The outrageous parking act which is never acceptable: 'Completely unethical'
It's time for some drivers to take a U-turn on their self-entitlement, writes Adam Lucius.
Finding a parking spot in our congested cities and towns can sometimes feel like hand-to-hand combat. So few spaces and so many cars. Only the strongest and shrewdest survive.
And when you have a victory… wow, the euphoria is palpable.
You turn all George Costanza as you throw your left arm over the passenger's seat and reverse park your way into a two-hour zone just metres from the shops.
Or you might be at the beach when you see those beacons of hope — another driver's white reverse lights — kick in, allowing your vehicle to cruise into the most desired of resting places.
It's a game of parking Lotto many of us tackle regularly, accepting some days you win and some days you lose.
What is not acceptable is sending someone out to physically "reserve" a parking spot on your behalf, while you make your away around the block before being beckoned into position.
Your accomplice is not an air marshal directing planes around the tarmac or at a company AGM acting as your proxy.
Nor are they a seat filler at the Academy Awards, taking up any vacancy to ensure the auditorium always looks full even when half the audience is in the toilet.
Having someone "bags" a parking spot makes you no better than the people who race to the resort pool at 7am to place a towel over a sunbed before returning four hours later.
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Reserving a parking spot can land you a $78 fine
"Guarding" a space until the car arrives is not only uncool, it’s completely unethical. And it's also illegal.
In Australia, the law states: "Pedestrians must not cause a traffic hazard by moving into the path of a driver" or "unreasonably obstruct the path of any driver".
Offenders can be fined $78, which is probably cheaper than the parking fee at some joints.
If a spot does not present itself while you're behind the wheel, bad luck. The unspoken rule is everyone does their best when it comes to finding a park — and it’s on a first in, best dressed basis.
It's a system that has served us well…until now.
Common decency seems to have gone out the window
In this age of looking out for number one, it seems common decency has gone the same way as common sense.
It’s turned some of us into suburban savages, looking to get one up on our fellow man or woman no matter the cost.
The Hunger Games has nothing on two drivers fighting over a bit of vacant asphalt. There's competition at every turn, especially if it's a left into that one spot on ground level at the local shopping centre.
So, for those claiming squatters' rights over parking spots, here's some free advice.
The parking gods will either grant you access or they won't. Call it egalitarian randomness at its finest.
It's time to park the arrogance and take a U-turn on the self-entitlement.
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