Discussions

One of my peeves is people who don't leave adequate space between their vehicle and the next one to allow the other person to open their door. Just because you're within the line and can shoehorn into a parking space doesn't mean you should use it. If you leave a gap of 6" between your passenger door and the driver side door of the vehicle to your right, HOW is the other person supposed to gain entry to their vehicle?? When I had a small car with a manual transmission, there were times when I had to open the passenger door, put the shifter in neutral, and push the car back far enough to get into the driver's side. This behavior by my standards is as low as using a handicapped spot if you're not disabled. Now that I switched to a 1/2 ton, I either make like a contortionist to get in from the passenger side or wait who knows for the other person to return.  
 
Am I alone in my feelings, or do the majority of people share my opinion?

You should park in the middle of the parking space. That gives you room to get to the driver’s side door and leaves room for your neighbour to do the same on the right. If you’re parked snug to the left side of the spot, then it’s really not fair to blame other drivers or expect them to move because you don’t have room.

I run into this alot. Can't even squeeze between the rear view mirrors to walk between the vehicles. I came out with a cartload of groceries one time. While I was gone a truck had parked tight up against my drivers side. Another had pulled in on my passenger side so close they could not open their drivers door and the occupants were all in the process of sliding out the passenger door into a empty space beside them. They looked at me and ran giggling into the store. Adults, not teens. They had about 3 open spaces in a row on the passenger side, but they chose to park tight up against my vehicle. I understand why some folks might have the urge to key a vehicle.

I’ve fixed. this by parking further away from the doors. Park at the far side of parking lot where more space. Lots were not designed (except south Costco parking lot) for multiple trucks. The painted lines seam set for smaller cars.

I think it’s the businesses issue. They make the spots so small that even the best driver can’t get into their spots without upsetting someone.

I really wish they would make parking spots wider! Do they regulate or is there a law that states what size they should be? It’s 2019, vehicles are much bigger now.

are governed by each municipal government's planning/engineering/and by-law departments. I agree that they tend to be inadequate, especially placement and width of handicapped stalls.

When I arrive at work in the morning, I'm usually among the first people to arrive and ensure I have adequate space between my truck and whatever vehicle is to either side. The problem lies during shift change when spots start to open. If everybody parked EXACTLY between the lines, it wouldn't be an issue, but because they don't (in winter they tend to park closer to the power outlets because of short block heater cords) what happens is a parking spot not necessarily wide enough to allow both driver's side and passenger side doors to open.  
 
Personally, I check once I've parked to see how much room I have on the passenger side between myself and the next vehicle. If it's not enough that [b]I[/b] could comfortably open my door, then I'll back out and find a wider spot. Unfortunately not everyone shows the same consideration :-(

If you drive a truck park further away from the door. I agree the spots are tight near the door and very busy. It will also allow you to back-up or move around your truck.  
 
The rest of us, if we all parked in the middle of the lanes we would all have enough room to get out both sides.  
 
One problem is you get one idiot who parks right on the line the rest have to park like that in order to get into spots.  
 
Sometimes if I am in a bad mood. I park quite close to that car so they can't get in their car that side while still being between my parking lines. At least the cars parking in the rest of the row will be able to start parking properly.  
 
Another issue: is the extreme idiot who parks where there are two cars so have blocked in the middle car. Even if you feel that one of the other car is not in the right lane of parking, why do this? Especially in winter when it is really hard to even see the rows or guess where they are.  
 
Two wrongs don't make a right.

I should be so lucky as to get a spot close to the door. Where my usual spot is at least 80 yards from the door (almost out of reach of my command start, even- crappy RAM keyless remotes :-( ) Unless I opted to park 1/4 mile away in the adjoining field to the plant lot (which negates the whole perk of having a paved parking lot :-( ), anywhere I park is subject to the same abuse by people from the evening shift trying to find parking spots before everybody from the day shift has left for the day. What REALLY flusters me is that security has no record of license plates, so asking the owner of the offending vehicle to please move is impossible. Security doesn't have the authority to have the vehicle towed, so if someone can't gain access to their vehicle, then they wait until 10:00 p.m. or later when the second shift workers are done. Great arrangement, eh?

Try having kids you need to buckle into car seats and an infant bucket that can't be squished down to get in the vehicle and into it's base! So frustrating. Makes you want to bash into them with your door because they parked so stupid! People dont think and don't care about their "neighbor" and it shows.

the parking for cars and everything else, that way people in cars can actually see before they start to move. If you have trucks/suv's either side of you it is a real pain.  
You can still have the disabled/mum spots near the shops. Appreciate it will not work in some malls but for Corrall centre, shoppers mall, Canadian tire/ Staples plenty of room.  
Would like to see more trolley parks at Walmart especially further away from the doors.

While it would be nice if everyone parked in the middle of their spot, I actually consider it a win if people manage to park anywhere between the lines. Far too often, I see people taking up 2, 3 or 4 spots with one vehicle. I am not even counting the times when the vehicle is actually too big for one spot.

I followed a pickup truck in the very busy mall parking lot and spotted 2 spaces together ahead. He turned in, his passenger tires a foot into the next spot even though the car beside was well centred. Made no attempt to improve his position. I was able to still squeeze in but certainly thought of this discussion !

Just recently when I was visiting someone in palliative care in rural Manitoba some poor gentleman who needed to go right up to the door WITH HIS WALKER was unable to do so because some elderly lady had parked too close to his vehicle. It ended up that I took his keys & backed his car out of the spot for him into the middle of the parking lot so that he wasn't stuck. The lady came out soon afterwards & wasn't happy to find her vehicle blocked but the man just gave her an earful!! She really couldn't have given a darn though.

My thoughts are to be thankful for those ppl who park within the lines. Even if they park a little close to the line. If u say that you are parked in the centre of your parking space then you should have enough room to get in. However I always try to make sure the other person has enough room.  
If this is Canadian tire parking lot then this is all nearly impossible.

Building codes require a certain amount of parking spots per 1000 square feet of building space. Smaller parking spaces allow businesses to meet these demands.  
 
The city is part of the problem. The bylaws would need to be changed to allow for bigger spots.

April, I see your point about the parking spots at Canadian Tire being narrow. But at least there is enough space between the rows to back out if you have a truck. The parking lot at Walmart have the spots so close together it's almost impossible to get a truck in or out of a spot. And has anyone noticed that if there are 3 empty spots in front of you in a parking lot there will always be a car that parks right in front of you so you can't pull straight through.

If you’re worried about backing out, head to the back of the lot. There are almost always plenty of empty spaces you can pull through when you park.

Navithefairy, when I am by myself I park at the end of the lot. But my brother is unable to walk that far and I frequently take him shopping. My husband also after having 2 heart attacks cannot walk that far. Even with a handicapped card it is difficult to get a spot.

if you are at a beach and there is no one there. You put down your beach towel and then 2 minutes later.  
people come and bingo go right beside you even though there is like a 1/4 mile of free beach.  
 
same as if you stop your car get out and look into the ditch and land beside the road. Others will stop their cars get out and start looking as they figure there must be something interesting to see.  
 
Oh we are all so sheep like or perhaps lemmings jumping off edges.......just following the one ahead of us...

It's so frustrating to see people without the appropriate tag parked in these spots!!  
They are disrespectful!  
Because there are no bylaw officers on duty after "office hours" people will continue to do this because they can!!

That would be all well and good, but as soon as any business proposes an addition they'd have to repaint all their lines to meet the new requirement. This may further stymy an already anemic construction environment.