Two-Space Trouble

We've all been frustrated by greedy people taking up two spots, it's nothing less irritating when the parking lot is full and you are forced to drive around aimlessly.  Not being able to find a parking spot can delay your day, make you late for a meeting, or simply but a damper on an otherwise great day. In an article titled "Two-Space Parking Creates Parking Lot Culture Clash" Mark Lungariella discusses parking lot etiquette and culture. He discusses what message you're sending when you occupy two spots, and some ways to deal with this frustrating situation. Click here to read the entire article. 

Two-Space Parking Creates Parking Lot Culture Clash
By: Mark Lungariello

Kristin Marachi would like to have a word with those people who hog two parking spaces instead of just using one. She would use the same stern tone she uses when dealing with her two young sons when they misbehave, or the kindergartners she teaches as a special education assistant.

“You have to tell them that’s why there’s lines there,” said the 28-year-old from Bridgeport, Conn. “If you have two cars, you can use two spots but you don’t, you only have one.” Taking up more is rude, Marachi said, and may be part of a childish “mine-mine-mine” mentality. “I’d blame the parents,” she added. “Maybe they take up two parking spots too.”

Few things can cause as much disdain as a greedy parker. Facebook has several groups dedicated to venting about those whose cars cross the line. A website with a vulgar name features pictures and videos of badly parked cars and encourages readers to leave “notices” under the windshield wiper of the offending vehicles. “Sick of a car taking up two spaces on the street?” the site says under its “About Us” section. “Now you can do something about it.”

Greedy parkers, like this one in
Harrison, N.Y., have many seeing red.
(Photo by Mark Lungariello/CNS)

Greedy parkers, like this one in Harrison, N.Y., have many seeing red. (Photo by Mark Lungariello/CNS)Notes from those who did something about it, according to a Huffington Post feature, ranged from the political insult (“Your vehicle occupies two parking spaces. You must be special … Or Republican.” ) to the kind that uses language that can’t be printed here. There are even Citizen Parking Violations, which say, in part, “The reason for giving you this is so that in future you may think of someone other than yourself.”

Says book editor Rob Kirkpatrick, 43, who hates greedy parkers more than he hates missed deadlines, “They’re basically telling the world, ‘I’m more important than you are.’” He added, “If people were still tarred and feathered, these are the ones who’d deserve it the most.”

Taking up more than one spot isn’t illegal, per se. Local parking enforcement officers can issue tickets for improperly parked vehicles at parking meters or in municipal lots. But the offense often takes place in corporate or private lots, where enforcement depends on what, if anything, the lot’s owner is willing to do about it.

(Read More)