An asshole is an asshole no matter what kind of car they drive.
I find the fucking numbnuts who parked the truck a half inch from my driver’s side door at the bank, thus forcing me to crawl into the car from the other side just as aggravating as the shithead in the miata who thinks that because their car is tiny that they can zip around me, cut in too close in front of me, or scoot through the rapidly closing gap between my car and a semi-trailer just as annoying.
Yes, little cars are more manueverable, but that doesn’t mean someone has to be a jackass and pretend that I-279 is really a short incarnation of the Indy 500. And when parking next to someone, consider the size of the space, the size of your vehicle, and whether or not you can fit in there while still allowing the other drivers room to get in and out of their cars or in and out of the space.
That goes for whether you’re parking your Suburban in the compact space or you’re trying to fit your Miata in that parallel spot that’s not really a parking space, thus leaving you a half inch from my bumper, meanwhile another asshole is parked a half inch from my rear bumper. When I park, I leave room. Room for my doors to open, room for your doors to open. I park so that there is room behind and in front of me in those parallel spots so that I can get out, and so that you can too.
So … car and truck and SUV and other drivers: don’t be douchebags when parking!
I’d say that’s about right.
I would add the “I’m a better person than you, with a much larger penis(if male) and way more important BECAUSE I drive this tank/SUV/military assault vehicle to the mall. Afterall, you never know when you’ll need that 4 wheel drive on a secondary highway to the mall…” attitude. I believe it’s standard with the SUV–YMMV.
:smack: Must look at all of thread before posting!
My mini-rant applies to the Luxury SUV folks–of which, in my community would be over 90% of them. It’s a status symbol. there are NO backroads here–this is suburbia.
And while some compact car drivers are insane re: their zipping around, the major problems I have are with the SUV drivers who think they have the same manuverablity as the compacts! Drive I-294 at rush hour and take your life into your own hands.
These drivers use their bulk to intimidate and they are bullies on the road. They also can’t park for beans!
I used to drive a mini-van, so at least I was almost level with these SUV’s–but now I drive a Volvo station wagon and I can’t see around them.
Not to mention the abysmal gas mileage they have. My gas bill has been cut almost in half since I switched to the Volvo, thank goodness.
There is a trophy (a small one, and you can see where they scratched out the words “Dayton bowling league”) but you don’t get it when you buy the car. You get it when you don’t park like an asshole.
So, I am just going to enter a little flow of consciousness here and toss out a few thoughts.
I will mention that the unreasoning hatred of the compact only spaces is every bit as foolish as the unreasoning hatred of SUVs. The bottom line is that these spaces are smaller and the owner of the business has deemed that they are to be used by small cars only. I know that this has been mentioned, but it is worth repeating. Further, it is not as if these compact only spaces are getting put up front, or are somehow more convenient. In my experience they are almost always the furthest from the place of business. Really all that is going on is that the store is able to squeeze in a few more cars and thus, one would think, make more money. That is until some dickhead that thinks that rules are for others fucks it up fore everyone.
I am always amused when these threads rear their ugly heads how there is always some guy that has to chime in about how he has a huge SUV/Truck/whatever but that he absolutely needs it and therefore the folks that are complaining about SUVs are wrong. What I would say to this is that (and I am restricting this observation to Urban/Suburban environments) this really tends to be the exception, not the rule.
And this is the thing. Except for the most unreasonable people (whom the SUV owners and defenders seem to assume is the norm), no one is trying to take away your choice to buy and drive an SUV. Obviously, I am only speaking for myself but I say that if you have the economic means to buy and SUV, and have decided that you really need one or want one for some reason, go for it. For my part, in an urban/suburban environment, I don’t see what need they serve that a mini-van would not serve just as well, but that is not for me to decide.
All of that being said, as a compact car driver, I would like SUV folks to honestly think about a few things. As has been cited many times before, these vehicles are not more safe. If that is why you are buying one, you have just been suckered by marketing. Also, these vehicles are vastly higher impact on smaller cars. I can’s see around them when driving or when pulling out of a parking spot, often I have to do circus contortions to get into my car if one has parked next to me, when driving at night their headlights are blinding because of their height and if I am hit by one it is pretty much all over. I am not saying that this means that we need to ban them, but I do make the plea that you SUV folks think about this when you are driving or parking or whatever.
B-drone, I entered this fray because it touched a nerve. In our parking lot there ARE oversized spaces (and also compact spaces). The oversized ones (due to parking lot geometry) ended up closest to the entrance. I’ve spent too many frustrated mornings driving past a line of Lexii, Prius(s), and the like squatting in the oversized spots while 50-60 compact spaces lie empty FIFTEEN FEET AWAY.
FWIW, our “compact” spots are big enough for a full-sized truck, but it’s a squeeze. When I answered the OP, I was thinking of this, not the situation(s) described at malls, hospitals,etc. where the spaces are probably much smaller.
With you on that one (didn’t buy one for that reason)
With you on that, as well. The idiots with mis-aimed, overlybright lights blind ME, so I imagine it must be a real pain in a car.
OK, I do; And I will continue to think of it.
A few details about Pullin (if it matters)
I park in compact spaces when my truck will fit (including the mirrors). I only do this if that’s all that’s left (happens too much at work)
I don’t park at the end of the row, because it’ll block a smaller car’s view (accident waiting to happen if you ask me)
I don’t pull all the way forward at traffic lights (I know you can’t see around me if you need to turn right-on-red beside me)
I don’t intimidate. Period.
So summarizing the thread, and splitting the replies into Large-Vehicle-drivers and Small-Vehicle-drivers we have…
From the small-vehicle contingent:
1 - piss-the-fuck off with a bonus you’re-a-fucking-asshole statement
1 - smirk at the increased probability of fatality
2 - approvals of vandalism
1 - description of the poster’s own vandalism, and…
1 - detailed method for sabotage quite likely to cause an accident
and from the Large-Vehicle folk:
None of the above (and not even any four-letter words, unless I missed something).
I guess it’s a good thing the small-car-owners DON’T have large vehicles.
pullin, taking what you say at face value, it sounds to me as if you are not one of the SUV drivers that cause we compact drivers so much dismay.
Also, You forgot:
1 Binarydrone calmly and reasonably throwing out some food for thought.
Also if I, as a veteran of an SUV thread or two, can toss out another thought; I think a lot of the anger that you see on behalf of the small car drivers comes from the feeling that we have that the folks that drive SUVs simply don’t care (as a group, remember that I am not including you or drivers like you) about us. That these vehicles are much higher impact is as obvious to us as the fact that dropping an object will result in it falling to the ground. Half the time we don’t even know if they can see us, we are blinded by them at night, relying on luck when pulling out of a parking spot and have a lot more guesswork in traffic in general than used to be the case.
Those of us that have been driving for a while have seen the experience become increasingly stressful and dangerous over the years as these vehicles have proliferated. We are just getting a little frustrated.
I see your point, Base2-Drone. (You made several good one’s)
If a driver feels someone is: a) endangering him and, b) doesn’t give a sh*t, he’s liable to get riled up. Then I suppose he remains ‘riled’ when confronted with a similar vehicle. SUV, 18-wheeeler, PU truck, doesn’t matter, I guess. I agree with the posters who are tired of being tail-gated or intimidated. It happens to me too.
Cheers, and happy motoring (wave at me when you pass the gas pumps… I spend a lot of time there).
Well then, I hope you interview each and every SUV driver you meet, so you can make sure whether or not they really NEED it, and then hate them and make snide remarks about them if you’ve figured out that they don’t. Otherwise you’re just, you know, making baseless assumptions and being a bitch-assed little fuck.
Are the “oversized” spaces labeled? If the spaces are specificly designated for larger vehicles and compacts are parking there that’s just as obnoxious as the other way around. If they aren’t labeled “oversized” though, then it would never occur to me that it was anything other than a standard parking space.
Wow, the comments I have made on this particular subject haven’t been nearly as hate-filled as some have and as you apparently have with this posting. Why are you calling ME out when there are many other comments here that have been far more hostile than mine?
What difference does it make what I say about SUV drivers, it doesn’t change anything. Most will still drive like they own the road, which with your attitude I would assume you are feeling a little guilty or else you wouldn’t have posted in such an eloquent manner.
Turnabout is fair of course.
Fuck you asscake. Yank out that tampon you have shoved up your rectum and go have a drink. You need to get a grip.
We accuse SUV drivers of being discourteous, but it can go both ways. It’s courteous of compact car drivers to try to make an effort to park in open compact slots.
I used to be a monthly parking tenant in a very crowded, small underground garage. Occupancy was 100% every day. A lot of slots were designated “compact only” because of the cramped quarters. People driving Z3s and Civics who got there early insisted on parking in the big slots, just because they were 2 spaces closer to the elevator banks. SUV drivers arriving after 8:15 in the morning often found that the only remaining spaces were designated “compact only.”
Consideration for others is, in general, at its nadir in this country. The “I need a Lexus Juggernaut to drive my one precious angel the 6 blocks to daycare before driving another 2 blocks to my office, where I will park in a compact slot” crowd is just one example of this. Thoughtless people with delusions of entitlement drive can be found driving in vehicles of various sizes.
Not that I don’t have issues with SUV drivers in particular–I do–but that’s another thread entirely.
You just don’t get it. The idea behind compact spaces is that it’s supposed to ENCOURAGE people to drive compact cars by providing a BENEFIT to those who do, thus reducing pollution, congestion, and consumption of fossil fuels. Compact cars are not required to park in the compact space. That’s like saying that cars with 3 people in them are required to use the carpool lane. No, it’s an option given to those who are doing something that benefits society.
Of course, the whole idea is ruined when assholes park their trucks in the compact spaces at will.
How interesting that the mindset expressed in this thread regarding SUVs apply to other issues:
You know how ‘they’ drive
Not on my street/lot/space
They don’t need to own/drive them
Were it religion, race, or sexual orientation, the howling would be heard for miles.
When the spending of food monies by those on assistance was discussed, the prevailing opinion was, spend your money as you see fit.
If someone wants to buy an SUV, it’s their business, not yours. Whether or not you like it, if licensed by the secretary of transportation, it’s legal, so suck it up.
You self-righteous small vehicle owners need to get over yourselves and stop the hate.
But it’s not a “big” parking space. It’s a REGULAR-SIZED parking space. For EVERYBODY. Airlines don’t make skinny people sit in special skinny seats so the obese people can have more room. They charge the obese people double because they take up two seats. If they start designating special places for people with oversized/extended bed vehicles to park I will say “praise be! Now everyone can be happy!” and park in my designated spot, but if it’s not a handicapped or compact spot it’s up for grabs. Are people supposed to ask the parking lot attendant of every garage what their ratio of compact to regular parking spots is, and their sell-out frequency, and the number of customers with oversized vehicles? Are the compact car drivers supposed to have a map of the “compact” spaces in every garage so they can seek out the 3 per floor wherever they go? Come on!
I’m not here to dump on SUV drivers, and I’m sorry this discussion has fallen to the usual defensiveness and namecalling. I have known people with SUVs that genuinely need and use them. (The dentist I used to work with took his son’s boyscout troop either camping or skiing every other weekend. I’m sure a half-dozen teenage boys and all their gear used up all that room easily, and I’m sure the extra weight and 4WD came in handy going over Donner Pass in the dead of winter!)
BTW…I’m curious as to how many other people consider a Civic a “compact” car. I drive a Civic and consider it a regular medium sedan size (that happens to fit in a compact space). I don’t think it’s been a small car since the 1980s!
Understand that not all SUV/large vehicle drivers are careless. There are plenty of people regardless of the vehicle (Accent or Hummer) that cannot drive. If you want to drive a semi sized vehicle knock yourself out, you are the one that has to deal with the gas prices and insurance costs, not me. The only thing is if your vehicle is twice that of other vehicle, be a little more careful.
NO, this isn’t a fucking broad brush that all SUV drivers are the only one’s to make mistakes!!!
But a mistake of someone in a Hummer sideswiping another vehicle would easily cause more damage than someone sideswiping someone while driving an Accent. A quick jerk of the wheel in an SUV makes it more prone to rollovers than smaller vehicles.
If you cannot understand that simple fact, maybe you should recheck the laws of physics!!!
For those of you who think is anti-SUV rant, fuck off. I could care less what you drive, I’m just stating proven facts that you have to be more careful in larger vehicles.
Now to end the debate and move back on track, the OP was about larger vehicles parked in spaces reserved for compact cars not the size of you vehicle determines your driving ability.
If the spot is reserved for a compact car, than that’s what it is meant for. Those spaces are for smaller cars to park in already crowed parking lots. Not to piss you off, but for safety reasons. If you have a problem then complain to the bright one who designed the parking garage.
And yes, I can see if that if there are no more spaces available that someone in an Accent should have parked in one of those spaces, instead of one that a larger vehicle could have parked in.
