I spotted these three unhappily conjoined silver cars on President Street in Carroll Gardens. The driver of the fat SUV in the middle is either the parallel-parking king of all time, or a bastard who has executed the biggest fuck-you in parking history to the cars on either side. The three cars are sandwiched together with not a cat's whisker to spare.
But, yet, there's a mystery here. At first I thought the SUV's owner was the biggest jerk in parkingland, having forced his bulbous road hog into a space that was obviously not suited to the car's bulk, and inconveniencing a couple of mid-sized vehicles in the bargain.
But then I reconsidered. The back bumper of the SUV is just an inch from the front of the car to the rear; and the SUV's front bumper absolutely touches the back bumper of the Mini-Cooper up front. A parallel parking job this precise is not only amazing, but utterly impossible. Is it possible that the silver cars on either side of the SUV are the malevolent parties? Did they park super-close to the SUV with the express purpose of pinning it in?
Please take note that there was a good amount of space behind the back car and in front of the Mini-Cooper. So, if the front and back cars are the aggressors, there is no reason why they need be so close to the SUV.
I'm confused. And glad (as always) that I don't own a car.
There's no law against parking within a certain distance of the next car, as far as I know. It may be a pain, but it's not impossible to get out of that spot, is it? I don't own a car anymore but when I did I'd like to think that I was able to get out of spots like this-- just takes a couple minutes of short hard turns and some inevitable scraping against the curb.
ReplyDeleteWhile it may, or may not, be the world's worst parking job, I must make a correction to your posting. The vehicle shoehorned into the center (make up your own story how it got that way) is a Honda Odyssey which is a minivan, not an SUV. Thanks for your great blog.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way the vehicle in the middle (a minivan, not a SUV) could have squeezed into that spot, with the other two vehicles in place.
ReplyDeletePeter
I've absolutely been able to get a car into a tight spot with the result being like the one shown. The only way to do it is to push the car (with your car) behind and in front as you work your way in.
ReplyDeleteObviously I am signing this anonymous because it's a pretty shitty thing to do to other cars, and I only ever did it out of desperation for a spot.