POLL: Parking Lot Etiquette? (best, how much, to buy, cell phone)

[ScranBarre]

As an employee of one of our local Lowe's Home Improvement stores who has also worked in the environment of the parking lot for the past two years, I'd just like to know why so many people think you're automatically "excused" from using turn signals just because you're entering a strip mall parking lot? I can't tell you how many times I'm going along pushing a row of carts up the slight grade only to have car after car turn right in front of me into empty spots without signalling, turning into an aisle from the main drags without signalling, or, my favorite, the ZOOMERS who cut right ACROSS the aisles as if they're in the Pocono 500!

I'm not trying to be picky, but don't you think pedestrians would be much more appreciative of being able to see a BLINKER so they could think "Gee, he must be turning down here", so they could plan accordingly and not be an impediment to you? Another pet peeve of mine are people who do NOT follow those little white arrows in or out of various aisle in parking lots. The other day I ended up in a "standoff" in a narrow lane when I, correctly, pulled into an aisle with the arrow pointing INWARD, only to be faced head-on by an SUV going the wrong way. She stopped and motioned for ME to back up, but I stood my ground, as I had the right-of-way. Meanwhile, another car had pulled behind me, which gave me the leverage I needed to get her to back her stupid SUV up and go the proper way around the aisles.

I suppose my question is this: "Do you practice proper parking lot etiquette, or do you refuse?" If you choose the latter, please explain why you don't think the rules of the road apply to parking lots. I'm all ears!

[Ronzou]

Turn signals? What are these turn signals you speak of?

Anyways. I usually use mine until I see everyone else not using them then I figure hey if they don't need to why do I?

[Yorkie_Mom]

I am always at my best while driving, the reason for this is because to many other rude people never follow the rules of the road, and I don't want to be like any of them.
It is like yesterday, I went to run my car through the car wash, well as I was in the process of getting in line, this big lady flies past me in the car wash lot, races to get ahead of me, and she did, I just sat and wondered how much time did she save herself, a whopping whole five minutes, I wanted to ask her if it was worth trying to run me over in my car, but instead shook my head and said: I am sure glad I am not like her. I will stay polite until my dying day, here I am run me over if it will get you an extra five minutes of waiting time. Thanks for the vent. Yorkie

[ScranBarre]

Yeah. LOL! I know it may seem like a petty topic to bicker about, but I just get tired of having people yelling at me while going about my job in the parking lot just because they didn't take the responsibility on their behalves to signal, yield the right of way to pedestrians, etc. I'm VERY obsessive-compulsive on this topic; I even use my blinker when pulling in and out of my driveway, as well as into and out of parking spots! LOL! I suppose this is why I'm now replacing my front-right blinker for the third time since I've owned the vehicle (2003).

[aj661]

Originally Posted by Ronzou

Turn signals? What are these turn signals you speak of?

Anyways. I usually use mine until I see everyone else not using them then I figure hey if they don't need to why do I?

It's that stick-like thing protruding from the left side of your steering column. (Most likely the same one you push out or pull in to flash your brights at some sob with high beams coming at you.) Push up for right turns, down for left. It makes the little lights on the corners of your car blink. Parking lots are private property and here in AZ, the only laws that are enforceable are violations of handicap parking signs, DUI and reckless driving.

[Ronzou]

Originally Posted by aj661

It's that stick-like thing protruding from the left side of your steering column. (Most likely the same one you push out or pull in to flash your brights at some sob with high beams coming at you.) Push up for right turns, down for left. It makes the little lights on the corners of your car blink. Parking lots are private property and here in AZ, the only laws that are enforceable are violations of handicap parking signs, DUI and reckless driving.

So that's what that is. Gosh shame on me for being busy shifting for paying attention to the stick on the OTHER side of my steering wheel.

[recycled]

I am fortunate to live within half a mile of most stores that I need to visit for day to day essentials. Most of the time, I walk to the stores to buy things as long as I know I'll be able to carry it home without much trouble. At times as a pedestrian, I'll walk across the vast parking lot of a "big box" store and suddenly I'll see a car driving diagonally across the parking lot at high speed, cutting across all the marked lanes of empty diagonal parking spaces to take a shortcut. If this is at night, sometimes I start looking for a streetlight island to keep from being a sitting target out there in the lot. Ever seen that happen at your store SWB??

[ScranBarre]

Thanks, Yorkie, for relating your experience as well. This might turn into more of a "venting" thread/poll about driving in general than anything else. As someone who is behind the wheel for 300 miles per week, usually in rush-hour traffic, I'm often prone to road rage. I do my best to drive defensively and considerately, but every once in a while you just hit your breaking point.

Vent #2: Yesterday I was commuting home from work via Highway 315---about an eight-mile trek between Lowe's and my home. About at the halfway point and just past the casino, the road narrows from four lanes to two (but you're warned of this with signage). I'm approaching the merge point in heavy traffic, and much to my dismay, here comes a Lexus sedan right alongside of me with the driver on his cell phone! Not only was he not paying attention and almost rammed into me, but he also didn't attempt to signal to have me let him in at the merge point. As such, I continued to speed up and we traveled side-by-side with him in the oncoming lane of traffic, as he wouldn't slow down to get behind me, and I wasn't going to let him in front of me until he put his blinker on! Finally, as I saw a tractor-trailer approaching in the opposing direction, I let him squeeze in front of me (without signalling), at which point I blared my horn for about ten seconds to let him know I was ticked off. He replied by putting the phone down for a second to flip me the bird!

Eventually the road widens again to four lanes near my home, and we stopped side-by-side at a red light. Needless to say we exchanged a few words through our open windows, and then we parted ways when he made a left-hand turn.

For as much as I love the Scranton Area, the drivers here SUCK worse than most other parts of the nation! Every other person who drives a $30,000+ vehicle thinks that they are then "entitled" to bully others into caving into them when they're "in a hurry." I'm not one of them. If I wanted to be a true jerk, I could have continued to let the side-by-side battle continue until he rammed into the 18-wheeler head on or plowed into my side, at which point I'd magically have "neck pain" and buy a Lexus of my own with my settlement. Unfortunately, with the way the laws work in PA, I'd probably be the one at fault through all of that, I'd be the one getting sued, and then I'd be the one held criminally-responsible if that moron got creamed by the truck due to his own arrogance and cluelessness due to his engrossing cell conversation.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! I need a massage right now! Muscles tensing up! Veins pulsing! Eye twitching! ME HULK! ME HULK! RAAAWWRRR!!!

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by recycled

If this is at night, sometimes I start looking for a streetlight island to keep from being a sitting target out there in the lot. Ever seen that happen at your store SWB??

This happens on a regular basis at our store. Our Lowe's store is one of the major "anchors" in a chain strip mall of about 20 other retailers/restaurants. I actually saw the results of just what you described one time. One SUV was gunning it diagonally across all the rows of parking spots and sideswiped another SUV that was following the aisles around the PROPER way. That SUV then rammed into a parked car, narrowly missing a pedestrian in the process! Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured, but it didn't take long for massive crowds of gawkers to form, embarrassing that idiot who caused the whole mess just because, like the rest of Scranton, he was "in a hurry." I've also seen morons who back up out of spaces without looking. One time an able-bodied teenaged girl was parked in a handicapped spot (a travesty in itself), and she just threw it in reverse and backed out of her spot right into a man and his wife! Thankfully, she felt the thud and stopped, but the couple was shaken up by nearly getting run down. Another time two drivers across the aisle from each other started backing up, each looked to the left and to the right, but neither looked BEHIND them to see what the other was doing. SMASH! Rear bumpers on both vehicles were gone! Then there was the wonderful elderly driver in a Buick who mistook her gas and brake pedals while pulling into a handicapped spot and gunned it head-on into an SUV. She had to be taken to a hospital with moderate injuries (at what point do we start retesting elderly drivers to decide when they're a danger to themselves and others behind the wheel?) Finally, I was a victim myself when I was pushing a row of carts in the building and had a Caravan back right into the MIDDLE of my row of carts as I was pushing them up the middle of the aisle. I had about 15 carts, so it wasn't like I was invisble or anything! Thankfully, it was only a bump, but I thought to myself "What if I were just a young child walking by?"

I'm slowly-yet-surely being turned-off by big-box mega-marts for many reasons, including the parking lots, which are little more than a game of "*******" for pedestrians! Give me a Main Street setting anyday over the Auto-Bahn!

[bmurphy]

Originally Posted by ScrantonWilkesBarre

I'm slowly-yet-surely being turned-off by big-box mega-marts for many reasons, including the parking lots, which are little more than a game of "*******" for pedestrians! Give me a Main Street setting anyday over the Auto-Bahn!

They don't build Main Street setting anymore, really. I guess one of the issues is parking? LOL, but it's true...that's why we have so many strip malls...I have to say, get used to it.