# Neighbors who simply MUST park in front of my house **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 19, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571 "2012-12-19T20:51:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/101 "2012-12-20T21:43:45Z")
I find it a little ingenuous that some people seem to be claiming that there are formals laws and that’s it - we deal in imperfectly defined customs all day, every day, no matter where you live or what culture you live in. There are an infinite number of things that are perfectly legal, and are going to piss someone off if you do them. I could give you any number of examples of this; just because parking on the public street isn’t _your_ bugaboo doesn’t mean you don’t have any. How about a person sitting right next to you in an empty theatre? Someone singing loudly on the bus with their headphones on? Someone at work chomping and slurping their food loudly every day? A cashier talking to a friend on their cellphone instead of ringing you up? None of these things are illegal, but most people don’t do them because they have some awareness of cultural norms. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/102 "2012-12-20T22:05:26Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > Yes, but what really impresses me is that you don’t get annoyed in the slightest. Probably you’ve never ever honked the horn of your car in anger or frustration. Probably you’ve never ever listened to music or had a drink in order to unwind at the end of a stressful day. Probably you’ve never snapped at a customer service representative who asked you to explain your problem for the fifth time. Probably you’ve never slammed down the receiver of your phone in annoyance at a telemarketer who interrupted your dinner. > > I congratulate you and your friends on your total awesomeness. > Wow, thanks for the advice. Maybe you should write a self-help book? All these things happen to you on a regular basis? ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/103 "2012-12-20T22:17:46Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > All these things happen to you on a regular basis? No, but even the occasional times they do is far greater than what happens in the blissfully serene lives of you and your friends. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/104 "2012-12-20T22:30:40Z")
I hope you don’t own any guns. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/105 "2012-12-20T22:44:07Z")
Interestingly, I had something similar happen to me. I would come home around 630 or so, find my neighbor parked in front of my house, whilst his house’s spot was empty. This ever so slightly annoyed and puzzled me. Then one day I was home all day. Neighbor got home around 5ish, parks in front of my house. 30 minutes or so later, the car in front of his house leave. Turns out that was his MIL who was watching the kids. (I actually talked to him. :eek:) You know, you can invent all sort of horrible things that _might_ happen if you were actually to (gasp! :eek:) talk to your neighbor, but really, instead of silently fuming (or worse performing some sort of weird revenge) just go chat with them. Make it about something else, like street cleaners or something then casually bring up the parking question. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/106 "2012-12-20T23:00:47Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I find it a little ingenuous that some people seem to be claiming that there are formals laws and that’s it - we deal in imperfectly defined customs all day, every day, no matter where you live or what culture you live in. There are an infinite number of things that are perfectly legal, and are going to piss someone off if you do them. I could give you any number of examples of this; just because parking on the public street isn’t _your_ bugaboo doesn’t mean you don’t have any. How about a person sitting right next to you in an empty theatre? Someone singing loudly on the bus with their headphones on? Someone at work chomping and slurping their food loudly every day? A cashier talking to a friend on their cellphone instead of ringing you up? None of these things are illegal, but most people don’t do them because they have some awareness of cultural norms. I’m sure I have lots of bugaboos- but that doesn’t mean that people are wrong or rude if they violate them. Especially if that bugaboo is _not_ a cultural norm and I don’t think this is. ``` I know someone who rents a garage. There is enough room to park one vehicle and a few extra feet between his driveway and the fire hydrant. He gets annoyed when someone parks in that space and does not pull up as close to the fire hydrant as is legally permitted , because if the extra few feet are between the parked car and the hydrant, he cannot park across the front of the driveway. Are people obligated to magically know that this will annoy him and accomodate him? Similarly, a former neighbor expected people to know that they shouldn't park their car legally if it was too close for her to be able to park across the front of her driveway. She actually expected people to pass up legal spaces because it wouldn't give her the fifteen feet or so she needed to park ( she was not good at parking) Were we obligated to accomodate her? ``` ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/107 "2012-12-20T23:15:25Z")
The problem with threads like this is that everyone’s living situations are different, and consciously or not a lot of people are projecting their own neighbourhood onto everyone’s described situations, and being amazed the rules are so different (witness whoever it was upthread who was so amazed at the concept of houses with just one parking spot in front of them and no driveway) Well, of course the rules are different. The rules depend on what sort of neighbourhood you live in. However if you don’t know the rules in YOUR OWN neighbourhood, whatever they are (and I mean the rules of politeness, not the law), then you’re kind of a dick. F’rinstance, in my area I’m used to about 80% occupancy of the street spaces being the norm. So, parking outside other people’s houses - not rude, happens all the time. Owning four cars for your household - massively rude, taking up far more than your share of the common resource. Parking across driveways - quite common, by agreement, most of them are a bitch to get a car into anyway so nobody uses them. I imagine the rules are quite different in different styles of neighbourhoods. And if I ever move to a neighborhood where 75foot frontage and useable driveways are common, I will certainly get to know the local rules as quickly as possible. Really, how hard can it be? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/108 "2012-12-21T00:07:58Z")
None of the defenders of this have yet answered the question, posted twice now; Would it bother you if it was a different car everyday? If not, why? And I’m not seeing how anybody else walking the earth is obligated to follow a lot of ‘unwritten’ rules, or why you would expect everybody to know what you deem polite. Yes you could assume that everyone ought to be just like you and know exactly what you know, but that’s seems foolishly naive to me. That’s why we have laws, so there’s no guessing. If I go to the beach and a guy turns up with a machine blasting rap music, yes I would be annoyed. I might even politely ask him to turn it off. But if he refuses, as an adult, knowing the law, I would have to suck it up and just get up and move. Expecting him to know my unwritten rules or abide my interpretation of what’s polite seems utterly ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/109 "2012-12-21T00:30:09Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I hope you don’t own any guns. Why? Do you seriously believe that someone (unlike you) who occasionally honks the horn of his car in anger or frustration necessarily presents a significant risk of going on a shooting spree? And by the way, do you agree with me that there are things which are (1) done on public property; (2) completely legal; and (3) annoying. Annoying to the average person, I mean. Not to you and your friends who never ever get annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/110 "2012-12-21T00:49:37Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Would it bother you if it was a different car everyday? If not, why? It would depend on who was parking in front of my house and why. > [@](#): > > And I’m not seeing how anybody else walking the earth is obligated to follow a lot of ‘unwritten’ rules, or why you would expect everybody to know what you deem polite. Yes you could assume that everyone ought to be just like you and know exactly what you know, but that’s seems foolishly naive to me. > > That’s why we have laws, so there’s no guessing. > > If I go to the beach and a guy turns up with a machine blasting rap music, yes I would be annoyed. I might even politely ask him to turn it off. But if he refuses, as an adult, knowing the law, I would have to suck it up and just get up and move. Expecting him to know my unwritten rules or abide my interpretation of what’s polite seems utterly ridiculous. Well your earlier comment was that you were “baffled” as to why people might be offended at a neighbor parking his car in front of one’s house. That’s not the same thing as what you are saying now. I’m not quite sure what you mean by “expecting” people to abide by your interpretation of what’s polite. People acting impolite is pretty common and I expect it to happen pretty regularly. I think what you are trying to say is that it’s not reasonable to judge somebody as rude if there isn’t some well known set of legal or social rules which specifically forbids their (mis)conduct. I agree with this to an extent, but you need to keep in mind that one of the basic social rules is the so-called “golden rule,” i.e. that one should not do to other people what one would not want to have done to oneself. Using the golden rule and a little common sense, anyone should be able to figure out that all things being equal, it’s impolite to park their car in front of another person’s house. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/111 "2012-12-21T00:49:57Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > None of the defenders of this have yet answered the question, posted twice now; > > Would it bother you if it was a different car everyday? If not, why? I thought it was pretty clear from my posts that the answer to this is no, because what would annoy me is someone doing it consistently instead of parking in front of their own house. Here and there, who cares? Obviously, a bunch of separate individuals doing it here and there can’t be blamed for the cumulative effect. But honestly, the question is pretty nonsensical, because there’s just no way it would happen in my neighborhood. I suppose if you imagine a scenario where my neighbors all conspire to take turns parking in front of my house instead of theirs, I would probably be annoyed (not to mention pretty alarmed). Or if it was truly new and random people every day, I might wonder what’s drawing all these randoms to my neighborhood and directly in front of my house when they aren’t visiting me. I just don’t see it happening so it’s hard to take seriously as a scenario. ETA: > [@](#): > > If I go to the beach and a guy turns up with a machine blasting rap music, yes I would be annoyed. I might even politely ask him to turn it off. But if he refuses, as an adult, knowing the law, I would have to suck it up and just get up and move. And I have a hard time believing you wouldn’t think, “gee, what a jerk,” about him. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/112 "2012-12-21T00:55:14Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I’m sure I have lots of bugaboos- but that doesn’t mean that people are wrong or rude if they violate them. Especially if that bugaboo is _not_ a cultural norm and I don’t think this is. > > ``` > I know someone who rents a garage. There is enough room to park one vehicle and a few extra feet between his driveway and the fire hydrant. He gets annoyed when someone parks in that space and does not pull up as close to the fire hydrant as is legally permitted , because if the extra few feet are between the parked car and the hydrant, he cannot park across the front of the driveway. Are people obligated to magically know that this will annoy him and accomodate him? Similarly, a former neighbor expected people to know that they shouldn't park their car legally if it was too close for her to be able to park across the front of her driveway. She actually expected people to pass up legal spaces because it wouldn't give her the fifteen feet or so she needed to park ( she was not good at parking) Were we obligated to accomodate her? > > ``` I don’t think so, but mainly because it’s evidently not obvious that there is a problem. A few months ago, I saw a house where the owner had put up two little signs asking people not to park too close to his driveway so that he could get out. I do think it would be rude to violate his request, even if it’s legal to do so. Assuming that the person parking their car had a choice of parking spots, of course. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/113 "2012-12-21T01:03:18Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > The problem with threads like this is that everyone’s living situations are different, and consciously or not a lot of people are projecting their own neighbourhood onto everyone’s described situations, and being amazed the rules are so different (witness whoever it was upthread who was so amazed at the concept of houses with just one parking spot in front of them and no driveway) Agreed wholeheartedly. My answer in the last post does not apply in, say, San Francisco, where parking is so tight that **of course** you park wherever you can squeeze in. And it doesn’t even necessarily apply in suburbs with nice wide streets and tons of parking, because even if someone parks in front of your house, odds are you can too and it really makes no difference at all. It would still be a little weird to do **consistently** , kind of the way you’d scratch your head and maybe be a little annoyed if your neighbor spent several hours a day standing on the sidewalk in front of your house staring at you (I can hear some of you now: totally legal! you don’t own the sidewalk! it’s not killing you!), but whatever. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/114 "2012-12-21T01:05:25Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > None of the defenders of this have yet answered the question, posted twice now; > > Would it bother you if it was a different car everyday? Of course it would bother me. I’m irritated by a car being parked in the street where it presents an unnecessary obstruction to traffic in a neighborhood where no house lacks for AMPLE parking space. Park in the driveway! ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/115 "2012-12-21T02:16:14Z")
> [@](#): > > It would depend on who was parking in front of my house and why. Ha Ha Ha! Thanks for the laugh! This is, of course at the very root of the problem. You think people parking in a public street owe you an explanation. And you’re saying it depends on who it is? You get to decide who is worthy? If their reason for parking there has merit or not? This is the very reason this is covered in the law, so people like you don’t get to decide who can park where! I totally think you win the thread. Very well done indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/116 "2012-12-21T02:57:37Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > Why? Do you seriously believe that someone (unlike you) who occasionally honks the horn of his car in anger or frustration necessarily presents a significant risk of going on a shooting spree? > > And by the way, do you agree with me that there are things which are (1) done on public property; (2) completely legal; and (3) annoying. > > Annoying to the average person, I mean. Not to you and your friends who never ever get annoyed. What you don’t understand is the concept of choosing your battles. You’re going to blow a head gasket worrying about all the petty shit that seems to bother you so much. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/117 "2012-12-21T03:19:50Z")
Funnily enough, as this thread goes along, I’m noticing a truck that has been parked in front of my house for almost a week now without moving (that I can tell). That actually IS against the law here - vehicles must be moved every 72 hours or they can be towed away. [Cite -](http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/ABS/Pages/Bylaws-by-topic/Streets.aspx) > [@](#): > > A vehicle must be operable and moved within 72, hours or it may be considered abandoned and removed as such.\* I don’t know whose truck it is, but I’ll probably call it in as abandoned in another day or two - there’s a good chance that it is a stolen vehicle that someone just dumped there. My neighbour to the north of me seems to be heading down the junkyard road, and we might have some trouble with that - in spite of having a two-car garage, they seem to need to park up to four vehicles on the street and another one in the back alley. That’s a lot of vehicles for two young adults and a baby! One of their vehicles is currently parked illegally as well - its plates expired in November, and that one isn’t being moved, either. I do live in a suburb, and if they want to do some business that requires them to have that many cars around, he’s going to have to lease himself a garage - this isn’t the area for that. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/118 "2012-12-21T03:55:54Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > I don’t usually have a problem with it, and our neighbor’s kids park in front of our house all the time. We did have a problem when the daughter’s boyfriend parked **THISCLOSE** to our driveway opening and left on vacation for a week, blocking our mailbox access and our usual spot for our cans on trash day. He did not leave a set of keys with our neighbor, so his vehicle sat there until he got back. :mad: I will have to say that they have not parked in front of our house AT ALL since. I think our neighbor said something to him about it. Could you have had it towed for blocking the mailbox? One nice thing about my current apartment building: lots of parking, and one can even reserve a specific space for a reasonable monthly fee. Yeah, we picked a space we found convenient that wasn’t already claimed and now pay to reserve it. It’s worth it when lugging heavy groceries, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/119 "2012-12-21T03:57:29Z")
Public street, shut the fuck up and park your fucking car. ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571/120 "2012-12-21T04:52:58Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Yep still not seeing it. Unless you are inappropiately angry like Tony in the story above. I live in the suburbs. Park in front of my house. Why the fuck do I care?\*\* Just don’t block the mailbox or the driveway.\*\* Both of which are illegal anyway. Bolded for clarity, this is the only reason I have called to turn in a car parked in front of my house. The person whose car broke down and they stopped it in front of my driveway got a tow bill courtesy of the police officer who stopped to look it over as I was dialing the non emergency number to report it. There have been three occasions where Friday night a neighbor’s kids have a party and a guest will park in front of our mailbox. Not a problem, until Monday when it is still there. The rule around here is 24 hour parking then you gotta move it. I give them till Monday morning and I give a call, usually the bright orange sticker in the window gets some attention before the mail comes in the afternoon. The regular delivery person on our route knows our cars, and usually just puts the mail in the box if she can reach it. If someone else is doing our route though, we usually get the official nasty gram. I have told the kids, park there if you need to, I don’t care, but not in front of the mailbox or driveway please. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-who-simply-must-park-in-front-of-my-house/644571.md?page=7)