These replies say more about the pre-conceptions of the people writing them, than about the facts of this case. The sort of car OP was driving is irrelevant and doesn't excuse the man's behaviour. We have a right to have an opinion about SUVs (I'm not keen on them) but that doesn't mean we can behave badly/unfairly/dangerously towards people who do drive them. We are not judge, jury and executioner!
It's worth looking at the facts: whatever the behaviour of Op in the surgery,which party was the more injured? The OP's safety and that of her child was put at risk by this man's behaviour,either accidentally or on purpose. She was therefore in a state of high arousal. It would have been better to react more assertively, but in the end, HE was only threatened by her words whereas OP and he child were put at material risk.
Here is what I think about someof the replies:
he was obviously not intending to run you over - irrelevant as bad things can happen even when people don't intend harm. If you tread on my toe, it hurts just as much whether it was accidental or on purpose.
I just tut and get on with my day and maybe tell my OH about it later -goes nowhere towards improving general behaviour and making the world a safer place. If bad behaviour is accepted then it becomes acceptable. And tutting to your OH, or making passive-aggressive posts on local social media, e.g. 'to the person who....' actually achieves nothing at all.
It is pretty obvious that he realised what happened given that you were screaming and shouting at him in the car park and that he drove off
But he only drove off after the second time you tried to alert him, so it does look as if he was deliberately ignoring you the first time,which is very scary and dangerous and unlawful.
He made a simple mistake in the car park. Nothing happened, Not so – he made a mistake, you alerted him to it and he did it again. No wonder you were scared.
But it is more likely that he just didn't check before reversing, and it was a mistake, or carelessness. IF the OP and her child had been injured the male driver would have been in big trouble. The fact that he wasn't intending them harm is irrelevant. Even if 'all' he did wrong was being careless, he was still not driving in a safe manner. In fact OP, by reacting as you did in the car park,you saved yourself and your child from injury and saved him from at least, being banned from driving, but maybe also from a fine and prison sentence. He should be grateful to you.
Maybe he has bad eyesight or bad depth perception so parking next to another car helps him cue it up. Maybe he's had bad health news and isn't feeling quite with it. Whatever is happening to him, he's in charge of a lethal weapon and if his state of mind means he can't use it safely, he needs to be aware of this. As I said before,an injury hurts just as much whatever the reason for it. He would not get away with it in Court if he injured or even killed someonein this sort of situation. And he'd have to live with himself. If he'snot fit to drive,then he shouldn't be driving.
He may have had a lot on his mind and have just assumed the op had seen him so would move out of his way. Indefensible way to act when driving.
if you'd posted this in a German forum, Good point. In many parts of Europe, if there's an incident between a car and a pedestrian, the car driver is automatically at fault.
a stranger who actually hadn't done anything wrong Yes he had! He was driving in a way likely to harm a pedestrian (which she was as out of the car and with her feet on the ground) and a child. Either he didn't realise that they were in his way,which is indefensible, or he didn't care and wanted to force them out of his way. Totally indefensible.
OP you were understandably frightened by this man's behaviour and did your best to alert him to what was happening – which he initially ignored. I can see that putting your child back in the car where he would then be unrestrained is something you didn't want to do. And also that even if you'd been able to do this in the time and then slam the door shut,your child would have been frightened –you could have trapped your or your child's fingers. And where were you supposed to go? Just flattening yourself against your car wouldn't have necessarily been safe and would also have been frightening. And could have resulted in him actually harming you -a much worse outcome for everyone.
Unfortunately, you put him into a defensive mode when you confronted him. A better thing to do in these circumstances, I think , is to be assertive, so here is a script.
'When you...describe what they did
I felt...describe how you felt. Maybe leave a pause where he could apologise. Then the rest of the script doesn't need to be used.
I would have preferred it if you...describe what you think they should have done.
It's hard to argue against because you haven't made any assumptions, just stuck to the facts and your feelings. Even the preferred behaviour is your opinion. This script works in many situations and although it feels strange to do and takes practice. But it means you have dealt with the problem, without backing the other person into a corner. Of course, they might still react in an angry way, but that's on them. I'd sooner live in a world were people challenged antisocial and unreasonable behaviour assertively like this, than one where it's handled aggressively or people are too scared to tackle it and poor behaviour becomes the norm.
I hope you feel better now. Maybe write a letter to the surgery,apologising for your part in this incident and thanking the Receptionist for coming to your aid. Good luck and I'm glad neither you not your child were innjured.