Confusing you with someone who gives a damn

/ Su Leslie

I live on a blind corner. Cars speed round it terrifyingly fast and often. Parking here is a bit of a lottery — and daft since there’s a long strait just ahead. Parking like this (if you can call it parking) is just mental. I watched in dismay this afternoon as one car after another swerved to avoid this stupidly parked vehicle; and am still shaken by how narrowly a neighbour avoided a head-on collision.

Inconsiderate driving behaviour seems to be on the increase — a sign of a wider malaise perhaps?

Posted to One Word Sunday | confusion

50 thoughts on “Confusing you with someone who gives a damn”

  8. It would be better to park on the sidewalk than to cause a serious accident with this idiotic parking. It looks like you drive on the left side in NZ. It sure looks strange. Perhaps your photo will help raise awareness of the problem, Su.

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    • We do drive on the left — one of the few countries where that happens. People do post photos of others’ bad road behaviour to raise awareness, but I don’t think it works, because I think that people know what they are doing and genuinely just don’t care. Sadly.

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  9. Hah… you should come to Cornwall when it is school holiday time (like now). Drivers crawl along the roads causing tail backs (and frustrated drivers who then take risks trying to overtake) and then make stupid turns directly in front of traffic! I saw that happen the other day. And no-one seems to know how to use roundabouts or their indicator these days. [I am becoming a very grumpy old woman]

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    • Sadly, that’s fairly “normal” Auckland traffic and we’re seeing the same behaviour. Red in traffic lights seem to have become no more than a suggestion to stop, and the really scary thing I’m seeing more and more is someone in the right-hand lane of the motorway seeing their off-ramp ahead and just cutting across the other lanes to take it. I’ve seen a couple of very near misses, been in one off them, and heard of two horrible incidents where people have been injured because of this. I too am a grumpy old woman!!

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      • I agree! Why does someone overtake in the outside lane only to leave the motorway at the next (very close) junction? Total idiots.I had a Beemer up my arse yesterday even though he could see I was overtaking a slower vehicle. I was doing 75mph, after I moved over and he sped away I reckon he was doing at least 100.

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    • It’s scary huh. We have lots of little kids in our street who ride their bikes and skateboards around and I’m in a state of constant anxiety waiting for something awful to happen.

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    • It looks like really poor impulse control. Like “oh, I’m here, I’ll just stop the car and get out.” Last weekend some guy parked over my driveway because it had t occurred to him to drive a bit further along the road — actually towards the driveway of the person he was visiting. Aaaaagh.

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  13. Did you look on the floor in the car? Surely, the driver had a malaise and fainted to the floor? (I know it‘s not the case).

    Sadly, I see this situation and WORSE daily in the Paris region. Cars ‚parked‘ any which way, in 90° curves, you can‘t even get around, 3 3/4 wheels 1m from the kerb, OR literally stuck fender to fender, touching. We once had 6 men LIFTING the parked Smart from such a ‚parking‘ place because the owner, a friend of ours, had to drive to the hospital!!!!! And when we try to talk to Parisians about their parking anywhere impossible/totally forbidden/stupidly dangerous, the regular answer we get is: That‘s alright, if I get a fine every 2-3 months, it‘s far cheaper than going into a parking, AND it‘s closer to where I want to go, too….

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    • In the city here it’s pretty much as you describe; I’ve also seen people having to lift cars out of the way; and cars parked straddling two spaces — including once, two disabled parking spaces. The driver wasn’t disabled in case you’re wondering.
      But I live in right on the edge of the city, so there was no pressure to squeeze into overcrowded parking. The whole street was free and they chose to do that!! Sigh.

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  19. That is not parking. That is… I don’t know what that is. I get frustrated with people who park in the street outside work and can’t be bothered reversing to leave a small gap between themselves and the car behind them. They pull in, leaving 3/4 of a car length gap and just leave it. Get a couple doing that and you only get four cars into a space that should fit six.

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    • That bugs me too. And the people who straddle two spaces, park in the Disabled spaces, stop on yellow lines “cos it’s just for a minute” … I’d better not go on, my blood pressure is rising.

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