Was I wrong? (parking lot etiquette question)

[Anonymous]

In a parking lot this evening, I was following another car down a lane, toward the entrance of the building. I was not close behind the other car—at least two car lengths back. There was a spot open on the left, and one on the right which was slightly further down and closer to the building. The car in front of me passed the spot on the left and then stopped. The driver then put on their right blinker. The car didn't move for several seconds, so I pulled into the spot on the left.

When I got out of the car, the other driver yelled to me from their now-parked car. "Hey, lady! Did you have some sort of problem with me taking that space?" I inquired which space, and they said I had pulled into the spot they wanted. By this time, they had parked in the spot on the right, backed in. I guess they had intended to back into the left hand spot, but they had their right blinker on? I said I was sorry I hadn't realized that's where they intended to park because they had their right blinker on. The person then called me an idiot and got very confrontational, so I walked away.

Was I wrong? Does a right blinker indicate you want to back into a space on your left?

[Anonymous]

They made a mistake and were annoyed. Let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They made a mistake and were annoyed. Let it go.

Happy to let it go. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't uninformed about some standard parking rule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They made a mistake and were annoyed. Let it go.

+ 1 and even if they had their left blinker on I wouldn’t necessarily realize they want a parking spot behind them. I follow the rule that once you’re past the spot, people behind you are free to take it. I feel no need to refrain from parking in case someone ahead of me wants to back in, and I’m certainly not reversing for anyone. This person sounds like a moron who can’t use their turn signal and expects others to accommodate their annoying desire to back in to a spot.

[Anonymous]

Nope, you weren't wrong. They should have put on their left blinker if they'd intended to back in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They made a mistake and were annoyed. Let it go.

Found the backer-inner!

[Anonymous]

The same thing happened to me years ago. I was following a car down a lane and the old woman driving in front of me passed a space and stopped. I pulled into the space and parked. When I got out of the car, a bunch of people yelled at me for taking the space of the old lady, who was still stopped there now clearly flustered. I felt bad but it didn’t occur to me that she was going to back into the space. I don’t think she had any blinkers on. If you pull forward far enough that another person can easily turn into the space, how is the person behind you to know that you want to park. Clearly there was plenty of room to make the turn going forward because I did it in a minivan with a terrible turning radius. I don’t really understand why people back in when there is plenty of room to pull in forward.

[Anonymous]

People who back into spaces are obnoxious. There's no safety benefit, and it waste everyone else's time in busy lots.

And it sounds like this driver made a mistake, which is their problem.

[Anonymous]

Parking lots are fraught with hazards. They are one of the most dangerous areas we drive in. I always assume the car in front of me is going to want EVERY car space available until they park.

Oh, I parked behind an Audi with some sort of experimental headlights on the other day. When they started to park, the car lights lit a path up complete with arrows to the spot they were parking in. I asked the driver about it and apparently it is some sort of advanced lighting Audi is trying to get approved in the US.

[Anonymous]

It was fairly obtuse of you given the car stopped in the vicinity of the parking space. I would have assumed they were backing in. That said, I hate backers! They are always painfully slow and I think no one should be allowed to back in if there is another car behind them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They made a mistake and were annoyed. Let it go.

Found the backer-inner!

Lol! No, I’m not- I didn’t think about this situation correctly, though. I was envisioning a one-way with parallel parking on either side and thinking they indicated incorrectly. You clearly wrote “lot”. My mistake, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who back into spaces are obnoxious. There's no safety benefit, and it waste everyone else's time in busy lots.

And it sounds like this driver made a mistake, which is their problem.

No, we're more skilled drivers, and we can leave a lot quicker when someone is waiting. Life is full of choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who back into spaces are obnoxious. There's no safety benefit, and it waste everyone else's time in busy lots.

And it sounds like this driver made a mistake, which is their problem.

No, we're more skilled drivers, and we can leave a lot quicker when someone is waiting. Life is full of choices.

You may be a skilled driver, but not all backer-inners are. Some take so long to adjust over and over to get into the space. It really doesn't save time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who back into spaces are obnoxious. There's no safety benefit, and it waste everyone else's time in busy lots.

And it sounds like this driver made a mistake, which is their problem.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who back into spaces are obnoxious. There's no safety benefit, and it waste everyone else's time in busy lots.

And it sounds like this driver made a mistake, which is their problem.

No, we're more skilled drivers, and we can leave a lot quicker when someone is waiting. Life is full of choices.

It sounds like you're a crappy driver if baking out of a spot takes you a long time, or longer than it takes you to back in.

Are you a MD driver?