Topic: Why do people always seem to crowd a parked bike??

[csendker]

Happens all the time.  I park in the middle of a parking space and the joker who comes in next to me crowds the line. I just took this picture - the red truck was there before me, the car came later - he's parked all the way over the line. Grrrrr.

[SteveD CB500F]

I park on the hatched "no parking" space.  When the building security guy complained I just said "That's OK, I'll take up a WHOLE car space then".

We are so short of spaces at our office that they soon saw sense.

[sparty]

About two years ago I saw a woman racing for a parking spot at the market.  She whipped her car into the first open spot (closest to the building) that she could find.  Except, the parking spot was currently occupied by a motorcycle.  She failed to stop in time and launched the motorcycle into the car ahead of it causing a whole bunch of damage to both vehicles.  My wife and I stood there stunned.  The woman driver then squeezed out of her car to survey what she had done.  From the looks of things, her 250 lb arse should have parked at home and walked to the market.

Moral of the story: make your bike visible when parking it because cagers will knock it over.

[Gordon]

Why?  Because they can.  You give most people the opportunity to do something, and they'll do it, regardless of whether it's right or wrong.
 Like Steve, I park my bike at work on the yellow hash marks next to a couple of cement columns in the parking garage.  Not only am I not taking up a much-needed space, but it's much less likely to be hit by a car because even if they don't see the bike, they'll see the giant yellow cement pillar.

Moral of the story: make your bike visible when parking it because cagers will knock it over.

Amen!  When I do park in a regular space in a lot, I park like csdenker did in the picture.  All the way in the back of the spot so the bike is easily visible to car drivers looking for a space.

[Magpie]

It's not just the cagers that park too close. A fellow biker parked close enough to my ST that he knocked the mirror off when he got off his bike. Didn't bother him a bit!
Cliff.

[dusterdude]

leave a dent in their door and they might get the message.

[Dusthawk]

I was rolling cage a couple years ago, an 87 Camaro, and I was parked in a lot with a wall around it. I got one of the wall spaces and put my car as close to the wall as I could, just to be sure there was enough room for anyone who came along. Well, an hour later after lunch, I came back and you know what I'm about to say. There was an F-450 Super-Duty Ford pick-up Dually parked so close to my car I couldn't get in. Put it another way, He parked so close you could park a couple of bikes in the part of his space he wasn't in. He was at least a foot and a half, Half a Metre for you 'advanced' folks out there, over the line. I called the local PD but would you believe they told me there was nothing they could do because it was a private lot? I had to wait almost two hours for this yahoo to get back. I must have left skidmarks up one side and down the other I ripped into him so bad. I got on my computer later that day and printed up a bunch of flyers notifying the driver of their parking habits and how they make things difficult for fellow drivers by not paying attention for simple parking courtesy. I left a flyer on every car I saw parked on or over the line for weeks. Did it help? Nope. Dedicated cagers are only thinking about one thing, what is convenient for them.

The other thing that gets me riled is when a 'mom' lands her industrial grade heady duty all terrain grocery transport vehicle in the compact spot. GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

In the name of Parking Equality,

Jeff

[scondon]

Happens all the time.  I park in the middle of a parking space and the joker who comes in next to me crowds the line. I just took this picture - the red truck was there before me, the car came later - he's parked all the way over the line. Grrrrr.

   Same thing happens to me every day at work. One woman in particular will back her Mercedes SUV in and out of the spot to park as close to my bike as possible. She does not want other cars to park close to her shiny expensive beast and risk chipping the paint when opening doors. After having to readjust my mirrors repeatedly after she squeeeeeeezed past my bike, I asked her to please stop.

[clarkjh]

   Same thing happens to me every day at work. One woman in particular will back her Mercedes SUV in and out of the spot to park as close to my bike as possible. She does not want other cars to park close to her shiny expensive beast and risk chipping the paint when opening doors. After having to readjust my mirrors repeatedly after she squeeeeeeezed past my bike, I asked her to please stop.

If she doesn't, there is this tool called a Key.  Makes really nice dings on shiny expensive crowding SUVs that the driver doesn't want any dings 

James

[eldar]

main reason they park so close is that, there is opne space there to "protect" their cages. They think that by parking close to a bike, that there will be more room between them and the next cager. What they seem to forget is cagers like to congregate and the next person will park close to them for the very same reason.

my personal opinion is that EVERYONE should have to ride a bike for AT LEAST 1 summer so they realize how stupid their driving habits are. They may also look out for cyclists a bit more too.

[Gordon]

One thing they don't think about when parking like that is what if the bike leaves before them?  Then there's just this crowded but open parking space left, and I'm just the jerk to park there in my beater car and open my door a little extra hard.  

[ElCheapo]

I leave them my business card when they park that way, when I leave. It is a smiling Mickey Mouse with his middle finger up. Nice parking, #$%*s like you should take the bus.

[Raul CB750K1]

I'm pretty tired of people opening their doors and making dings in mine, that I have become obssesed when it comes to park my car. I try to park besides a column (we europeans have so few space our parkings are underneath) because there is one car less dinging my door. If possible, I park between a column and another car. Why? Columns don't cause dings. If the place beside is occupied, chances are I will be leaving before him/er, so no dings.

Now look at the picture. That driver has left you enough space to leave. Even if there was a passenger, he/she could open the door without touching your bike. And he left some additional space in case somebody else park in the designated place between the lines.

In Madrid the parking space is so scarce that bikes are allowed to be parked on the sidewalks. Actually, if you park it online -perfectly legal-, you have many chances that somebody will drop it while parking, so generally bikers don't run the risk.


Raul

[Gordon]

In Madrid the parking space is so scarce that bikes are allowed to be parked on the sidewalks.

Well, most places here, it's still illegal to park a motorcycle on the sidewalk.  In fact, I just got a ticket a couple of weeks ago at the local coliseum because I parked on the extrememly large sidewalk, about 50 yards away from the nearest entrance, tucked in a corner where it was absolutely not in the way.

But because of that, motorcycles are entitled to an entire parking space, just like we're entitled to the entire width of a lane of traffic.

[turtle]

Here in Brisbane there are lots of nooks and crannies around the city that bikers use as unofficial parking spaces. The city council decided to ban this use and force bikers to use "proper" (read metered) parking. The bikers hit back by having an organised parking day. They all arrived early in the city one morning and occupied a huge proportion of the metered parking (perfectly legally and as per the new by-law). Only problem was there was nowhere for most of the cars to go. Guess what? The new by-law was abandoned and bikers went back to their old parking places.

[cb650]

I ran into this at a motel once.  The truck ended up as a receptacle for all my empty beer cans.  On tires in bed on hood .



                                   Terry

[toycollector10]

Hi turtle, I love the way you Aussie bikers are organised. I recently read that your government had over 800 submissions from bikers regarding the lane splitting issue. Law not passed.

[chung]

At least they didn't whack your paint with the door. I had just finish a (sweet) paint job that was  ready for clear and I got whacked by a shopping cart? A week of repair and dry time and then the Front Master Cyl seal let go. I fixed a 1/2 dozed zits and was all ready for clear and I dropped it with a full load of fuel and it landed on the edge of the curb. Just was meant to look like a pos?


Kept the tank just like it was, kinda like a dear old friend, we have been through several bike together

[turtle]

Hi toy collector
I'm glad that one was defeated. I'm really a kiwi (but don't tell Terry).

[hawkeye]

Here in Brisbane there are lots of nooks and crannies around the city that bikers use as unofficial parking spaces. The city council decided to ban this use and force bikers to use "proper" (read metered) parking. The bikers hit back by having an organised parking day. They all arrived early in the city one morning and occupied a huge proportion of the metered parking (perfectly legally and as per the new by-law). Only problem was there was nowhere for most of the cars to go. Guess what? The new by-law was abandoned and bikers went back to their old parking places.

that's a great story.

[ElCheapo]

I park on the hatched "no parking" space.  When the building security guy complained I just said "That's OK, I'll take up a WHOLE car space then".

We are so short of spaces at our office that they soon saw sense.

I only hate this when it is near a H-cap spot. As I have my step father who is in a wheel chair. Anywhere else who cares.

[74cb750]

Here in Brisbane there are lots of nooks and crannies around the city that bikers use as unofficial parking spaces. The city council decided to ban this use and force bikers to use "proper" (read metered) parking. The bikers hit back by having an organised parking day. They all arrived early in the city one morning and occupied a huge proportion of the metered parking (perfectly legally and as per the new by-law). Only problem was there was nowhere for most of the cars to go. Guess what? The new by-law was abandoned and bikers went back to their old parking places.

Hey Turtle,
I love that! Amazing how you can get people together for something they believe in.

At work, my boss told me I could park my bike on the sidewalk, next to the building.
Probably because they don't want to see holes in their new tarmac.
peace,
michel

[turtle]

I thought it was kinda cool too.
My son's friend told us that he recently visited a nearby town where the local authority had thoughfully allocated a kerbside car parking space for bike parking. A cruiser had parked at the front and then a toorak tractor/urban assault vehicle/wanktank/4WD/(SUV?) had tried to use the remaining spaces, parking at an angle that jutted into the road and blocked the cruiser. Son's friend parked his Vespa on the footpath and went shopping. When he returned, the cruiser had gone and there was one keyed 4WD sitting still with it's nose out into the road.

[Gordon]

When he returned, the cruiser had gone and there was one keyed 4WD sitting still with it's nose out into the road.

I've never quite been able to bring myself to do that to someone's vehichle, but I'm always very appreciative when I see that someone else has done it for me!

[meanboyjr]

Here's another pet parking peeve: cagers who park in "motorcycle only" spots.

My fair city has a few parking spots designated for bikes only, but cars park in them often. A group of riding buddies got together one Saturday at 6AM a few years ago and pulled a Brisbane: we parked around 14 bikes, nose-to-tail, (not angled in to conserve space) in regular, non-metered street parking spots, which basically took up a whole city block. I leaned a sign against my bike, the last in line: "Thanks for parking in our Motorcycle Only spots!" People were pissed, because we were parked in a busy shopping district and taking up tons of room, but they got the point, at least temporarily. The merchants on that block begged us to never do it again.

The cagers stayed out of our spots...for about a week.