DON’T PARK SO CLOSE TO ME

Our senior writer doesn’t like strangers sitting too close to him or parking their car too near to his.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel
Our senior writer doesn’t like strangers sitting too close to him or parking their car too near to his.
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LAST month, I wrote about how poorly designed carparks make experienced drivers feel like novices. From steep ramps to narrow turns, most of us have seen and experienced them all. 

But while badly designed carparks can be avoided, we cannot avoid an inconsiderate driver who parks too close to your vehicle. 

I’ve had cars parked so close to mine that I was left wondering how the other driver even managed to exit his vehicle. Perhaps he was as skinny as Olive Oyl and as flexible as Mr Fantastic. 

I think problems like these are, yet again, caused by selfish motorists who exit their vehicle and walk away without bothering to check if they parked properly. 

To avoid situations like these, I always park as far as possible from mall entrances and lift lobbies. Since I’m in a less convenient spot, it’ll be less likely for another driver to want to park next to me. 

Incredibly, this strategy still fails. Even when I’ve parked far from a building entrance and within a stretch of spaces with no other cars, I inexplicably find another car parked next to mine. 

I cannot understand why another motorist would choose to park next to me given all the other vacant spaces. 

Whenever this happens, I shake my head and curse under my breath while telling myself that luckily, this encounter hasn’t resulted in an accident. 

Said encounters, however, do result in me having to climb into the driver’s seat from the passenger’s side. But this isn’t always possible, especially if the vehicle I’m testing has a high and wide centre console. 

Perhaps being a driver these days also requires one to be a contortionist. 

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