People that park in child spaces at supermarkets which don't have kids, this is generally the nicer car folk because the lanes are wider and closer to the store...
I hadn't driven for a few years until a couple of months ago when I moved out of London and bought a 3 year old Focus. I find it a bitch to park compared to older cars I've driven as a) I can't see a bloody thing out of it at anything other than straight as the boot window is very high and the struts for the roof are so much wider. b) the turning circle of it is cr*p for a car its size so I always get really twitchy about scratching someone with the leading wing if I'm going into a space nose first. Then because I overcompensate for it, I find myself perilously close to the nearside car.
I do realise stereotyping by cars is like tainting everyone on earth with the same brush. But at the same time, those types of cars are the choice of those selfish pricks who park to save a few meters of them walking. (yes, I do understand I fall under the same category with that statement when combined with my previously mentioned types of cars. But I'm more than happy let my actions do the talking) End of the day, there are selfish people out there making life difficult for those who need those parking bays. It is unfortunate it is being misused and no tougher punishments is put in place to prevent it. I apologise if the previous posts came across prejudice, I feel frustrated the most we can do is talk about it and they get away with it.
I honestly don't care at all what people drive, only how they drive (and park) it. I don't even have a problem with 18-year-old skinny white dudes driving battered 306 or Escorts with low suspension and body kits and tennis-ball exhausts, if they're driving them sensibly and parking decently (a minority of cases, but it does happen). Some of the worst, most dangerous driving and most inconsiderate parking I've ever seen was by people in very innocuous cars - modest family cars, economical hatchbacks, old mid-range estates. I don't let myself think wholly in stereotypes any more. If someone's driving an £80k Range Rover with custom alloys and cosmetic snorkels on it, I don't think "you're a ****" - I think "there's a decent chance you're a ****". Sometimes, rarely, they turn out not to be, and I'm happy not to have prejudged them. Also, that site someone mentioned a while back - can't believe it hasn't been linked already - is You Park Like A C**t. It's absolutely wonderful. I believe you can also buy faux tickets and fliers that bear the slogan, to stick under peoples' wiper blades. edit - yes, it's shameless public posturing to garner publicity, but it's still glorious:
Very true, but it's probably harder to get in nose first. I'm always amazed at the number of Range Rovers you see in them, how do they manage? I've an E46 and the parking sensors on it are so good that I often don't look as I reverse in, never missed a pillar, low wall or hedge!
Haha, I realise now that that was ambiguous. But yeah, I'll align the car and use the sensors for distance control and look out the front or side or whatever to straighten up. That's on a 14 year old car, I expect the new sensors that give you an image of what they detect are better still.
I just redid my g1 theory test for the first part of our graduated license. Last time I had it I also did driving school which was 20 hours in a classroom and 10 hours in car practice. In those 10 hours I can say we spent max 1-1.5 hours parking, and it was one of the things that terrified me the most about driving. I feel like because it's one of the more difficult things for new drivers, they just teach you the bear minimum to pass and leave it be. Definitely something that requires more attention imo.
When I was learning (longer ago than some, not so long as others) my instructor always gave us a ten to fifteen minute "break" at about the half way point of the two hours. I always had to park, and it was always either reversing into a bay, or parallel parking. That was from my first lesson onwards, no exceptions. The "break" was spent with a cup of coffee and a sandwich criticising other drivers at roundabouts, road positions, parking or whatever was appropriate to where he'd taken us to park up. And it was usually somewhere where there was stuff relevant to the lesson or my general weaknesses. I think a large amount of it depends on your instructor, I think I got a better than average one... not that it shows in my sub-par driving
Honestly, I can't agree. I'm all about misanthropy, I can't stand people, but when it comes to driving we're really unfair to other people in our assessments. We have negative confirmation bias: we hate bad drivers, we are preoccupied by the problem of bad drivers, and so we remember and catalogue and dwell on every incident of bad driving we encounter. What we don't catalogue or factor in is every incident of good driving we encounter, because it's literally about 99.5% of all the drivers we see on the road. When you're driving, is every car on the road veering about, cutting corners, running lights, parking badly, speeding, forgetting to signal and cutting people off? Of course not. The boring, un-news-worthy fact of the matter is that most people - certainly in Britain - are really quite good drivers. We enjoy a very high average level of driving aptitude here. We notice the bad drivers precisely because they're the exception. Next time you see someone doing something stupid, try to count the number of cars you see not doing anything stupid before you get to the next one doing something stupid. You'll lose count.
True to an extent but cars are dangerous things and it only took one muppet that doesn't pull over when tired (fun fact, even more important in fog - who knew?) to cause this http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_M4_motorway_crash
Yeah but it's a fair point, the standard of driving in Britain is comparatively very good. Ever been to Ireland?
I think London isn't too great either. You certainly see the difference when you head ~15 miles out of the M25 ring.
To be fair driving in the UK isn't too bad compared to some other places, I spent a week driving in and around Valencia a couple of years back - I learned to drive with one hand on the steering wheel and the other permanently on the horn.
