i must admit if i see a nice car of its own in a big car park and there are no "end" spaces left i go and park next to the nice car, that way at least i can tell myself if hes parked on his own miles from the exit hes done it for a reason i.e to avoid parking next to some half wit who will bang his doors.
That way if i know hes done it to avoid the above then hes not going to bang MY doors either and at least half my car will be safe!!! and in return i will obviously not bang his doors!
there does that help???
Tips.
Never park near any type of 4x4, school run mums with kids and two much money that dont care about your car. or farmers who think they are still in their tractors.
Never park near company cars, they dont care either.
Never park next to any car with a baby seat or anything to do with kids inside, kids do not have to pay for cars and dont understand the edge of daddys door makes big nasty dents.
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Yup I like to park next to a nice expensive non 4X4 car, out of the way, in the hope that it's going to give me some protection from careless dents and scratches. I often get the car parked next to me syndrome as well when I park well out of the on my own. Perhaps we should campaign for careful owners only sections of car parks.LOl
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yes i think that would be a very good idea!!!
However in my car park at work there are these four big extremly wide walkways that run from the back to the front of the car park, i always park in the far away corner of the car park and a little bit hanging over the walkway, not in anyones way or causing a problem for anyway and i aways get some stupid sarcastic comment about was a still asleep when i parked, would a like some help next time etc etc. So it just shows the sort of people out there who have no idea and couldnt care less!!!
however the MD of the place where i work has a really nice audi TT and he always parks next to me. I had never met him but knew who he was and was introduced at the last christmas party and i said he always parked next to me! He said "or your beetle girl are you?? You must work very long hours, you are always there in the morning when i get to work and always there at night when i go home!!!" He must think im a right lazy wotsit now i car share and the car is only there every other day!!!
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I think the general issue here is that of the herd mentatlity. The most obvious one of this I have come accross is parking my car in a large car park in a wood in the Surrey countryside to go a walk and coming back several hours later and finding four additional cars parked all in the immediate vicinity (to the extent of having to hold the doors as you got in)when I returned. Lots of space, no real security problems - they were obviously just worried the cars would get lonely.
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I don't know about being enlightened, I'm more FRIGHTENED than anything else now....
I think I'll start taking what Chris Bangle is on & then maybe I'll understand the logic of some of you...
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If you have reason for thinking that the nearly empty carpark is likely to fill up then there is a sensible reason for parking next to one of the few cars already there.
That way you can at least control the width of the gap on one side of your car. If you park in isolation and the intervening spaces, especially if grass or umnmarked, then fill up, you are liable to find the last car has squeezed into an inadequate space which might well be next to yours.
Of course in an unmarked car park, as on grass at car boots, a whole new set of rules apply for minimising the risk of scrapes or getting boxed in. Eg, whilst it is tempting to park at the far end of a row so as to control the access width on the far side, beware people who park radially at corners. They give you plenty of room to open the doors, but often leave an impossible gap to drive out through.
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I always try to avoid parking next to a coupé or other two-door car (the doors are massive!)
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Without wishing to sound too "mr perfect" I also park out of the way in carparks, if you want to see doors getting banged come to our local supermarket, BANG they go, without even looking. I take all the precautions to stop my doors getting banged, if I want to damage my car myself thats up to me, someone else doing it is a different story! I generally open the door with my hand over the edge as a matter of course especially if it is windy!
It may suprise you to hear that I drive an old not-battered-but-showing-its-age mid seventies Land-Rover...
James.
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Ahh but mine is a pre-Bangle 5 (just)
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Actually, I have got a solution for detering the sheep. Providing the car park isn't busy & you're not going to deny others a place, park your car badly. Use up 2 spaces or park at angle or preferably both! This usually does the trick...
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That almost sums up my 'technique' NB. My supermarket car park is rarely even half full, and I usually park deliberately inside a third of the adjoining space, which is often left unused as a result.
It takes up no more than those 'mother & child' spaces.
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I have just got back from the local supermarket where I tried out this theory.
I parked right away nowhere near any other cars and fifteen minutes later when I emerged from the supermarket a car has parked right next to me. Bear in mind that there were no other cars within about 20 meters of me when I parked so I found this quite amazing.
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I remember reading something about 'object fixation. It seems that if you look at something you're subconciously drawn towards it. Apparently it can be a problem for fighter pilots and motorcyclists. I've heard of vehicles crashing into lone palm trees in the middle of a desert, and a mate of mine certainly hit a lamp post in the middle of a nearly deserted car park.
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carrick, Frostbite & Marcos
Cheers guys, I'm not going insane then...
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"It seems that if you look at something you're subconciously drawn towards it."
I have this problem with cakes, beer, Landies and other politically incorrect items. I am becoming a strange cross betwen Alan Partridge and Homer Simpson....
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Target Fixation. Your vehicle follows your line of sight. Fundamental in biker training, look where you want to go and your bike will follow, so it can be a positive effect.
www.msgroup.org/TIP069.html
On the matter of fixation, why is everyone so fixated about car parks? Herring bone makes perfect sense, I far prefer those car parks which are laid out that way. Nice also when you get a blank space in front, you can simply move into it, park facing forwards and you're good to go with no hassle when you want to leave. I think a lot of it is UK car parks are so stingy with space, like cynical airlines and their very reducing seat pitch in coach.
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Actually, I have got a solution for detering the sheep. Providing the car park isn't busy & you're not going to deny others a place, park your car badly. Use up 2 spaces or park at angle or preferably both! This usually does the trick...
NB, don't try it in our local council car parks, they'll ticket you for parking outside your bay!
Doesn't always work though, we've got a guy at work who insisted in parking his brand new BMW in the middle of two bays in our very busy car park, caused all sorts of arguments but his car was much more important than anyone else's. Worked a treat until the day the two cars either side went out during the day and four guys came in with company Ka vans and saw one and a half bays either side of him. Believe it or not, if you're really careful you can get four Ka's in to three bays, doesn't leave a lot of room to get in the car in the middle though. Took him a while to hunt down the, deliberately obscured, keys and move two of the vans so he could get in the BMW, especially as they had all knocked off at 5 and he didn't realise until 5:15.....
He seems to have got the message now that he was being slightly anti-social.
Cockle
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You've got a self-contained solution in their, Nitro.
Drive 2, and 1 is never likely to happen.
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Why are the spaces at 90 degrees to the roadway, Costcos spaces are at 45 degrees to the roadway and have ample room to open your doors. Why can't others follow their example it makes getting in and out much easier, hmmm must have been a woman who designed them then !!!!!!!
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A friend, (male) is employed by our LA and he designs Car Parks (amongst other things) - "his" Car Parks are all herringbone design, he claims it frees up space (in some bizzare civil engineering way), he also fights the system. A recent car park upgrade he worked on ended up with the herringbone spaces and a dreadful one way system which he insists has been put in back to front. I pointed out to him that the exit is darned dangerous and he concures. He says that the design was reversed under preussure from above. The chap in charge of the entrances was asked a simple question " Did you do a Road Safety Audit" the reply was a curt "No" and he walked off...I am now waiting for a client to have a bump there.
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