Friend does something dangerous, what do I say?

[LollipopChaos]

I go out occasionally with a friend who I like very dearly. We're both nearly 50. However she has this habit which scares me a bit. She doesn't drive so I always drive. But whenever we arrive at our destination she swings passenger door of car open to get out whilst the car is still moving to park up. It means that I have to finish driving with the door wide open to park properly. This puts extra stress on me to nail parking the car in a space in one attempt.

I feel it would be telling her off to say don't do it, but I just find it dangerous, not to mention the car starts beeping like crazy as a warning that the door is open!

How can I politely advise my friend to remain calm in seat with belt on until the car has come to a complete stop and the handbrake is safely on?

That's a shame;I'd have put the front one on if it was available and then lied and said you hadn't figured out how to turn the child lock off and you're worried it was possibly a fault.

"Close the door until I've finished parking."

No OP, none of that is at all normal or OK.

Door opening, door yanking, damaging your car by being impatient and ham fisted - she does need bloody telling off!

It appears time is of the essence when she starts her batshittery, so frankly I'd go for:

NO!! Stop! What the hell are you doing?!
Shut the door I'm still driving! / Stop yanking, you already broke my boot - I don't need another repair bill!

And at the same time I would do an emergency stop the second she opens the door. You can't be driving along (even into an empty space!) with her flapping the door about. It's incredibly dangerous.

And at the same time I would do an emergency stop the second she opens the door.

I would be tempted to do this as well as long as it doesn't damage the car. I'd be less concerned about damaging my passenger

Use your central locking? We use it when driving slowly through rough areas. We're always afraid somebody will try to open a car door.

Yes, it’s a good message^. Hit the breaks and shout loudly.

I wouldn't care about handbrake and engine.

But I'd absolutely tell off a grown adult who thinks opening a door whilst you park is acceptable!

Just brake and say "please close the door until I've parked - it's dangerous"

Hi mummy’s. FTM here I’ve a question about weaning. My twins are nearly 7 months old (4weeks premmie) we started weaning with the go ahead from the PHN now they love purées, wheetabix and yoghurt but my problem is that if I offer them anything that has a slight texture they gag and we all end up covered in sick 🤦‍♀️ I was brave today and gave them banana spears and slices of omlette and they both had a bit of a go….fairly unsuccessfully but it was the wicket that counted 😂
we aren’t getting much sleep here and I had to go back to work last week so I’m surviving on nerves and mum guilt at the minute.
mum question is really am I doing something wrong Re. Weaning? I feel like all the babies you see are wolfing down dinners happily and my lads couldn’t care less! They have a yoghurt at around 10am (nap times depending) and they love that they get so excited when they see if coming 😂 and I try to give them ‘dinner’ when I’m home for my lunch as we don’t have much time between finishing work and bedtime to feed them then.
sorry for rattling on but just looking for some reassurance that I’m not messing everything up?

You need to start your own thread for this. There is a weaning section or can post in 'parenting' for more response.

I absolutely agree with this. She is a danger to bikes, pedestrians and passing cars.

I would say calmly and politely BEFORE you give her a lift.
I've noticed that you open the door before the car has stopped. Please don't do that its dangerous. If she does it again after that - I would ask her why she has ignored your instructions and tell her that is the last lift.

@LollipopChaos

In my old car she actually busted the boot lock even when I said as we approached with shopping bags that it only opens with the key (it was broken slightly)... but sadly we got there and she started pressing and forcing to open it and it totally busted.

Did she pay for the repair?

Also this would have been a good time to discuss car etiquette and safety with her... 🌹

You don't want to tell off and patronise somebody - unless they clearly show that they NEED to be told off and patronised.

It beggars belief that an adult needs to be told something as basically obvious as this.

I'd be inclined to do a Judge Rinder - you know when somebody interrupts him and he shouts "TALKING!!!" at them; just shout "MOVING!!!" at her - she should eventually get it, we can only hope.

Because I try and park in a space with lots of empty spaces around.

SIT and "No! Stay! Bad friend. Bad!" have had me in stitches.

Spot on

I don’t drive and manage not to do this. Do you have central locking? If you can lock all the doors I would do so and when you’re parking and she tries to open the door you can say you’ve locked it because it’s not safe to open the door while the car is still moving.

This 😂😂

I’ve just seen no central locking. You need to say something first before you set off then. Even though you try to park with lots of space around there could be something there. Anyway it’s just rude behaviour.

Don't all cars have central locking these days?
And doors locked from the inside can be opened from the inside.

😂😂😂

"Exits are here, here and here."

Come off it - you'd sound an utter arse if you started pontificating like that to a friend!

Sorry, have now read a few updates. I take it back. Your friend is an idiot. Be as patronising as you like.

As everyone else said.

Before your friend gets in your car, tell her the rules you apply and keep to them. My mum had a habit of taking off her seatbelt before I parked up and got mardy with me when I told her a prang could send her through the windscreen.

It's not a nice thing to do but it has to be done if you want to enjoy driving. Trust me, you'll enjoy watching your friend get hurt a whole lot less.

What your friend is doing is putting you in the position of driving ILLEGALLY.

If the police saw this, or someone reported it, you could be in quite a lot of trouble so you really need to be firm with her about the situation.

Tell her it's illegal for a car door to be open while the car is being driven and if she does it again (risking other people's safety and your driving licence), then you won't be driving her anywhere else.

This. Don’t be such a wet lettuce.