To be annoyed at people in large 4X4 pickups to complain that parking spaces too small

[Ripeberry]

Hi, I had parked my car neatly within the lines marked out for the parking bay and was just returning back to it when a woman in a MASSIVE pick-up truck parks right next to me and so i have to wait as she gets out of her car.
She almost bashes my side of the car and then she gives me a look an says "Its not my fault these spaces are not big enough"
I had to really bite my tongue as she had two school age children with her as i would have loved to have said "well, most people drive normal cars and we don't all have a fat arse like you"
Because, no kidding, she was a fat arsed lady, almost totally round, no wonder she can't fit in spaces.
God help her if someone blocks her in, should be a funny sight trying to crawl in the boot to move the car.
Sorry about the rant, but she really got on my goat.
AB

We have a 'ladies college' in our town. At pick up and drop off time it is 4x4 city. All blocking teh road/parked on double yellows etc.

I agree, there is absoluteley no need to drive one in towns and cities. It's ridiculous.

'My dp is 6ft 5, he doesn't fit in my polo as he is tall and massive (not fat by the way just massive). He is also disabled. He has a jeep because it is easy for him to get in and out of because the seats are high so he can just sit down and twist his body round to face forward. This also means he doesn't have to bend down to get in the car and be pulled up to get out.'

That was the reason a said earlier why my dp has a 4x4, nothing to do with the countryside.

Last time I checked, we lived in a country where we have freedom of choice. Who says you can't have a car because you don't NEED it?

that's true, there are lots of things in our lives we don't need that don't do our planet any good. i guess 4x4s are just an easy target.

Aitch - do you have a tumble drier?

I would like to ban all city cars from my bit of the countryside actually.

Everyone's afraid of the potholes and drives rounds them which is pretty dangerous IMO. Or they insist on slowing down for ickle bitty puddles.

I hate people not using passing places and just trundling along regardless. ALso people who dont' pull over to let someone by. That's just rude.

I hate people assuming that a narrow country road with room for 2 cars to pass is actually a single track road.

And I hate the tourists and caravans driving at 15 mph on a 60 limit road.

I do not live in a theme park.

hmph.

i do, and it's on right now. it's raining

weren't you the one quoting jeremy clarkson further down, pyjamaqueen? lol!

icing, they all sound like fair enough reasons to need a car with a cabin like a 4x4 to me... what's the problem?

at Aitch's 'feel the girth'.

God yes the argument that so and so is worse is so counterproductive to anything. Someone recently justified monthly cheapo airtravel by saying 'cargo ships are much worse than planes, so i don't see the problem!' It's like 'well, smoking is better than taking crack cocaine so it's ok' or 'leaving all my appliances running all day for no real reason still doesn't use as much electricity as the chicken factory down the road, so i'm going to do it anyway'. There is always something worse, but at some point, everybody has to take some responsibility for themselves. I hope.

i love passing places, bobsmum, all that polite waving. but i think you'd want to ban me for not goiint fast enough on unfamiliar roads...

so why just pick on 4 by 4 drivers?
what about the high performance / high end cars? maserati, ferrari, porsche, bentley, mercedes, bmw, maybach, aston martin, tvr - to name just a few? They are a dime a dozen in london.....

re. people using them as status symbols...have you ever considered that they may actually like the car? for whatever reason...but they enjoy the build and the quality. nothing to do with status.

and if your opinion (which is absolutely valid) is that the owners of these cars are automatically entered into the prime territory which you refer too. Then I think another group of people should join them and they are the people who make sweeping generalisations on (in this case) 4 by 4 drivers.

right i am off to take my 4 by 4 into town...find it takes up less space than the ferrari when parking.

Since when have tumbledriers killed small children standing behind them/strayed onto another tumbledriers parking space etc etc....

it's cause you said all 4x4 drivers are assholes and selfish. my dp is neither selfish nor an asshole.

Gerrroff moi lannnnnd!

lol, oh yes, it's just ferraris and 4x4s where you live... deffo. in that case you must have a 4x4. ROFL.

PS liking the build quality more than you like not squashing kiddies is piss-poor imo.

and yes i do have a tumble dryer. don't have a garden, so we have to use an airer which is sometimes a pain in a small flat. don't use the dryer very often though because it costs a fortune and is bad for environment.

Manictigger, i believe she was refering to polloting the planet when mentioning tumble driers

10 reasons not to drive an urban 4x4:

1. You're not a farmer
   Or a tree surgeon, country vet, wind turbine repairer, dry stone wall engineer or mountain rescue specialist. Unless you are (or in a handful of other occupations) there's really no need for you to get a big 4x4, particularly if you live in an urban area. Four wheel drive gives you better traction in snow or deep mud, and that's about it. It does not make your car safer, more manoeuvrable, or enable you to stop any quicker.

2. Your family fits into a saloon car or people carrier
   Most families and their luggage can in fact fit comfortably into a small hatchback. Even if you have lots of kids (and a big dog), an estate car or MPV often has more space than a 4x4 and can fulfil all your daily needs. What did your dad drive you around in when you were small?

3. You will breathe cleaner air
   Pollution studies have demonstrated that, in slow traffic, the dirtiest air isn't being breathed by the cyclists in the gutter or the people waiting for the bus on the pavement, but by those inside the cars in the middle of the road.

4. You will save money
   Data at www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk show that it costs around £100 more per month in petrol costs alone to run a 4-litre Range Rover compared with a 2-litre estate car. Currently road tax stops increasing at just 225 g/km of carbon dioxide, so drivers of smaller cars are effectively subsidising the 4x4 drivers. Two-thirds of people support higher taxes for 4x4s and British insurance companies admit that 4x4 drivers are not yet charged premiums that reflect the cost of their claims, so the bottom line could get even worse.

5. You won't have to lie to your grandchildren
   Our descendants will be left to deal with the effects of climate change caused by our profligate use of fossil fuels. Drivers of 4x4s should start editing their photo albums now.

6. You will be less likely to kill a pedestrian
   Most accidents involving pedestrians are caused when they stray onto the road without warning, so your superior driving skills may not help to avoid an accident. However, a better designed car could make all the difference to their survival chances. The greater height and weight of 4x4s, as well as their flat fronts and stiff bonnets, means they are bottom of the class in Euro-NCAP crash tests for pedestrian safety.

7. You might see a small child early enough to avoid backing over them
   Big, tall 4x4s have far bigger rear blind spots than normal cars, making it impossible to see a child for more than 15 feet behind them, and much further for short drivers. Check out the facts about the increased dangers to pedestrians from taller cars at www.kidsandcars.org.

8. You will be less likely to injure people in other cars
   The high bumpers on 4x4s can override safety features on other cars, such as side impact bars and crumple zones, and the extra weight of big 4x4s is a hazard in itself. The spare wheel on the back of many 4x4s often takes the place of a rear bumper and increases damage to other cars and the 4x4 itself in a 'shunt' incident.

9. You will have a better time driving
   Big 4x4s are notoriously difficult to park due to their poor visibility close to the car. When cornering, the high centre of gravity of a 4x4 reduces the responsivenesss and takes all the fun out of it. Don't expect to nip away from traffic lights either, due to all that extra weight.

10. People won't think you are an 'idiot'
    In an ordinary car, you won't get dirty looks from all and sundry when you drive around town, won't have to avoid eye contact with bus passengers, and cyclists won't mouth obscenities as they squeeze past you in a queue of traffic. As an extra bonus, other drivers might occasionally let you pull out ahead of them.

okay, then i'm adding a sub-clause which allows for drivers displaying a disabled badge to get whichever car they see fit. howzat?

dal21, 4x4s are an easy target, thats why they get picked on.

ROFL at tumble driers polluting environment. it's wasteful, not polluting. and hardly the equivalent of a sodding 4x4.

!!!

'easy target'... only cos they're so fucking huge... a more discreet, less dangerous, less poluting symbol of wankerdom would be less of a target i agree.

lovely bobsmum. if only it had wheels...

1)You drive a small car thats fairly environmently friendly and you take 1 or 2 holidays abroad a year.

Or 2) You drive a 4x4, but take 1 or 2 holidays in the UK a year.

It all balances itself out at the end of the day. Just because your environmently friendly on one thing, i am sure you make up for it else where.

och stop making excuses, icing.