Closing another cars door

[hibbledibble]

I'm interested in people's opinions of this.

I was putting baby dd in the car in her car seat. I have a tiny car which means I had to use the road side to put her in (isofix seat fitted in other side). I leaned in to strap her in and stepped inside the car for a moment to put the buckle in. The road is very quiet.

Another car then comes round and closes the cars door. Aibu to think this is a bit rude? If he had asked I would have closed the door. I didn't realise it was causing an obstruction.

grumpyoldbiddy of course you need to leave your door open when strapping in a child! What do you suggest people do, post the child in through the window? Pulling the door in behind you is an unsafe practice as it's less likely a driver will see you and may hit your door therefore crushing your legs..
The safest practice is to check for approaching traffic and wait until it's passed, open door fully, strap in child, pedestrians have right of way while in the road and as long as you are being as quick as you can people need to learn some consideration for others.

Yeah but at least OP now knows that she should be more considerate with the door thing.

She is causing an obstruction and one that would be easily avoidable if she had thought of pulling the door. She says herself she 'hadn't realised' she was causing an obstruction, well, now that she has she can do the right thing next time.

So everyone wins. ;)

I'm not taking this to heart as this is aibu, but some of the comments here are a little unrealistic. I can only put baby seat in via opening the near door to where I place it, I have tried the other way and it is not possible. Regarding changing the way the car is facing, this is often not possible as lots of streets here are one way due to traffic control. What I have learned from this is that I usually park on one side of the road, and should reconfigure the car seat layout so older dd can climb over baby seat to her seat (she is like a mountain goat!!).

I don't see how he closed the door from in his car but presuming he did it gently and didn't slam it I think it's fine.

I see roughly two parents per journey unpacking children into the centre of the road. (I live next to a park.) Most of the time it's OK to wait. There is one exception, there is a blind corner next to me where a certain family, with no drive, makes a habit of unpacking into the road and, approaching, you can't see them until your bonnet is in line with their bottoms. I've spoken to them about it. At the moment, their attitude is, we've nowhere else to unpack. It's untrue, but they may have nowhere safe, convenient and close. (When we had those choices, we unpacked round the corner and carried.)

How did the other driver close your car door? Did he get out and do it, or push it shut by nudging it with his car? That kind of affects how I would look at it, I think.

But as for being entitled for strapping my child into the seat whilst I stand in the open door...surely that's not being entitled, it is being practical? I have a medium sized four door car. It isn't possible to reach from the front seat into the back to do up seatbelts, as it is too far. And it isn't possible to climb entirely into the back of the car to do it, as there is no room. Maybe if my car was either bigger or smaller, it would be possible to do it from inside, but it's really not. Believe me, it rains a lot where I live, if it were possible to strap a child in without standing outside in the pouring rain, I'd be doing it.

Therewere5inthebed

The OP was in the car with the child as she has a two door car. When my kids were younger I also had a two door car and as has been pointed out earlier it is easier to get in as the front seats fold forwards.
I was able to get in the back of the car, put two babies in and get out without having to leave the car door open, ever.
So perhaps before you post sarcastic responses in future you could read the OP, and the rest of the thread and think first.
As road users life is much better if we actually consider each other, the OP could have easily avoided any of this by pulling her door to while she was inside the car, sounds like the other driver didn't act aggressively, they just shut the door so they could get past without damaging it. There are all sorts of reasons why they might do this but by doing it they haven't inconvenienced anyone or put anyone in danger - unlike people who unnecessarily leave their car doors open into a road.

Why won't you tell us how he closed your car door ?
Lots of us would like to know.

OK back I'm sorry I didn't realise anyone was interested anymore!

My back was to him putting dd in the car seat so I don't know for sure, but it didn't slam, and I don't think he hit it with his car.

So it might have just swung shut?

I'm not really sure I'm understanding this!

Did the other driver get out and close your door, or did he nudge/ram it with his car?

I can sort of see why someone might do this, if you were causing an obstruction, but it obviously depends on the degree of violence, IYSWIM!

Without knowing more, it seems like YWBU for obstructing other drivers. But obviously if the other driver has damaged your car in anyway then he/she WBU

So it might have just swung shut?

I think this is a possibility. If he had actually taken the time to stop his car, get out, close the door, and get back in the car, certainly the OP would have seen him in the "moment" it took to strap the baby in. If he hit the door with his car, he risked damaging his car and hers, even if he just nudged it. The OP moving around in the back of the car would be enough to cause the door to swing shut on its own.

I think this thread is a bit like flogging a dead horse now, but for the sake of clarity:

Yes, I did cause am obstruction, but I didn't realise that at the time. My mistake.

There is no damage to my car.

I very much doubt the door swung shut on its own, that has only ever happened I'm blizzard conditions. I think its most likely that he rolled his window down and closed it with his hand. Again, I didn't see.