Questionable parking habits aren’t limited just to what I see when I’m out and about. Readers have a lot to say on this subject as well.
That’s what I learned after my recent column mentioning the irritation, and honestly bafflement, that someone had parked too close for comfort in a big open parking lot.
I purposely parked away from other cars and yet another vehicle was there when I came out of the store, making sure I couldn’t get my driver’s side door open.
I'm guessing the driver in my example was just a random shopper and not someone on official business.
Mark Hurttgam sent in a photo of a State Police SUV that failed the assignment of parking within the lines. He said he’d thought about leaving a note under the wiper but was afraid of getting
in trouble.
Probably a wise choice.
My colleague Tanya Wildt had an example that had the ring of familiarity. A photo she shared with me had two vehicles parked side by side. It’s what she’d returned to after parking away from other vehicles in a parking lot.
Her theory is that drivers need a parking frame of reference.
It would be a good one to test.
I’d started the piece with a reference to a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode where Larry David confronts a man over his failure to park within the lines.
Dale Yagiela tells me his “inner Larry David comes out over the one to two car gaps at traffic lights that have become the current trend, especially in left turn lanes. Invariably, the person is on a screen, so even when traffic moves, they are still inert, leaving me to wait for the next light change.”
Dale noted that he’s “an old man, as my kids would like to point out, and grouchy too.”
And he’s parking as far as he can from any car in the lot.
That makes good sense to me, Dale. I also think you’re not alone in your grouchiness.
Jim Hulliberger from Reed City finds it weird that someone would intentionally park close to another vehicle in a wide open lot but he also takes offense at my description of a Chevy Silverado as being a large pickup.
“It's just a pickup. I don't see dually wheels on it. Pickups are all very similar in width, but can be longer or shorter, which does make a difference in my mind to parking, but more the extent to which they jut out into the lanes, rather than how much space they take up beside.”
Point taken on the pickup size, Jim. I guess I’m still living in the past when pickups seemed to be smaller in stature to me and there were more regular cars on the road as compared with trucks and SUVs.
Jim tells me his biggest gripe is how narrow the spaces are.
“Even 6-8 inches more would not really affect the business, but could greatly improve the parking experience and potentially even reduce incidents between drivers,” he writes.
I agree that would solve a lot of problems. Those parking lots that incorporate a marked buffer zone between parking spaces are ideal.
One reader tells me technology can be a help in tight parking situations. His wife’s Kia Sportage has a neat feature. If a car is too close, you can press a button before getting in and the car can move forward or in reverse. That allows your car to move past the other one, and you can get in.
That’s a tech upgrade I can get behind.
No more climbing through the passenger side. That’s unless you just like a challenge once in a while.
Al Kovacs connects this situation to a broader societal decline. Some folks “want the biggest behemoth to move around in space with … lots of mass and big moments of inertia to occupy the space of existence. And I'm thinking these vehicles are just too large for the average parking space as defined on the ground.”
I wonder how things would go if parking lots didn’t mark any spaces at all.
Hey! You! Get outta my lane! More reader feedback
An earlier column considered a pet peeve of mine. That’s when other drivers take risky advantage of that little buffer space I leave between my car and the vehicle I’m following.
Several of you weighed in with pet peeves of your own.
Ron Kaledas wonders “why people stopped moving forward when they're at a red light in the left turn lane, and the light turns green. It seems so common now, the light turns green and they don't move at all, or they barely move forward! So they are not in position to turn left when there's a clearing now, and this usually causes (at least) one less car to be able to make it through the light when it turns yellow!”
Ron asks what prompted this change in driving behavior. He asked his daughter, who worked at a couple of different driving instruction schools if this is being taught now and she said absolutely not.
I’ll offer one possibility. Perhaps the delay in moving forward has to do with a bit of distraction. Maybe some of those drivers you’re seeing are too glued to their phones.
Richard Skipworth offered several pet peeves. Here are two of them:
“Turn signals! Not using them or using them as you are initiating your turn. This is a peeve because we are the human race, capable of detailed communications, but many of us can’t even communicate left or right!”
He’s also peeved at slow traffic in the left lane.
“A peeve because you are just creating a moving roadblock. Please have situational awareness!”
Christine Allen offers a different perspective on drivers who leave more space at stoplights and stop signs (I’d referenced a comment critical of the habit). Sometimes that extra space is there because of past concerns about safety and not because of rudeness, she writes.
"In general I agree with you. However, as a woman traveling alone, in certain areas and or times, I will leave a long gap between my car and the one in front of me. … At a stop light on the way to work one day, I had a teenager pull a gun on me and order me out of the car. Fortunately, I could just run the light I was at.”
Today, she writes, “as a retired woman, if I'm traveling at night alone, I still leave more space. During the day in heavy traffic, I'm up close.”
I can appreciate that perspective, Christine. It reminds me that it’s bad practice to assume anything. There’s a saying that often accompanies the word assume, but no need to repeat it here.
Thanks for your submissions, and if I didn’t get yours in, don’t think I don’t appreciate it.
Stay safe and take it easy out there.
Eric D. Lawrence is the senior car culture reporter at the Detroit Free Press, and he also writes about recreational vehicles, boats and bikes. Send your tips and suggestions to elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Driver's 'inner Larry David' comes out over this
