Is this guy actually doing anything wrong (parking lot at work)?

Factual Questions
1

For the second time in the past couple of months I narrowly avoided having a head-to-head crunch with some random dude from work.

We both arrive at more or less the same time in the morning, and this morning I was right in front of him.

As we came 'round the bend to the main parking lot I turned down an aisle, drove to the end of the parked vehicles, and started turning into the first open spot. As soon as I was two feet into the spot, the other guy suddenly appeared, facing me, driving through the parking spot on the other side to get into the one I was already entering so that he would be facing out.

I jammed on my brakes. Rather than backing off, he simply sat there until I backed up and went to the adjoining spot.

Before I entered the spot I couldn’t see him, as there are lots of big SUV-type vehicles parked in the other spots.

Here’s my GQ #1:
Did he actually do anything wrong? (other than being a jerk)

He glanced at me as I stepped out of my car, and I simply turned away and walked to the office, to avoid confrontation. This is at a workplace of a few hundred, so even though I don’t know him, he might be some important dude, and regardless, I don’t want to pick a fight with someone who I see every day.

I try to put myself in his shoes and I think: If I were driving through an open spot to face my car outward in another spot (and I have done so), and I suddenly met someone coming in the correct way, I would not feel that I was in the right.

GQ #2:
But what would happen if we actually smacked into each other?
It’s private property—wouldn’t the cops simply say “too bad so sad” and leave us to work it out between us?

2

You both would get 50% fault by the insurance companies. No parking tickets for how anybody parked. You have to go to court for damages if you must, just like on public property.

3

I’d have to see a frame by frame film to opine, but based on your own wording, you state that you couldn’t see into the spot. What the hell are you doing pulling into a spot you can’t see? Don’t they have motorcycles where you live? Or subcompact cars? Or adjacent vehicles with open doors and egressing human beings?

Clearly we’re missing a vital piece of information if you think that he was the jerk, here.

4

There’s two rows involved here, most of the spots taken up by large SUVs but two spots facing each other that are open. It’s not that the OP can’t see the spot he’s driving into, but he can’t see the guy in the next row over until the guy pulls into the empty spot adjacent to the spot the OP is trying to pull into, and the guy rushes forward to cross the line and force him out of the spot. The OP is already partly into his spot when the guy rushes in from the other side. Based on his own wording, he certainly doesn’t sound like the jerk in the situation.

5

Bosstone has it.

To better envision this: Imagine you see one single empty spot in a large mall parking lot with rows of cars parked nose-to-nose. Now, when you start pulling into the spot, the car that is parked facing you starts driving through your spot, forcing you to back out.

My situation is similar, except the person was arriving at the same time and simply driving over one parking spot to go the wrong way into the one I wanted. At the time I was turning my wheel, the entire spot was empty (as empty as a spot can be that is somewhat obscured by SUVs); I didn’t see him until I had already committed and was two feet in.

Had I started pulling in and suddenly seen the (formerly hidden) door of the SUV opening, or a pedestrian, I would have stopped and waited, not feeling upset at all, as that’s how parking lots work.
I wasn’t going so fast that I *needed *to jam on the brakes, but I did so because there was a huge truck coming straight at me.

6

Why do you think your way is “correct” and his is incorrect?

7

I have a long pickup truck and thus look for “pull through spots” consisting of two empty spots facing one another. If I pull through, it gives the truck more room to straighten out.

That said, I’ve always operated under the assumption that someone pulling into the spot has right of way over someone pulling through into it.

I doubt there’s a law. It just seemed like common sense to me.

At worst, I think the situation the OP described constitutes a driving etiquette violation and nothing more. The guy sounded like a jerk, though. Kudos to you for showing restraint. I would have called the guy a dick.

8

Wow. The guy pulling through is a complete a-hole. HE should back up and allow you to enter your space.

9

I see you are from New Jersey so I don’t have to say the laws vary greatly from state to state blah blah blah (they do). There are no laws covering parking lots on private property. Signs, arrows and lines mean nothing in the eyes of the law unless that particular parking lot has been singled out in an ordinance which states that New Jersey Title 39 can be enforced there. I doubt yours is a property like that. However in an accident a police officer can find you (or him) at fault. You (or him) could also be issued a ticket. Most traffic statutes in New Jersey cannot be issued on private property. However, Careless Driving and Reckless Driving can be issued on private property.

10

Pulling through is something you do when there’s nobody on the other side. I do it all the time but I’d never dream of pulling through if somebody else was waiting for the far spot

11

That’s why I posted this.

I realized that, though I found his act brazen and jerkish, I couldn’t imagine why it was wrong.
If I knew that he had actually broken some law, I would probably just get out of my car next time and have words with him (remember, we are co-workers of sorts, so he probably isn’t packing heat).

If he isn’t doing anything wrong, then I’ll just continue ignoring him.

It’s still self-centered arrogant behavior IMO.

12

I would say you were right, because you started out in front of him and went to the first available aisle. I know there isn’t really a right-of-way, but it’s an etiquette thing.

13

If you follow strict driving guidlines (which no one ever does) you actually should never drive over a solid line. If you want to get technical about it he was wrong for crossing over one.

14

If I remember correctly, when getting my drivers license, my driving instructor told me it’s illegal to park backwards in a parking lot. That was seven years ago, in California and I don’t have a cite.

15

It’s illegal in several states (including this one) to park backwards outside a convenience store and other often-robbed businesses. Apparently, because it facilitates one’s getaway.

Are you sure you aren’t thinking of that?

16

That’s not true.
If a lane is marked like this

>>

and I am a car moving in the direction of the arrows at the bottom, I may cross over the solid line to the left of the dotted line to pass. Cars coming in the other direction may not.

Turning onto and off of roads there are a lot of reasons you might cross a solid line.

17

Most hard shoulders are marked with a solid line. I don’t know what strict driving guidelines recommend stopping in the middle of the road to change a flat.

18

I definitely think that once he saw that you were entering the space too, **he **should have stopped, and then backed up to let you have it. After all, he was already in a perfectly good space, but was choosing to pull through it so that he could park in the opposite one, just so that he could face in a direction he prefered.

That being said, given that he wasn’t going to give it up, you probably did the right thing in not making a big deal of it.

He’s still a jerk, though.

19

Maybe his reverse gear doesn’t work. Or maybe he hurt his neck and can’t turn around far enough to see to back out of a space.

Still, my money is on jerk.

20

I agree - he was being greedy, so to speak, and should have yielded the spot to you.