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

I need a lorry

I chose to keep my 4x4 (I arrived at it by accident -brother emigrated to canada and couldn't take it)
because I felt safe in it and I am being lambasted because I want to consider the safety of my family!?!

I would not pressume anything about anyones car owning motives. Buy the car you like. I try to be a creful driver in town as well as the country (where I was bought up) but my real concern is the motorways. I would agree with you about cars in towns if I could afford to have a small one for then and then a large car for the motorways I would be happy but I can't so I've kept the car I have for the motives stated.

I think 4x4 should be banned. They are not safer for anyones family as if you hit anyone in it they don't stand a chance. They are also extremely unenvironmental. If you want a safe car drive a volvo or volkswagen - both are built like tanks but do not take up the space or fuel that 4x4s use.
4x4s are fine in the country but I do not think there are any excuses for owning them in the middle of Surrey!
Sorry - feel very strongly on this issue - A 4x4 narrowly missed hitting my daughter outside school.

i have a skoda and can comfortably fit 3 car seats in - 2 in the back and one in the front and if i'm not driving i squeeze my very fine and well shaped size 12 arse into the middle space in the back

oh ffs the OPO has made me feel symathetictic twards a 4x4 owner

The problem with 4x4's is that people buy them because they wish to feel safe. So they drive around town in a ruddy great big range rover.
Unfortunately, one family's perceived safety leads to much less safe conditions for all other road users.

If we ALL got out of our 4x4's in the town (and I am only talking town, I am not talking rural dwellers who without their trusted landie/rangie could not make it to civilization) then we would ALL be safer.

But those who live in the city and drive a 4x4 don't think about the safety of others and only about themselves. Such is the society we live in. Soon everyone will have 4x4's and those rich and bleating that they 'just want to be safe' will buy hummers etc, and so the viscious cycle will continue.

And for that reason I loathe 4x4 drivers. The inner city /suburbia dwelling ones.

Agree with hippopotomi. Nuff said.

I'm pissed off with 4x4s atm. We have those traffic calming measures ont he way to school where you have to go to the opposite side of the road and priority is given to one direction. Those bloody 4x4s are so big that no one can see beyond them as to when there is oncoming traffic or not. Taxi nearly hit me today.

I don't care if people drive 4 x 4 i just wish people could park inside the lines.

I parked my car in parent and child space when shopping with dd, last week.

Went shopping came back to car, the car next to mine had parked about a 1 ft away i had get dd to climb across the seat and get in her carseat then i had to suggle to get her strapped in as i couldn't open the door very wide as i am 30 weeks pregnant.

The week before i went shopping by myself parked in a normal space went shopping came back again someone had parked so close to my car i had to climb over the passenger not easy when 29 weeks pg and only 5ft so car seat quite close to steering wheel.

I drive a 4 x 4 - safely - having had no accidents (other than the odd gatepost ) in over thirty years of driving.

I would need to drive for an additional half an hour each day, if I did not have a car that could take me across the ford near where we live.

If I lived in town, I would drive something different. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to keep a second car for the occasions when I am in a city.

I wish I'd got nothing better to worry about than what car other people drive!!!

well my van is bigger than a 4x4 and I LOVE driving it.

I totally agree fairyjay but they won't read and take in what you've said, they'll just carry on about how all 4x4 drivers are awful human beings who they loath

i understand the need for a 4x4 if you live in the sticks, nuff said, they can be a nessecity (sp???) but in town they just aren't needed!!!

he tv programme mentioned earlier showed that in that certain 4x4 it took 5 children deep (lined up behind the car) before the driver could see anything, and even then it was only if he litterally turned around and stood up!! i myself was but can see why! i worry about that as i remember being a child myself and hiding behind a car from my mum on the walk home from school.....if the driver couldnt have seen me.......it isnt worth thinking about.

i sorta nderstand the wanting to be safe, but surely if there werent these huge cars on the road then there wouldnt be as much danger to everybody!

and as for car seat, my dh owns a renault megane...and i can fit 2 stage 1 carseats and a stage 2 (one of the stage ones is a fitted and one a travle system type!) if i need to squeeze in the middle of the fitted stage one and the stage 2 my lovely round size 18 'fat ass' fits in fine!!!

4x4's are overrated unless you live off a dirt road or use them for towing or business.

REAL 4x4s have a rough ride because they're not meant as a luxury vehicle.

We had one for years because we lived off a dirt track and used it at weekends to access climbing, hillwalking or mountain biking trailheads.

But for town, too much hassle! Just used a normal car for that.

Driving a sportscar around the derbyshire dales was fab as I could never see over the dry stone walls!

My brother's claim to fame is making a tractor (with trailor) reverse back up the tiny track (locally nick named 'crash alley') as his yugo's reverse had broken.

...the farmer was really impressed by that one!

Oh yes, I also remember when it was very snowy/icy my mum sliding down the hill in our knackered 2cv as it was a 6 mile trip to school and on no account (not even dangerous driving conditions!) were we ever allowed to miss school.

you would seeth if you see what I do on a regular basis, black landrovers parking with 2 wheels on the pavement on the road leading up to a primary school, and then they open their wide doors to offload the kids whilst mums with buggies and children have to walk around the car or stop and wait for them, how very selfish and dangerouse of these people to do this

The joke in Colorado: 4WDRIVE = 4WSLIDE.

A normal car with siped or snow tires works just as well in ice/snow, FWIW.

PLENTY of folks in areas of N. America which see heavy snowfall get by without 4x4s.

'they won't listen', muppetgirl? stop being such a victim, honestly. i think everyone on here has said that if you live in the country then a 4x4 may be necessary so fine. fairyjay clearly does not live in the city, so that's fine, free pass.

what you've not answered is why your safety is of greater importance than mine on the road, and why you should get to dictate than in order for my family to be safe at some point in the future if everyone gets these stoopid shiny bull-barred things, i'll have to get one too...

by the way, they often clip the wing mirrors off cars on my street because, well, my street is In A City so not designed for 4x4s. (actually it was designed for a horse and carriage so we're really fucked). so they are actually causing damage round here. i saw quite a fight break out a month or so ago...

you must know that if you hit my car there's every chance you'll obliterate me and my family just by virtue of the size and height of your car... does that not bother you at all?

if you have it because you like it and you don't give a shit about anyone else because your own safety is paramount then fine, again, that seems about right. but that is selfish behaviour, you can't get round it. because you don't need that car, not for motorways, not in the town. you want it for your security, but in having it you put others at risk.

Who was it who said it was like the argument for guns? You have one because you feel safe, but we're all fucked because you have a gun.

And such a statement is pretty close to the truth, Bocco.

I come from a place overloaded with 4x4s and guns.

People with smaller cars do that too.

Is it just the size of 4x4s that people hate or what?

The size, Icing, the impact they have on the environment and the fact that because so many people have them needlessly, people who really do need them will probably be penalised but most of all the 'I'm Allright Jack so fuck you' mentality that many urban 4x4 drivers have.