the foglights on and the healights off when driving at night: the foglights only light the patch of road a few metres in front of the car, where the dashboard and bonnet obstruct the driver’s vision. Proper headlights illuminate more of the road because the light is focussed into a narrow wedge.

In the meantime, don’t try to justify turning on your fog lights in high visibility conditions by telling yourself that they’re actually “Daytime Running Lights”. If there’s a switch to turn them on, they’re fog lights.

You are not “cool” you are only annoying.

The Antichrist9:34 pm 10 Jul 13

tim_c said :

and secondly, NSW Police actually do something about fog lights being used illegally. Here in the ACT, if you happen to chance a glimpse of a Police car actually driving around, it’ll probably even have the foglights switched on too.

Drive around Sydney for a bit and you’ll notice there are far less people using fog lights in clear weather compared to ACT where it seems nearly everybody that has fog lights has them switched on by default.

Foglights ?? Are you talking about proper foglights with orange or yellow lenses ?? Not many vehicles have factory-fitted foglights at all. I think you are confusing DRL’s (Daylight running lights) with foglights. Its not illegal to use these in daylight hours at all.

screaming banshee6:40 pm 10 Jul 13

tim_c said :

IrishPete said :

I’ve driven recently with a blown headlight, because it blew at a time when Supercheap wasn’t open (and nowhere else either where I could be guaranteed to get the right globe, and even there it took two goes), and it took my a day or two to get to them and get the right globe and get it fitted.

So let’s not assume everyone is being a cheapskate – the light may only recently have blown.

IP

As have I, and I acknowledge that we generally use our headlights at night when the globe-selling shops are shut (although most decent sized petrol stations (ie. 24 hour) carry a range of globes – I however, opted to get a ‘better than standard’ replacement which I got a Repco on my way to the office the following day, and fitted the new pair in under 10 minutes when I got home that evening).

Noting that you may well drive around for a day or two before you could get a replacement globe installed, let’s assume you blew one every five years – even if you drove around for three weeks before getting a new globe installed, you’d only be driving around ~1% of the time with only one headlight. I’d estimate there are substantially more than 1% of Canberra cars driving around with a headlight out (in parts of Tuggeranong it must be approaching 25%).

Lamps every 5 years, I wish. I’ve gone through 8 sets of headlamps in my 4.5 year old subarooted.

tim_c said :

IrishPete said :

Mine lasted about three years and I have them on 99% of the time. After blowing and replacing one, the other blew within about a month. Impressive.

IP

What else did you expect? Both bulbs were probably manufactured and installed at the same time, if the life span of one had expired, why would you expect the life span of the other would be significantly greater?!

Err, yes, like the way things wear out at different rates generally.

IP

IrishPete said :

Mine lasted about three years and I have them on 99% of the time. After blowing and replacing one, the other blew within about a month. Impressive.

IP

What else did you expect? Both bulbs were probably manufactured and installed at the same time, if the life span of one had expired, why would you expect the life span of the other would be significantly greater?!

p1 said :

In my 2009 model car, you have to remove the battery to replace one headlight, and part of the air intake system for other. I have had one of each blow in the last year. I could probably replace on in five or ten minutes easy enough now, but the first time took longer, and involved more swearing at the small handed idiots who designed the car.

those designers are probably excellent proctologists. My car was made in Belgium, where I doubt they have particularly small hands.

IP

p1 said :

In my 2009 model car, you have to remove the battery to replace one headlight, and part of the air intake system for other. I have had one of each blow in the last year. I could probably replace on in five or ten minutes easy enough now, but the first time took longer, and involved more swearing at the small handed idiots who designed the car.

the instructions are usually super helpful too, like “remove panel, and replace bulb” when actually there’s a fair bit more to it than that, and a tricky knack to putting the new bulb in without touching the glass. In the end I held it with tissue paper.

IP

tim_c said :

IrishPete said :

I’ve driven recently with a blown headlight, because it blew at a time when Supercheap wasn’t open (and nowhere else either where I could be guaranteed to get the right globe, and even there it took two goes), and it took my a day or two to get to them and get the right globe and get it fitted.

So let’s not assume everyone is being a cheapskate – the light may only recently have blown.

IP

As have I, and I acknowledge that we generally use our headlights at night when the globe-selling shops are shut (although most decent sized petrol stations (ie. 24 hour) carry a range of globes – I however, opted to get a ‘better than standard’ replacement which I got a Repco on my way to the office the following day, and fitted the new pair in under 10 minutes when I got home that evening).

Noting that you may well drive around for a day or two before you could get a replacement globe installed, let’s assume you blew one every five years – even if you drove around for three weeks before getting a new globe installed, you’d only be driving around ~1% of the time with only one headlight. I’d estimate there are substantially more than 1% of Canberra cars driving around with a headlight out (in parts of Tuggeranong it must be approaching 25%).

Mine lasted about three years and I have them on 99% of the time. After blowing and replacing one, the other blew within about a month. Impressive.

IP

jb’s efforts at no.7 are available pretty well any time you go past this spot. i have inquired from time to time of a few drivers alighting from their unlawfully parked vehicles if they were not, as youths, instructed in the dark arts of ‘reading’, but have drawn only ire or blank looks…

In my 2009 model car, you have to remove the battery to replace one headlight, and part of the air intake system for other. I have had one of each blow in the last year. I could probably replace on in five or ten minutes easy enough now, but the first time took longer, and involved more swearing at the small handed idiots who designed the car.

IrishPete said :

I happened to be standing on Malbon St (King’s Highway) in Bungendore on Sunday at about 6pm. You could have sold tickets. In about 10 minutes I saw three vehicles pulled up by a highway patrol car. Two had their foglights on, but I don’t know if that was the reason they were pulled over, or if they were speeding through the town, nor whether the officer told them to turn them off (the first drove away when I wasn’t looking, the second was still stopped when I left).

The poor cop never even had time to move between each “pull”. It must have been like fishing in a barrel (is that the right metaphor?).

IP

There are two reasons for that – firstly, in NSW they actually have Police patrolling, and secondly, NSW Police actually do something about fog lights being used illegally. Here in the ACT, if you happen to chance a glimpse of a Police car actually driving around, it’ll probably even have the foglights switched on too.

Drive around Sydney for a bit and you’ll notice there are far less people using fog lights in clear weather compared to ACT where it seems nearly everybody that has fog lights has them switched on by default.

IrishPete said :

I’ve driven recently with a blown headlight, because it blew at a time when Supercheap wasn’t open (and nowhere else either where I could be guaranteed to get the right globe, and even there it took two goes), and it took my a day or two to get to them and get the right globe and get it fitted.

So let’s not assume everyone is being a cheapskate – the light may only recently have blown.

IP

As have I, and I acknowledge that we generally use our headlights at night when the globe-selling shops are shut (although most decent sized petrol stations (ie. 24 hour) carry a range of globes – I however, opted to get a ‘better than standard’ replacement which I got a Repco on my way to the office the following day, and fitted the new pair in under 10 minutes when I got home that evening).

Noting that you may well drive around for a day or two before you could get a replacement globe installed, let’s assume you blew one every five years – even if you drove around for three weeks before getting a new globe installed, you’d only be driving around ~1% of the time with only one headlight. I’d estimate there are substantially more than 1% of Canberra cars driving around with a headlight out (in parts of Tuggeranong it must be approaching 25%).

bigred said :

Can we also have a bad driving or worst foglights weekly item?

I happened to be standing on Malbon St (King’s Highway) in Bungendore on Sunday at about 6pm. You could have sold tickets. In about 10 minutes I saw three vehicles pulled up by a highway patrol car. Two had their foglights on, but I don’t know if that was the reason they were pulled over, or if they were speeding through the town, nor whether the officer told them to turn them off (the first drove away when I wasn’t looking, the second was still stopped when I left).

The poor cop never even had time to move between each “pull”. It must have been like fishing in a barrel (is that the right metaphor?).

IP

tim_c said :

bigred said :

Can we also have a bad driving or worst foglights weekly item?

Or the unobservant wallies who drive around with only one headlight on. Are they really so unobservant that they don’t notice a light out right in front of their eyes, or just so cheap they can’t afford $8 for a new globe?! And what other essential maintenance are they not noticing, or too cheap to carry out?

Globes aren’t always that cheap – a brand name replacement for my car was over $50 (Supercheap was about $20, but took a bit of tracking down – got the wrong one first time, despite using their guidebook) and was very fiddly to fit. Most people would have been up for a visit to a dealer/mechanic to fit it, at significant expense and inconvenience (need to find the time to do it). Some vehicles have sealed beam headlights, which are also expensive to replace.

I’ve driven recently with a blown headlight, because it blew at a time when Supercheap wasn’t open (and nowhere else either where I could be guaranteed to get the right globe, and even there it took two goes), and it took my a day or two to get to them and get the right globe and get it fitted.

So let’s not assume everyone is being a cheapskate – the light may only recently have blown.

IP

tim_c said :

Or the unobservant wallies who drive around with only one headlight on. Are they really so unobservant that they don’t notice a light out right in front of their eyes, or just so cheap they can’t afford $8 for a new globe?! And what other essential maintenance are they not noticing, or too cheap to carry out?

I got surprised by a Taxi van like that Monday night. Worse, it was the right headlight that was dead.

+1 to the “foglights-on” derby.

I’d also suggest the moron cyclists who ride around in dark clothes at night with no lights (or maybe tiny one perched high up on the back of the helmet, out of eye-level and covered by a backpack), but you wouldn’t be able to capture them without a decent flash or looooong exposure time.

bigred said :

Can we also have a bad driving or worst foglights weekly item?

Or the unobservant wallies who drive around with only one headlight on. Are they really so unobservant that they don’t notice a light out right in front of their eyes, or just so cheap they can’t afford $8 for a new globe?! And what other essential maintenance are they not noticing, or too cheap to carry out?

Can we also have a bad driving or worst foglights weekly item?

Richard Bender8:00 pm 08 Jul 13

#2 – There was a Leyland P76 gathering? And I missed it? 🙁

StrangeAttractor said :

That Toyota in 9 has been parking like that almost every day for well over two years.

Really? At Watson shops? Oh my.

I love the way bad parking brings us all together.

#4 includes a lot of soft-roaders – it’s probably the only time they ever get driven off the black-top.

#4 The Bus Driver has captured all the tight-arses..

Holden Caulfield10:36 am 08 Jul 13

Spotto #4.

Spotto..
Errrr #4a #4o & #4p

@ #3, perhaps it was intentionally being left there as part of the regularly scheduled waste pick up?

thebrownstreak6910:30 am 08 Jul 13

Gee SUVs are ugly.

The comment to 11 really doesn’t make sense when the 4WD in question was cropped off the left. I’ll have to get closer to my prey next time.

StrangeAttractor10:08 am 08 Jul 13

That Toyota in 9 has been parking like that almost every day for well over two years.

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