laissezfaire

This morning, I parallel parked on the street for only 15mins in a spot w/ a driveway in front and one large, open spot behind. That's about as safe as it gets on the street.

As I was returning to my car, a dishelveled looking guy rushed by me. And to my horror, a Civic was pressed up against my rear bumper!

Of course, two deep bolt scuff marks were left, so I left his car a note. Fortunately, his car had a high school teacher parking permit, so I know where he works if he doens't call me.

Lesson learned, never, ever parallel park in San Francisco. Where do these people learn to park? Anyone else been through this?

TT Tom

jdh

Sorry about the bumper damage, Tom.

After a year in Boston, which is not a city with a reputation for courteous drivers, my TT was without a scratch. After moving to SF, I had several nicks and scratches within a few months. I even have a garage, and only park on the street when I must, but no matter. People here don't know how to park without hitting the other cars. Although it breaks my heart, I've given up on constant repairs.

BigTT

They park using the braille method.... my TT never see's the city for that reason...

Hank

That's why people move to the Peninsula - long driveways.

laissezfaire

I might as well give up. My own neighbor put several bolt marks on the bumper and the repair cost $350. That was five months ago.

It could be part of the anti-dotcommer/yuppie revolt in parts of the city (where nice cars are keyed for no good reason)!

BillK

In all seriousness, I have seen several drivers, both in big and small cities, use the following method to parallel park:

1) Pull up parallel to car in front
2) Back up and turn in. Stop when you bump the car in back.
3) Pull forward until you bump the car in front.
4) Back up an inch or two.

I was incredulous the first time I watched a driver do it (in front of a Catholic church parking for mass, no less); now I just watch the person park and wait for it to happen; it usually does...

As an aside, you are not safe in parking lots; at the company I used to work at, I would watch daily as I routinely saw one guy return from lunch in his Toyota pickup, pull forward in the space until he bumped the car in front of him, then back up a few inches and shut off the truck and leave. It was literally the method he used to park.

voughtt

"It could be part of the anti-dotcommer/yuppie revolt in parts of the city (where nice cars are keyed for no good reason)! "

I'm sure that's part of what it's about. As early as the summer of '98 there were flyers all around the Mission extolling the virtues of 'keying' SUVs and luxury cars parked in the neighborhood overnight. I used to let my Jetta get nice and dirty before parking there overnight and turned the mirrors in to make it look a little more 'beater'.

While I certainly don't agree with or condone the destruction of other people's property, the rate at which medium to low income residents were forced from formerly affordable housing by newly-rich and oblivious e-androids certainly has served to provide a convenient outlet for angst over the growing gap in wages and insane housing costs.

I never liked driving in San Francisco. It's got such great public transportation, there's no reason to drive anyway - I don't drive much around my home in Santa Cruz. I moved back to the Bay Area eighteen months ago, and I've been to the city _once_.