I think I stole someones parking space

[Twila]

Quite by accident mind you. And I'm not sure if I should feel bad or not.

I pulled into a strip mall parking lot. Ahead of me was a car and in front of him was a truck. There's parking all along the left side (in front of the strip mall stores). So the truck turns right where there were parking spaces on both the right and left side. The car ahead goes straight and I turned left into the only parking stall left that just happened to be in front of the store I was going into.

I pulled in, turned off my car and heard a honk. But being that it's a Wednesday at 5:00pm the honk could have been directed at anybody.

As I'm getting out of my car the white truck that had turned right is stopped right in the middle of the parkway, and the guy has his head out the window looking back, glaring at me with his reverse lights on.

It took me a while to put all the pieces together but I believe he thinks I stole his parking spot.

So, if it common practice for people to back into parking spots by pulling into the causeway and angling backwards and to the left in a very busy parking lot with traffic flowing forwards and backwards?

 

[Outta here]

awww Twila, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I imagine there are some folks who'll want to back into a spot, but if their signal light wasn't on, or any other means of communicating their intention, then I'd just chalk it up to a Mr. Grampy Pants expressing his overall frustration in your direction.

I think we all know when we've pulled a nasty deed while we're driving. If you didn't intend to steal his spot, he should just suck it up and quit his whining.

Besides, it sounds like he was creating a hazard by pulling into a causeway before backing up.

 

[wallyj]

Be careful where you park,some people get downright nasty. Whenever I pull into a parking lot I always take the wheelchair parking spot if it is empty. I believe that people in wheelchairs have it tough enough already without having to park thier chairs outside and then limp,crawl,or squirm thier way into the store. This way they can stay in the chair and tell the parking police that the spot was full. But some people have yelled at me for parking there. I think those people have no empathy or common sense.

 

[Twila]

I always take the wheelchair parking spot if it is empty. I believe that people in wheelchairs have it tough enough already without having to park thier chairs outside and then limp,crawl,or squirm thier way into the store.

Sounds almost like why Hugh Lauries character on House felt HE should have the handicapped space rather then the lady in the wheel chair...

 

[eh1eh]

It's much safer to back into a parking spot then it is to back out. Your visibility is limited when you back out. I always back in everywhere I go but that is probably a result of truck driving in the Toronto area for 20 years.:smile:

 

[cdn_bc_ca]

It's much safer to back into a parking spot then it is to back out. Your visibility is limited when you back out. I always back in everywhere I go but that is probably a result of truck driving in the Toronto area for 20 years.:smile:

I agree. I had an incident one time when backing out of a spot where there was a van on my left and a truck on my right... Needless to say, I couldn't see a damn thing when backing out. Hence, I backed out as slow as possible. Then out of nowhere a huge jacked up truck on monster wheels just flies by inches from my rear bumper. Whatever the speed limit was for a parking lot, he was way over it. Anyway, it scared the sh!t out of me... but he and I knew that if there was an accident it probably would be my fault... such is life.

 

[eh1eh]

I agree. I had an incident one time when backing out of a spot where there was a van on my left and a truck on my right... Needless to say, I couldn't see a damn thing when backing out. Hence, I backed out as slow as possible. Then out of nowhere a huge jacked up truck on monster wheels just flies by inches from my rear bumper. Whatever the speed limit was for a parking lot, he was way over it. Anyway, it scared the sh!t out of me... but he and I knew that if there was an accident it probably would be my fault... such is life.

Right, if you are going backwards it is your fault. No matter what. So back in when you have control over the traffic, you're out there so nobody will purposely drive into you. When you leave you can see.

 

[Twila]

Ah, well that all makes sense. I couldn't think why anybody would back into a stall in such a busy parking lot. It seemed...silly,