Inconsiderate Parking, or Opening of Car Doors

[luggsey]

I doubt I would notice another dent!

[canis]

Originally Posted by roundyuk

If I had kids, the child locks would be on, and I would be in control of opening the doors.

That gets really old really fast. It's a contentiuos issue, but I took a different stance on the matter of child locks. I taught the kids about the locks, and how they worked, just as a matter of ordinary life. I mean it wasn't a "lesson" as such, just like we show them everything they need to know, just during the course of everyday life.

In all my time as a parent, they're all grown up now, my kids have never once opened a door whilst moving. Why would they? They know full well if they pull that handle the door will open. They don't want the door open, so they don't pull it. I never once used child locks. Not once.

On the contrary, where child locks are employed the child learns the door handles are safe to fiddle with. The day's gonna come... They'll be randomly fiddling with the door handles, child locks will be off, door will swing open at 40mph or whatever - doesn't bear thinking about. No thank you.

Likewise, it's entirely possible to teach kids to be careful with other cars. It's also possible to teach them to be careful in car-parks. To wait for the green man. Not to touch the stove when it's hot. Not to lean out of windows.

I get really tired of people presuming kids are thick and need saving from everything. They're not, they're just young and naive. Teach them! Kids don't make mistakes because they're kids, they error because they don't know better.

EDIT: I always feel personally insulted when i'm stuck in a car I can't get out of because of child locks. No parent has EVER ONCE taken the child lock off for me, they always presume I'll just be fine sitting there like a chump while they faff about with whatever they're fiddling with, put down their phone, take off their seat belt, it doesn't retract without a wiggle so they wiggle it for a few minutes, finally they get out of the car to release me from captivity and complain it's raining. I hate that! Might as well own a two door car - which I also detest.

[canis]

Originally Posted by green van man

I have seen cars parked across 2 bays for the same reason.

I confess, I've done that once or twice. I don't normally, but if the gaps are too small, and they've frustrated me in the past, and there's huge 4x4s parked on either side both right up to the line, especially the vulgar X5 which isn't even pareked straight - then I'm inclined to just not care. Shout at me if it makes you feel better.

I was parked in Tescos the other day, waiting for the wife who was returning a dress which I thought looked nice but she'd obviously made up her mind it was going back and nothing I could say could shift the idea, and I was looking at the entire row of disabled spaces with only one car in it.

Why don't they just build them all that size and put pavements between the rows? Because 80% of their customers can manage without? Then that must mean the "special" spaces aren't as necessary as they think, or the vast majority of Tesco's customers are single, childless and able-bodied. I don't believe that.

[Laird Scooby]

I don't think child locks were around when i was a sprog and i never opened the door while traveling along.

That said, have you ever tried opening a car door while moving? No way a young kid (unless sired by Guy the Gorilla) would have the strength to open the door!

Of course, suicide doors are a different matter but unless you're prepared to spend £500k on a new car (R-R Phantom), not much chance of those on anything these days.

Then there's the MoT test - many testers will refuse to check the only reason a rear door can't be opened from inside is due to child locks and fail the car on that point.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by canis

I was looking at the entire row of disabled spaces with only one car in it.

Why don't they just build them all that size and put pavements between the rows? Because 80% of their customers can manage without? Then that must mean the "special" spaces aren't as necessary as they think, or the vast majority of Tesco's customers are single, childless and able-bodied. I don't believe that.

If they did, they'd need car parks 3 times the size at peak times.

What annoys me about disabled spaces is they're meant to make life easier for those needing them yet some of them are so far away from the shop entrance as to be no real help and the disabled person has to walk or propel their wheelchair further than an "able" parking one row over but still close to the store entrance.

[volvocat]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

If they did, they'd need car parks 3 times the size at peak times.

What annoys me about disabled spaces is they're meant to make life easier for those needing them yet some of them are so far away from the shop entrance as to be no real help and the disabled person has to walk or propel their wheelchair further than an "able" parking one row over but still close to the store entrance.

And many stores now put ‘parent & child’ spaces closer to the doors than the disabled spaces - in fact, they have often altered them from disabled, intentionally moving the disabled spaces further away. Maybe they just assume most disabled folks use a wheelchair so the extra distance makes little difference to them?
I’m not against family-friendly facilities but having kids, with all the attendant hassles and inconveniences, is usually a lifestyle choice; disability is not...

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by volvocat

And many stores now put ‘parent & child’ spaces closer to the doors than the disabled spaces - in fact, they have often altered them from disabled, intentionally moving the disabled spaces further away. Maybe they just assume most disabled folks use a wheelchair so the extra distance makes little difference to them?
I’m not against family-friendly facilities but having kids, with all the attendant hassles and inconveniences, is usually a lifestyle choice; disability is not...

The big thing is here, not all disabilities are visible and may not be apparent until the person using that space has had to walk the extra distance and because the reason they have their Blue Badge in the first place is because of a heart condition so they shouldn't be walking far, they then suffer a heart attack of some form or another whether it's angina or a full blown heart attack.
Alternatively, their disability may be impaired hearing or vision, meaning that the increased distance increases the risk of them having an accident simply because it becomes a numbers game then - more steps = more chance of tripping, being hit by an unseen/unheard car etc

I'd like to see the people who make the decisions to move disabled spaces further away in favour of more "sprog & victim" spaces live as a disabled person for a month.

I suspect that there would suddenly be a lot more, easily accessible, disabled parking spaces closer to the store entrance and the sprog & victim spaces would be further away - preferably a lot further away!

Make the kids walk to the car, they have legs, it will give them exercise and help tire them out so they'll go to sleep in the car on the way home and the victims (parents) will think they've gone deaf!

Meanwhile, enlarge the normal spaces so people can park safely without risking their cars being damaged, put more staff on the tills so people don't spend 20 minutes shopping and 40 minutes queueing to pay. This would have several benefits - more people would find shopping lesss stressful so would be encouraged to use stores like this, the throughput of customers would be much faster resulting in higher footfall figures not to mention more customers willing to shop there as they wouldn't spend 2/3 of their time waiting to pay, it's a win-win when you look at it that way!

The extra throughput/footfall would easily cover the extra wages of the extra till staff and still make the retailer more money/profit.

[volvocat]

Very well said!

[id5]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

...Make the kids walk to the car, they have legs,...

Walk! You want to make little Tarquin walk! I'll have social services onto you if you carry on like that. I mean, think of his poor little legs!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by id5

Walk! You want to make little Tarquin walk! I'll have social services onto you if you carry on like that. I mean, think of his poor little legs!

Anti-Social Services should be grateful i'm making the little yuppy-larva get some exercise instead of sitting there playing with his i-Pad while Mummy tells him "It's not appropriate to use the expletives he's learned on YouTube".

Little tyke has only just learned those 4-letter words and doesn't know the meaning of them, never mind "inappropriate" - he can't even say that never mind know what it means!