23 January 2008

Time for a rant about double parking

| Adza
Join the conversation
39

<rant>

What is it with drivers? I guess I see it more in Queanbeyan than anywhere else as there is a proper “main street” unlike most parts of Canberra.

Why do a lot of drivers think it’s perfectly ok to completely stop in the left hand lane, double park and either let someone out, let someone in or sit there and wait for someone to get out, pick up the pizza they’d ordered and hop back in the car? They also seem to think it’s ok to put their hazard lights on to make it better.

It’s not just NSW drivers, it’s ACT drivers doing it too. Everytime I have to change lanes to go around them (sometimes having to wait for traffic) I always beep them to tell them to move on. Most look at me dumbly or nod and smile. Once in particularly heavy traffic I got stuck behind one such driver so continually honked until he moved.

Tonight, a driver of a DC plated vehicle decided to pull into the Woolworths carpark. 10pm at night and hundreds or parks available, but did she pull into one? No, she stopped in the middle of the lane in the carpark to drop someone off, the continued to circle the carpark, going slowly past the door to see if the person was ready to be picked up. All to save about 10 steps.

Does this irritate anyone else or am I just in the minority?

</rant>

Join the conversation

39
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest
el ......VNBerlinaV89:13 pm 25 Jan 08

I’m inspired. I’m going to start TRIPLE parking. Sideways. All your parking space are belong to us. Mwahahahahahaha!

Well i am sick of people parking in the no standing zone around the entrance to the ABS underground carpark on Camron Ave in Belconnen.

It makes it impossible it really painfull (3pt turn) to do a u-turn on that street after picking up my partner from work.

The area is clearly marked with signs and lines on the road that it is no standing but that doesnt stop people parking there despite ample spots further up the street (10-50m).

Sometimes i wish i could just take a picture of the offending vehicle and send it somewhere so they get booked for it.

Felix the Cat9:39 pm 24 Jan 08

The parking outside the Gungahlin video shop is a pain. A (long) while back I saw the parking cops having a blitz there and the word got around and people stopped parking there, but the coppers stopped coming and so the illegal parking returned.

The same thing happens at the Ngunnawal shops. People are to fat and lazy to walk the extra 2 metres from a proper parking spot so they pull up in front of the bakery.

Pity the parking cops from Dickson don’t frequent GTC/Ngunnawal. I got booked (yes I was parked illegally so I deserve it) on a Saturday night at about 8pm. $159 it cost me! Probably cheaper to do 150km/h through the red light/$peed camera at The Lakes club on Gungahlin Drive.

No sorry Hingo, I haven’t been out that way so can’t really say. Sounds bloody awful though. If the argument is about laziness then I’m all for double parking while someone runs in to pick up a pizza or drop off a dvd. But I wouldn’t hold cars up to do it.

That spot is terrible, and people try and speed through the narrow gaps when there’s barely enough room for one car. eeek.
I once parked in one of the bays on the other side next to the pizza store? Never again. Watching all the cars swipe by was quite nerve wrecking…

Sands, have you actually ever been to this video store in Gungahlin? I guess not judging by your comment. It is simply not wide enough to deal with how many cars use that street at night. That street is a nightmare anytime past 6:00pm.

David MacCormack11:32 pm 23 Jan 08

As a former member of the Australian Bicycle Council, I can safely say there is no sweeter sound than that of a bike being crushed beneath my car wheels.

Ingeegoodbee9:32 pm 23 Jan 08

Yeah, that’s pretty ordinary typing by anyones standard Sands, you got me…

That speaks volumes.

Ingeegoodbee7:48 pm 23 Jan 08

We kkep an old key on the change tray for the passenger to casually run along the painwork of god-damn selfish mother-screwing tools like you Sands.

If you’re just running in to drop a dvd off, I don’t see a problem. How long could it take? And if you decide to use a park (and potentially take that park away from someone who might be parked for a longer time than 30 seconds), driving in and driving out etc. Yawn. Just pull over, get someone to run it in and be on your way.

Sorry to pick nits, but there is a significant difference between “no parking” and “no standing”.

I agree Guru, but these people are stopping in the middle of marked lanes on a road.

And I am NOT doing a turkey dance at every intersection. It looks stupid.

Then once there are more cyclists than cars we can then swap paths?

I once approached a roundabout (cough) and my passenger said ‘look out’. I couldn’t see anything but I stopped anyway. I said “what” and looked right, then looked left, said “what”, then looked right and around a bit more, then out from the blind spot created by the panel joining the front and side window emerged a cyclist. The cyclist had been in this blind spot the entire time I’d been approaching the intersection.

Had I not had a passenger that day? Scary thought.

BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID. Cars have a hard enough time avoiding each other. Just be grateful for the bike path a metre away : )

Obesity – Australia’s solution to the fuel crisis. Watch this biofuel space.

atoz – going to jail for manslaughter after killing a cyclist with my car is my ‘god damn business’ : )

I thought Australians had an ‘obesity epedemic’ anyway, you can hardly say the bike paths are teeming with people…

Double parking is a symptom of not having sufficient or sensible parking options, no focus on motor vehicle law compliance other than speeding and drink driving, and the extremely poor standard of skill needed to obtain a license (and the fact that you never get retested).

Did you laugh when the cyclist was yelling at you? That would have been funny to see. Some people look really funny when they’re angry…

I sometimes pull up at the lights on my bike and ask a driver ‘Why are you driving on this road? Why don’t you drive on the busier road that runs parallel to this one?’ They just look at me like I’m crazy and say ‘It’s none of your god damn business?’

Hey I use the bike lane on the Gungahlin ‘grass sculpture’ turn off. Sweet revenge. It makes me feel so rebellious.

Why anyone would intentionally place their life at risk for pure the sake of their right to be on the road is anyones guess… oh hang on, roundabouts : P

Seriously though if there’s a perfectly great clean and safe path with no traffic on it, what’s the sense in riding over the gravel, car debris, glass etc knocked to the side of the road by cars?

I know someone who been knocked off his bike twice (at lights) where there was no safe path provided and it ain’t a pleasant trip to the coast…

Holden Caulfield12:59 pm 23 Jan 08

Doesn’t it just!

I remember politely enquiring out my window to a cyclist on the road one day “what’s wrong with the cycle path?” Honest, I was polite and not aggressive. It was near the oval on McCaughey Street in Turner, the cycle path would struggle to be 3m away from the road. Anyway, the cyclist seemed okay, and I went on my merry way. Shortly after he caught me at the Barry Drive traffic lights and let out the most astonishing tirade of abuse. Okay, I can understand he probably thought I was being passive aggressive and stuff, but went off his tit really bad. Haha, made me laugh pretty hard really.

I drive a pretty small car, I’ve half a mind one day to go, well, FU if you’re not going to use the cycle path, then I will!

Sorry to pick nits, but there is a significant difference between “no parking” and “no standing”.

“No parking” means that you are allowed to stop. But for no more than 2 minutes in order to pick up and drop off passengers, and the driver can’t leave the vehicle.

“No standing”, on the other hand, means you can’t legally stop there at all.

If you see a cyclist on the road next to a bike path (in better condition than the road I might add) stick your hand out the window and point at the bike path. Drives em nuts : )

Holden Caulfield11:27 am 23 Jan 08

I had this exact problem at the new buildings on London Circuit during my commute home yesterday afternoon. No hazards, no brake lights, nothing. While the hazard light force field line was a good gag, at least the person is letting the upcoming traffic know they’re being a tool!

Ingeegoodbee11:15 am 23 Jan 08

Yeah, but if you’re driving past at the time it can be hall on your paint work! Does anyone know of a good detailer?

… kaboom. Problem solved.

Most double-parking committed by terrorists tends to resolve itself in about 10 .. 9 .. 8 .. 7 .. 6 .. 5 .. 4 .. 3 .. 2 .. 1 .. seconds.

Ingeegoodbee10:50 am 23 Jan 08

It’s probably a fair bet to say that when not double parking thease people are riding push bikes on the road when there is a perfectly good bike path right next to them.

… and don’t get me started on people who, for some reason, assume that if there’s a car parked on the side of the road they have some sort of automatic right to cross the centre-line regardless of whether or not there is oncomming traffic.

Approximately 2% of the worlds double parking, is by terrorist bombers. Of the remainder, nearly 36% are wankers double parking in Canberra carparks.

Most terrorst bombers are also double parkers.

OT At the police gig last night Sting asked to have the house lights turned down and a spot light on him. He then started to clap slowly, clap….clap….clap about once a second. While he was clapping he said “Every time I clap a child in Africa dies” – so I yelled out “Stop clapping then ya sadistic bastard”

Ingeegoodbee10:26 am 23 Jan 08

No one in Iraq is innocent.

OT, ten people died in Iraq since Thumper posted about Ledger.

As Adza said, if you drive up behind them and honk the horn, they just stare wide-eyed into their mirrors, almost as if they have no understanding of what is going on.

philbert83au9:27 am 23 Jan 08

It’s not hazard lights, it’s a forcefield. Duh! Speshly if you’re driving a 4WD.

Use your car horn. Don’t be scared

trust me I do – maybe too often 🙂

Use your car horn. Don’t be scared.

Twits.

I’m hearing you re the Civic Video Gungahlin Store. Gawd some people are fwits.

Yep its extremely frustrating. There is a no stopping/no parking zone out the front of Civic Video in Gungahlin (Ernest Cavanagh St) where people are always parking. Its a no parking zone for a reason people! Its not wide enough to allow for two way traffic with people parking on both sides of the road. Don’t be a selfish jerk, burn that fat off your arse, find a parking space and walk there. Its rediculous how lazy people have become.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.