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Parking rage sets neighbors at war

By Philip Thornton, Transport Correspondent

The stress of using an overcrowded and underfunded transport network has spawned another modern social phenomenon - parking rage.

More than eight in 10 motorists admit they see red when they find a car parked across their driveways, according to a survey published yesterday. The same number would insist that a neighbor who blocked their entrance shift the offending vehicle immediately.

Autoglass, the windscreen repair company that carried out the survey, found that men were more likely than women to retaliate for bad parking, call the police or escalate the dispute.

"Neighbors are at war over parking. The tensions of everyday motoring have spread to the driveway," said a spokeswoman.

"People display very territorial attitudes to their personal parking space, using traffic cones and rubbish bins to reserve a space. The risk of a row arises when there isn't a real need to move a car and the dispute becomes a matter of pride."

Parking rage is the latest expression of frustration at modern life. It follows air, road, trolley and even tram rage.

original here

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- A father of eight died after he was punched in the face after he stopped a driver from using a Times Square parking lot as a shortcut, police said. The driver entered the 42nd Street lot about 5 p.m. Monday in a bid to reach 43rd Street, witnesses said. The lot's manager, Methis Weingarten, 47, ran out to stop him.

The driver, about 6 feet tall and 250 pounds, backed out of the lot, parked and returned on foot to strike Weingarten in the face, witnesses said. At 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, Weingarten fell and hit the concrete floor. His attacker drove off.

Weingarten was pronounced dead two hours later at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center. An autopsy revealed a bruised and hemorrhaged brain and a fractured skull.

The death was ruled a homicide. Police were looking for the driver.

Weingarten, of Brooklyn, was buried Tuesday. Surviving are his wife, and six sons and two daughters, ages 5 to 21.

original here

California town fights SUV parking peeves

Touching the lines can be worth a $30 ticket

August 17, 1999

From Correspondent Don Knapp

PALO ALTO, California (CNN) -- Instead of road rage, authorities in one California town are dealing with parking peeves, cracking down on sport utility vehicles that residents say crowd out automobiles from nearby parking spots.

"I think SUVs are just way too big for everything, including the freeways," fumes Callie Gregory. "I get scared driving down the road, but I especially hate to see them crammed into small parking spaces."

(...)

This policewoman says that as long as there is a significant amount of space between each vehicle she will not cite them \

But Palo Alto has clamped down for reasons besides safety or the environment. Police in the upscale suburb of San Francisco are ticketing cars that poke over into the neighboring parking space.

"If you're barely touching those lines, you're probably over six-feet wide, and that's probably worth a $30 ticket," says officer Jim Coffman.

(...).

"Yeah, that is a good thing, because they open their door and crash the paint on your car," she says.

One parking enforcement officer assures that her department will not enforce the rule too zealously.

"If we feel there's a significant amount of space between each vehicle, then again, we may not cite it. There's some discretion," says Anita Henley, working her rounds and placing tickets on vehicles in violation.

(...)

Rebels with a cause rage against parking meters, destroying many

By John Lang / Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON -- (...)

First the homeless took up cudgels, then street gangs. Vandals saw an opportunity and joined. Next came many of Washington's celebrated, dark-suited, pasty-faced, briefcase-armed guardians of the bureaucracies. After that, the lawless suburbanites. The objects of their rage: parking meters.

The District of Columbia has 15,777 parking meters, almost enough for every lawyer. But more than 2,000 have had their heads chopped off. Often the decapitated trunks stretch entire city blocks. D.C. police say the meters are being destroyed by homeless people with baseball bats, or gang members with sledgehammers, so they can grab the quarters.

Otherwise lawful residents, too, are jamming foreign objects into the coin slots and then sticking in notes advising that the meters are now out of order. Some commuters have taken to painting the meter windows so ticketing officers can't see if the time has expired. It's costing $3 million a year in missed nickel-and-dimming.

(...)

Dear Dr. James,

My name is Allan Stein, and I am the editor and content manager of Culturenotes.com, a website on cultural affairs published throught he Webseed Publishing Network.

We are currently doing article research on the phenomenon of parking lot rage and how it is becoming as pervasive and dangerous as road rage. Your thoughts on the following questions will be greatly appreciated: What is the clinical definition of parking lot rage? Why does it happen, who is most susceptible to it psychologically, and how can it be prevented? Does parking lot rage signify a coarsening of attitudes and an erosion of public etiquette?

Thank you very much for your time and comments, which will be directly sourced in the upcoming article.

Sincerely,
Allan Stein
Content Manager,
Culturenotes
www.culturenotes.com
 

Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 13:00:42 -1000
From: Leon James <leon@hawaii.edu>
To: Allan <allan@hotmail.com>
Cc: DrDriving@DrDriving.org
Subject: Re: Article research

> rage and how it is becoming as pervasive and dangerous as road rage. Your
> thoughts on the following questions will be greatly appreciated:

> What is the clinical definition of parking lot rage?

There is no clinical definition or parking lot rage or even road rage though I expect there will be in the future. Also, there is a total absence of research in this area thus far.

> Why does it happen, who is most susceptible to it psychologically, and
> how can it be prevented?

Parking rage, like road rage, is due to a breakdown or weakening of people's internal control of their emotions in public places. This erosion is part of a general problem in our society in relation to anger and how we express anger. We learn as children to express anger and disrespect and this tendency is strengthened as we grow up. There is a mental attitude that encourages cynicism towards authority and moral virtues such as kindness, tolerance, and compassion. When we get challenged in parking lots by someone's else's actions, we feel enraged. Many people lack the skills to cope with this rage and so they express it through aggressive or violent behavior.

> Does parking lot rage signify a coarsening of attitudes and an erosion
> of public etiquette?

Yes. George Washington used to say that civility is the glue that holds our nation together. Unless we teach our children the coping skills of how to deal with emotions in public places, parking lot rage, road rage, air rage and other forms of rage will continue to increase.

Leon James
DrDriving

By Jenifer McKim

Knight Ridder/Tribune
January 28, 2001

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- Philip Putman didn't mean to steal someone's spot when he parked in a Costco parking lot in Fountain Valley, Calif., last spring. He believes he got to it first.

But three youths in a competing car thought otherwise. They screamed and swore at Putman before driving off. Later, Putman found that his car hood and door were severely scratched, or "keyed,"--a $1,000 repair.

"I was outraged," said Putman, a Huntington Beach, Calif., attorney who unsuccessfully offered a $500 reward for information. "How could young people be that vicious and ruthless over a lousy parking space?"

Some call it "parking lot rage," a low-speed form of "road rage" in which drivers cannot resist retaliating when someone dings their door or they believe they have been wronged in the pursuit of choice parking.

Police and residents say a battle over a spot can turn into bad words, vandalism and fisticuffs. One Tustin, Calif., woman even admitted that she got her 9-year-old nephew to urinate on the door handle of a woman who stole her spot.

It's unclear how bad the problem is because people such as Putman often don't bother to report the incidents. But police officers at several Orange County malls said they get called in to break up squabbles two or three times a week.

Santa Ana, Calif., Police Officer Don Wolfram says he is called in to mediate battles over spots about three times a week, finding that women are involved most of the time. He just tries to calm people down, he said. Sometimes they want each other arrested.

"I have had incidents where people start throwing blows at each other," Wolfram said. "I tell people to take a deep breath; there is plenty of parking."

Irvine, Calif., Police Sgt. Dave Mihalik said he also gets two or three such calls a weekend. Recently he said two motorists reported finding their tires slashed after an altercation over parking spots.

He said people will snake through the parking aisles for spaces nearest the stores and eateries though many spot are available while farther out.

"It is human nature. People want to park close," Mihalik said. "It seems they don't realize there is a lot of parking available to them."

Parking lots can bring out the worst in people, some psychologists say.

Dr. Leon James, a University of Hawaii professor and the author of "Road Rage and Aggressive Driving," recalled a study showing that people who know someone is waiting for their spot will take several seconds longer to pull out, just to "reassert their freedom."

James, who has a Web site called DrDriving.org, says 90 percent of all drivers express hostility. And hostility is on the rise because parents pass down their reactions to their children, he said. To avoid problems, he recommends parents show remorse when they express hostility on the road.

Also people need to plan ahead to give themselves extra time to avoid getting frustrated, he said.

"If you are in a hurry and frantic, you are already in a situation where you are going to lose," James said.

To be sure, many people navigate most parking lots with no problems. Many are considerate and civil. Those who have gotten into conflicts, however, say it is a memory that stays with them. And some say they can't really square the way they handled the situation with how they view themselves.

People who called the Orange County Register spoke of many parking-lot confrontations, some that resulted in bad words, others in keyed cars and some in assaults.

Some stories fall into the surreal. Christie Bartusick of Huntington Beach said she had an altercation with a woman who accosted her after she refused to give up her spot at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Bartusick said she clearly reached the coveted spot first but the woman asked her to move, explaining she was 20 minutes late for a doctor's appointment. At first, Bartusick thought it was a joke, but before she knew it, she said, the two women were tussling on the concrete.

"I was in shock. I yanked my arm back and I said, `Don't you dare touch me,"' said Bartusick, who was also running late. "She was desperate for a parking spot and thought I would give up mine."

(...)

Witnesses Help Police Find Suspect

AP Philadelphia police examine car of motorist who was shot to death Tuesday.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- An 18-year-old man was shot to death Tuesday after getting into an accident with another driver pulling out of a parking space on a downtown street, police said.

Witnesses said the gunman sped off in his car, hitting several parked cars.

Kevin Holmes was killed, police said. A woman and her daughter who were passengers in his car were not injured.

Witnesses who took down a license plate number helped police find the suspect's vehicle; the suspect was in a house near where the car was parked.

Stephen Palmer, 25, was arrested and charged with murder, possession of an instrument of crime, weapons violations, two counts of reckless endangerment and narcotics violations.

(...)

Police Capt. Thomas Lippo said Palmer's car was clipped by Holmes's station wagon as Palmer pulled out of a parking space. Palmer then got out, approached Holmes and allegedly shot him in the chest.

(...)

original here

By Bob Levey

Road rage you know about. But parking rage? Yes, alas, it cropped up recently in separate incidents in the suburbs.

In Bethesda, Millie Bell parked in a "No Parking Any Time" space just off River Road, near Walt Whitman High School.

"I just needed to run into a school for a few minutes, and there were no legal spaces," Millie said. She decided to try her luck.

Millie's major tactical mistake was parking so close to the car behind her that the driver couldn't get out easily. "So he punctured all four of my tires" with an ice pick or something similar. Then "he left a note saying he had done so," Millie said.

The police have the note and are investigating. Meanwhile, Millie got "educated" to the tune of $560, which is what four new tires cost her.

Never again will she park illegally, she swears. But she thinks the punishment didn't fit the crime this time around.

(...)

Maybe the cat walked across this guy's chest at 4 a.m. and awakened him. Maybe his spouse growled at him. Maybe he has been "dissed" by many drivers in many ways over the years, and this tipped him over the edge. Maybe all of the above.

"I know it would never have happened if I hadn't broken the law," Millie said. "But couldn't he just have left the note?"

The next story tells you what happens in that case.

Betty Measura, of Olney, was shopping at Wheaton Plaza with her 8-year-old daughter, Britney. Betty just bought a Chevrolet Suburban. "It's as big as a tank," she told me, "and I am still having trouble parking it."

As she maneuvered her tank into a space, Betty thought she was midway between two white lines. "But I guess I was too far to one side," she said. That meant her "neighbor" had trouble getting his door open.

The aggrieved party slipped a note of protest under Betty's windshield wiper.

(...)

"The note was full of obscenities that Britney had never seen before," Betty told me. Naturally, the child asked her mother what certain words meant.

(...)

Wouldn't it be nice if every ticked-off parker took a 10-second timeout before he reacted with venom? Maybe it'll happen by the time Britney is a mother herself.

(...)

original here

PHILADELPHIA Dec. 7 - The sentencing took place in a deadly case of snow rage. A man killed his neighbor during an argument over a parking space after a snow storm. NBC 10’s Cindy Hamill has more.

“WE JUST miss Michael,” said the victim’s sister Theresa Quinn. “They still get the chance to visit. We have to go to the cemetery.” Eight years in prison for the man who killed Michael Kirkpatrick won’t bring him back, so for his family, there is no satisfaction. “It’s been so difficult for my parents,” Quinn said. “My mother physically collapsed after the sentence. It’s been overwhelming.”

No satisfaction either for Sabrina Mockewich. She’s left now, to raise her new baby alone while her husband Louis serves his time. “I love my husband very much,” Sabrina said. “I want him back so we can be a family again. So that my daughter can grow up with her father.”

Two families torn apart over a snow shoveling incident last January. Mockewich and Kirkpatrick argued over snow being shoveled too close to Kirkpatrick’s truck. Both men had guns. Mockewich says he shot Kirkpatrick in self defense. The jury didn’t buy it. “You talk about these things,” said Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron. “You don’t pull out guns and shoot each other for no reason at all.

People like Louis Mockewich shouldn’t be walking around with guns.” Defense Attorney Joel Moldovsky added, “This is a good man who was caught up in tragedy.” Quinn said. “I hope we can start to heal. I want to heal.” Sabrina said, “I guess the lesson would be to stop and think.”

original here

Competition for spaces can lead to
anger, confrontations and vehicle damage.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PARKING LOT TIPS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

As the holiday countdown continues, mall parking lots and nearby roads become more congested. The Automobile Club of Southern California offers these tips:

•Be prepared. Allow more time to find a parking space. It may be easier to park farther away and walk. Park in well-lighted areas.

•Use headlights during the day so other drivers will see you.

•Be aware of your surroundings, especially when backing out of your parking space.

•Make sure your defroster or defogger is working. Make sure your windows are clear before backing out of your parking spot.

•Before going in to shop, remove any shopping carts that might get pushed into your car. You would probably be responsible for any damage from such incidents, and you would have to pay your insurance deductible.

•Be careful. If you are found at fault in a parking-lot crash, you might have to pay your collision deductible, and the crash could count as a point on your driving record.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By JENIFER MCKIM
The Orange County Register

(...)

Call it "parking-lot rage'' - a low-speed form of "road rage'' in which motorists cannot resist retaliating when someone dings their door or they believe they have been wronged in the pursuit of choice parking.

It's unclear how bad the problem is because people often don't report the incidents. But police officers at two large Orange County malls said they get called to break up squabbles several times a week.

The holiday season, with many tense, frantic shoppers competing for spaces, can accentuate the problem. Many local malls boost security to deal with the crush.

"The closer we get to Christmas, tempers are short,'' said Santa Ana police officer Don Wolfram, who has worked at MainPlace mall for eight years. "Everybody gets stubborn. They don't want to move an inch."

Wolfram, who mediates parking battles about three times a week, said women are involved most of the time. Sometimes they want each other arrested.

"I have had incidents where people start throwing blows at each other,'' Wolfram said. "I tell people to take a deep breath - there is plenty of parking.''

Irvine police Sgt. Dave Mihalik said he gets two or three such calls each weekend at Irvine Spectrum Center. Recently, two motorists reported finding their tires slashed after altercations over parking spaces.

Many mall visitors snake through the parking aisles for spaces nearest the stores and restaurants, while more distant spots go begging.

(...)

THE PSYCHE

Parking can bring out the worst in people, some psychologists say.

Leon James, a University of Hawaii professor and the author of "Road Rage and Aggressive Driving,'' recalled a study showing that people who know someone is waiting for their spot will take several seconds longer to pull out, just to "reassert their freedom.''

James, who has a Web site called DrDriving.org, says 90 percent of drivers express hostility. And hostility is on the rise because parents pass their reactions to their children, he said.

He recommends that parents show remorse when they express hostility while on the road.

Also, people need to plan ahead to give themselves extra time to avoid getting frustrated, he said.

"If you are in a hurry and frantic, you are already in a situation where you are going to lose,'' James said.

(...)

SCENES FROM THE FRONT

Most people navigate most parking lots with no problems. Most people are considerate and civil. But those who have gotten into conflicts say the memory stays with them.

Christie Bartusick of Huntington Beach said a woman accosted her after she refused to give up her spot at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Bartusick said she clearly reached the coveted real estate first but that the woman asked her to move, explaining she was 20 minutes late for a doctor's appointment.

At first, Bartusick thought it was a joke, but before she knew it, she said, the two were tussling on the pavement.

"I was in shock. I yanked my arm back and I said, 'Don't you dare touch me,''' said Bartusick, who also was late for an appointment. "She was desperate for a parking spot and thought I would give up mine.''

Marilyn McCullock of Garden Grove said she "went into a state of shock'' when a driver keyed her car after she accidentally nicked his. "It was just a horrible experience.''

(...)

ABSTRACT

This paper looks at the connection between the regulation of parking by cities, transit service levels, and travel and parking behavior in the United States. Travel behavior information comes from the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS) and the Federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration’s 1990 Section 15 Report. Data on the current state of parking programs in place in central business districts of the U.S. is identifed through telephone interviews of local officials responsible for parking policies from the twenty cities identified in the NPTS.

The travel behavior analyses and the data from the parking officials interviews were combined with data from the Federal Highway Administration’s Journey-to-Work data to group cities according to their parking policies, transit service, and ridership levels on a continuum of “Transit-Accommodating Cities” and “Auto-Accomodating Cities”. A key finding is that cities with interventionist parking policies, high parking prices and limited supply, frequent transit service, and a high probability that travelers will pay to park are the most likely to have high transit ridership figures.

Michigan law allows free parking for eligible handicappers under certain, limited circumstances. Is unable to manage, manipulate, or insert coins or obtain tickets/ tokens in parking meters or ticket machines in parking lots or structures due to a lack of fine motor control of both hands Signature of Doctor X BFS- 108 (2/ 95)

APPLICATION BY AN ORGANIZATION

An organization which provides specialized services to handicappers may apply for and receive a handicapper certificate of identification for motor vehicles used by the organization when actually transporting handicappers. I am applying for a handicapper parking permit as provided in Public Act 300 of 1949 as amended.

REMINDERS ABOUT YOUR HANDICAPPER PERMIT: C

Displaying the parking permit while driving is illegal. PENALTIES Michigan Vehicle Code Section 257.675 prohibits: C Use of a handicapper parking permit unless the person named on the permit is driving or being transported. C Making a false statement to obtain a handicapper parking permit or free parking sticker, or committing a deception or fraud on a medical statement attesting to a handicap.

What would you have done? (read on...)

Today, I pulled into he local supermarket parking lot in my five week old Santorin Blue 1.8TQS. Even with my 2 year old daughter with me, I still rationalized a longer walk to the store entrance and parked 30 feet from the nearest parked car to avoid the numerous individuals that must get pleasure banging their doors into the car next to them as they enter/exit their vehicles. I walked to the store and looked proudly back at my A4 thinking that the labor I had put into waxing yesterday really paid off.

I returned about 30 minutes later to find that the lot had filled up pretty quickly and....aaarrrrggghhhh!!!- a Black Ford Explorer had parked literally 10-12 inched off my driver side! After strapping my daughter into her carseat (from the passenger side), I walked around praying that the Ford owner had carefully exited without incident (I was hopeful given that the Explorer was almost as gleaming as my A4) - no such luck.... I bent down to find a chip about the size of a grain of rice missing from my door (aaarrrggghhh!!) and lo and behold - there was my precious paint sitting on the edge of the Ford's door... guilty.

So here were the options that ran through my head: 1) drive away and be glad that a chip the size of a grain of rice was the worst thing that happened that day, 2) wait for the guilty party and confront them with all of my wrath (and hope that they were not armed and wanted in 12 states...), or 3) find a sharp object, similar to the handy folding device supplied by Audi in my right hand, and get a little revenge.

What would you have done?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Steve B on July 27, 1998 at 12:25:33:

In Reply to: Parking Lot Rage (long) posted by Chris on July 25, 1998 at 00:11:13:

Once in a small town in Oklahoma, someone I know had this happen to them. With the culprit present, he took a hammer and dinged the other's vehicle. HE got arrested because what he did was on purpose, as opposed to the accident that the other was guilty of. The lesson is that it is dangerous to take matters into your own hands like that.

What I would do is take a picture (if you have a camera handy) and wait for the culprit and get his insurance information and file a claim. If s/he refuses, call the police.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by pdw on July 27, 1998 at 12:24:04:

In Reply to: Parking Lot Rage (long) posted by Chris on July 25, 1998 at 00:11:13:

6 or 7 years ago I was driving my then still clean SE-R. I parked at the supermarket(being careful to park away from other cars) and went in and got some food. I then went to the video store next door. Right as I was walking out of the video store, I saw a new, light colored Buick pull right next to my car(it was about 150 yds away but under a light). This huge woman got out of the car and I knew she dinged my car. Sure enough, when I got to my car, my black paint was on her door and I had a fresh ding.

Luckily, I had a permanent marker in my car. So, on the side of her car, I wrote in big block letters "BECAUSE I AM OBESE, I NEED EXTRA ROOM TO GET OUT OF MY CAR, SO DON'T PARK NEXT TO ME".
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Posted by Chris on July 27, 1998 at 00:08:14:

In Reply to: Parking Lot Rage (long) posted by Chris on July 25, 1998 at 00:11:13:

Well, an eye for an eye (i.e., a small 1 cm gouge to be exact)...

If anyone ever asks, the "official" version is that my 2 year old daughter must have accidentally scraped her McDonald's Mulan action figure against the Explorer - kids will be kids....

Thanks for everyone's thoughts on the matter. Calling the police seems a bit futile esp since you then are on record with a complaint and if you are dealing with a real A-hole, they will then know where you live to do a "better" job later (and I can hear the cops now, "we can't do anything unless you actually saw the individual putting that tire iron through your windshield....") As for the more devious suggestions, very tempting, but also too risky in a parking lot with many people milling about.
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Posted by J. Poteat on July 25, 1998 at 17:12:40:

In Reply to: Parking Lot Rage (long) posted by Chris on July 25, 1998 at 00:11:13:

...no matter how far out in a lot you park to keep your car safe some idiot always parks beside you even if there's ten spaces between you and the next car???
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Kirk on July 25, 1998 at 01:29:39:

In Reply to: Parking Lot Rage (long) posted by Chris on July 25, 1998 at 00:11:13:

Call the police and have them document it or it is your word against the Ford's. That's what I should have done once, according to my police officer friend. Oh well, lesson learned.

Kirk
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Posted by PhilJ on July 26, 1998 at 03:31:35:

In Reply to: Parking Lot Rage (long) posted by Chris on July 25, 1998 at 00:11:13:

Hm, some of my anti-social (car-less) friends have suggested...

1- Put some Vaseline or oil or other petroleum product on their wiper blades or windshield. That stuff is a pain to remove from glass (it just smears everywhere) and next to impossible with the wimpy washer fluid they put into Fords...

2- My Bologna has a first name... You could accidentally drop some luncheon meat, such as bologna or salami, onto the hood. In the hot sun, it would only take a half-hour or so to take effect. When the owner removes said meat, there will be a nice solid circle etched onto the hood...It's scary to think what happens in your stomach when you eat that stuff...

3- If his gas filler door is unlocked, take his gas cap. You could be malicious and put other stuff into their gas tank, but that might be taking things a bit far...

4-Stuff some produce into his exhaust pipes, like a banana or cucumber...

5- Take his rear license plate as a memento of the event.

6- You could accidentally lose control of your shopping cart, but while chasing after the cart you are unable to catch up to it before it rubs up against the door, leaving some unfortunate reminders of the incident...

Hmm, not that I've ever actually DONE any of these things, but I've come awfully close before...

-Phil

Advice from DrDriving

PARKING AGGRESSIVENESS SYNDROME

Parking aggressiveness is made of the following 15 behaviors. This Scale can indicate how aggressive is your parking persona and what type of parking personality makeover you need.

Ask yourself how many of these bad parking behaviors apply to you on a regular basis.

1. feeling stress and impatience when parking in a crowded area
   
2. having denigrating thoughts about other drivers or pedestrians
   
3. acting in a hostile manner (staring, presenting a mean face, moving faster or closer than expected)
   
4. parking much slower than the rest of the people
   
5. not yielding or giving up when it's the polite thing to do
   
6. driving on the left of a crowded lane where most cars drive on the right
   
7. muttering at other drivers, pedestrians, or parking attendants
   
8. touching or bumping into other cars leaving behind scratches or paint spots
   
9. not apologizing when expected (after bumping by accident or coming very close in attempting to pass)
   
10. making insulting gestures or leaving behind insulting notes
    
11. hogging or blocking the lane, acting uncaring or unaware
    
12. expressing pedestrian rage against a driver (scratching, insulting, or throwing something)
    
13. feeling enraged at pedestrians or drivers and enjoying thoughts of violence
    
14. feeling competitive with other drivers, hating to give something up

These 14 bad behaviors define the parking aggressiveness syndrome. They are all significantly intercorrelated. This means that if you do one of them regularly, you will also do many of the other 14 on a regular basis. You need a parking personality overhaul!

When I finally get into the supermarket, I often experience Shopping Cart Rage. This is caused by the people - and you just KNOW these are the same people who always drive in the left-hand lane - who routinely manage, by careful placement, to block the entire aisle with a single shopping cart. If we really want to keep illegal immigrants from entering the United States, we should employ Miami residents armed with shopping carts; we'd only need about two dozen to block the entire Mexican border.

What makes the supermarket congestion even worse is that shoppers are taking longer and longer to decide what to buy, because every product in America now comes in an insane number of styles and sizes. For example, I recently went to the supermarket to get orange juice. For just one brand of orange juice, Tropicana, I had to decide whether I wanted Original, Homestyle, Pulp Plus, Double Vitamin C, Grovestand, Calcium or Old Fashioned; I also had to decide whether I wanted the 16-ounce, 32-ounce, 64-ounce, 96-ounce or six-pack size. This is WAY too many product choices. It caused me to experience Way Too Many Product Choices Rage. I would have called Tropicana and complained, but I probably would have wound up experiencing Automated Phone Answering System Rage (" . . . for questions about Pulp Plus in the 32-ounce size, press 23. For questions about Pulp Plus in the 64-ounce size, press 24. For questions about . . . ").

My point is that there are many causes for rage in our modern world, and if we're going to avoid unnecessary violence, we all need to "keep our cool." So let's try to be more considerate, OK? Otherwise I will kill you.</TT>

(c) 1998 Tribune Media Services.

- Dan Stober
Salt Lake City

ROAD RAGE AGAINST PARKING OFFICERS

A spate of assaults on council parking officers has council staff and councilors up in arms.

According to Councilor Darren Ray, the chair of the council’s services and finances committee, parking officers are considered fair game by both residents and visitors to Port Phillip.

"Every day, council parking officers get verbally abused. They’re spat on. Workers on building sites throw nails and rocks from great heights at them. In Loch Street, St Kilda, residents even threw syringes at them from the roof of a building. At night, when parking officers work in pairs, they still get harassed. They get followed by groups of people coming from restaurants and cafes on foot or even in cars," he said.

However, Cr Ray stated, the harassment has recently escalated into direct physical violence.

"Last year in Carlisle Street, an irate car driver tried to run over a parking officer, slightly injuring him. This year, car drivers have extended their ‘road rage’ to four assaults on parking officers. In two separate incidents on Pier Road and Acland Street in St Kilda, the same parking officer was assaulted. As a result of injuries sustained in the Pier Road assault, he spent two days off work.

"A driver in York Street, St Kilda, tried to run over a parking officer though fortunately only his watch, and not his body, was smashed up. In a further incident in Victoria Avenue, Middle Park, a car driver punched another parking officer in the face and wrestled him to the ground. Another parking officer had to come to his rescue. The police are currently investigating charges against the driver," he said.

Cr Ray said that the persecution and assault of parking officers was totally unacceptable.

"None of us likes getting parking fines and I accept that some people don’t agree with various parking restrictions. However, people need to understand that parking officers don’t set policy. They’re simply doing their jobs. If residents or visitors have a beef with council policy, they should take it up - peacefully, I should add - with the people who do make policy - the councilors," he said.

Cr Ray called on anyone seeing a parking officer being assaulted to immediately contact the council and/or the police.

"Australians, as a whole, do not see violence as a solution. Road rage, whether it directed at other drivers or parking officers, has no place in this country, or for that matter, this municipality. I know parking is a perennial problem in Port Phillip but an atmosphere of violence does not assist when considering options to improve parking," he said.

Cr Ray said he was concerned about the extent to which visitors exacerbated parking problems.

"Visitors to our many cafes and bars have a tendency to flout parking laws and arrogantly disregard the rights of local residents. It means that people who live here can’t park in their own streets. I know of locals who’ve driven around for forty-five minutes and ended up in tears because they can’t park within cooee of their own place," he said.

(...)

original here

In Canada

WATERLOO - A gunman eventually surrendered after a bizarre chase that sent children diving for cover in a suburban neighborhood. The chain of events began in late afternoon after three friends encountered the man while cutting through a parking lot. The three claimed they had had a previous incident with the man after being involved in a near miss car accident in the same parking lot. The second time round, the men claimed the trouble started again when the man spotted them and hopped into his own car. He then allegedly chased them through residential streets in the area of Conestoga Mall, the two cars racing a breakneck speeds while children jumped out of the way. The alleged wildman tried to attack them with a metal bar and pepper spray through the car window while the three men called police on a cell phone. After seeing the police, the man exploded again, holing himself up in a Davenport Road apartment with a loaded gun for about four hours before surrendering to police without incident.

These were people who had been killed in the past two weeks in various petty brawls and fights. While the Jewish people have their share of criminals, it was always thought to be mainly white-collar crime and petty thievery. The idea that murder and violence could occur with such frequency shocked many Jews. Even worse, it was murder for petty reasons -- someone was killed in a fight over a beach chair, another over a parking space, and yet another in a silly pub argument.

By Valerie Kalfrin

AURORA, Colo. (APBnews.com) -- A monthlong dispute between neighbors over parking and a traffic accident ended in the shooting deaths of a high school teacher and his 14-year-old daughter, police said today.

Charles Crihfield, 41, and his daughter, Cristina, died Sunday afternoon after Elsworth Walker, 64, who lives across from the Crihfields in a town home complex, allegedly shot the two several times while they backed their Ford Expedition out of their driveway, police said.

(...).

Heated exchanges between families Police are still interviewing other residents of the complex, but so far they believe the killings stem from an accident in the neighborhood between Crihfield's wife, Rosalinde, and Walker early in May that escalated into other disagreements.

Rosalinde Crihfield allegedly backed into Walker's car, and since then, officers had been called to settle heated exchanges of words between the families over everything from parking to traffic issues, Hellenschmidt.

"We're all shaking our heads about this," Hellenschmidt said today. "It was kind of a back-and-forth between neighbors. ... The way this came to an end with loss of life -- we're just asking why. How do you explain the inexplicable? Two families are shattered."

'Everyone's pretty much in shock'

(...)

Neither the school nor the police department knew anything about funeral arrangements for Crihfield and his daughter, but Griffin said that students were sending cards to the family.

   Parking Rage

(...)

Parking rage, the step brother to road rage. Those on the receiving end cause it by parking less than perfectly in a space and experience it through a "ding" on the car door, a good cursing out if it’s a face-to-face encounter, or a note, hastily written on scrap paper, usually trying to identify one’s ancestry.

And parking rage seems to be on the rise. Just as we hear about road rage incidents from time to time, parking rage is now being reported in the mainstream media. Leslie Baldacci, a writer for the Chicago Sun Times, has not only reported on it, she’s experienced it.

"After parking just a little off center because the guy next to me had done the same," she says, "I returned to my car to find a note on the windshield. ‘Dear A E: Why don’t you try parking between the yellow lines so I can get into my car through the driver’s door."

"Upon reading the note, I was struck blind by anger and started to fire off a reply, on a wrinkled receipt, written in eyeliner: ‘Whatsmatter? Butt too big to hop over the stick shift?’ She says that the note will be exhibit "B" in her mental competency hearing.

Baldacci and others tell PT that parking rage, like road rage and its predecessor, urban rage, is the result of too many people (cars) in too small a space. It’s no surprise that crime rates soar in cheek-by-jowl public housing where thousands of people are crammed into tiny apartments in giant buildings. The pressure builds and builds.

Parking rage has similar roots but also has an added dimension. People have a tendency to react differently when they feel there is a certain amount of anonymity. The car provides that cloak of secrecy. While you would probably never consider acting on your rage in a group of people you know, it’s somehow easier to let it out when you are secure in your car, with no recourse available to others.

Psychologists give us fancy words, but the gist of it is that when we get in our cars, our purpose is to get to our destination. We may become frustrated by traffic and weather, and be concerned about what will happen when we reach our destination. Upon arrival at the parking facility, all this frustration, so nicely kept in check, comes

Rage out when we can’t find a space, or the space is too small, or the space we have been stalking for ten minutes is grabbed by an interloper.

Is there anything the industry can do about parking rage? Baldacci thinks so. Her frustration was with a garage where more cars were being crammed in than it was built to hold. (Construction made the garage smaller, so an enterprising operator closed the crossovers to add space and began parking cars along walls.) To compound the problem, the elevators didn’t work. The result was chaos. "You had to drive all the way to the roof just to get out of the garage. When you park in a garage, you have an expectation that you will be able to get out fairly quickly."

(...)

Is parking rage the responsibility of the parking facility owner or operator? Probably no more than road rage is the responsibility of the state highway commission. However, when you see construction starting at 7 a.m. (at the height of rush hour), you probably have a few well chosen words for the planners who came up with that schedule.

Tips for Toning Down the Rage

If you have construction or refurbishment underway, bite the bullet and don’t try to put more cars in the garage than is comfortable. You would do better to offer the contractor a little bonus for finishing ahead of schedule.

Put staff in the garage during peak traffic times to direct cars to available space.

Take a look at your facility. If the spaces are too small, restripe. Tommy Feagans of Walter P. Moore tells us that you can actually park more cars if you restripe and reduce the number of spaces. If the turning radiuses are too tight, people won’t try to go to the higher levels and will simply park somewhere else. He has case after case where a 10 or 15 percent reduction in the number of spaces has resulted in an INCREASE in the number of cars using the facility.

Keep the elevators working (and clean). There is nothing more frustrating than having to climb eight flights of stairs after a day’s work.

Take a look at your exit processing. Look beyond the curb to the street. Too many operators say that their system runs faster than the street can take the cars. Often a discussion with the traffic staff at the city can affect a change in the timing of the lights at the corner and make your life much easier. Perhaps a traffic control officer can drop by during rush hours to assist, or one of your staff can be trained to direct traffic.

Open all of the exit lanes during rush hour. Get in the booth yourself if necessary. An extra lane open for 30 or 45 minutes can make a tremendous difference.

Set up express lanes for monthlies so the guy looking for his wallet doesn’t hold up 20 cars who are using cards.

Have an employee walk up the line of people waiting to pay to "pre-compute" their tickets. Tell the people how much their ticket will be so they can have the money ready. They will appreciate that as much as the person behind them.

Be sure all the lights in your garage are working and the walls are clean. Paint the ceilings white to reflect more light down on the cars. Nothing makes people feel better than a light and airy facility (it will help your security, too).

Don’t overdo the "niceness." Drivers want efficiency, speed, and competency. A believable "thank you" at the end of the transaction is perfect. "Have a nice day" or "have a good one" is great, but after everyone you have met today has said it to you, the last person you will see (probably your exit attendant) might be just a little too much.

original here

by Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl

A Philippine resident wrote to us in July 1999:

You hardly hear complaints here about road rage because we got so used to it that it seems normal. Things like swearing, tailgating, reckless driving, and cutting off. Yesterday, a man was sentenced to death for killing a pregnant woman due to a dispute about a parking space. People feel helpless about road rage since there is not much we can do...I refuse to drive here due to the stress I observe on the road. I cannot handle it. In order to control the traffic, our government has implemented the "odd-even" scheme for driving on alternate days. One of my aunts who now lives in Pennsylvania visited us two years ago and she was so affected by the traffic situation that I saw her praying the rosary while we were in the car. That’s how bad it is here.

The Expanding Age of Rage

There are indications that the culture of disrespect is opening new venues for expressing anger. As usual, media mavens have a finger on new cultural developments and the word is out: Rage is Spreading! Many headlines proclaim:

Parking Lot Rage
Sidewalk Rage
Surf Rage
Air Rage
Neighbor Rage
Shopping Mall Rage
Workplace Rage
Cafeteria Rage
Customer Rage
Keyboard Rage
Desk Rage

In Ottawa, CFRA open-line host Lowell Green tells listeners he is fed up with picketing Corel Center cleaners delaying his entry into the arena's parking areas. He adds, "The next time it happens, I'm going to run over them." However later, Mr. Green said his comments were "just satire."

Parking rage

On April 2 [1998], a Cal State student almost died over a parking space. The suspect, whose name is being withheld, became involved in a verbal argument with another student, who was driving a Porsche, after parking his GMC truck. The driver of the Porsche then stabbed the GMC owner in the torso four times as he walked away.

A new permissiveness frees more people to become openly enraged in a wide variety of public places, sometimes in jest, sometimes in horrific mayhem.

The Anger Choice

According to Deborah Tannen, anger is the main method people use to "negotiate" dominance levels in power games.12 Carol Tavris describes Darwin's theory of human aggression as a biologically programmed response no different from the rage-reflex of animals when they are attacked or threatened.23 Tavris thinks this model is too simplistic for humans since threat does not always elicit anger, and anger does not always elicit aggression. Humans have mediating processes such as judgment and choice that interrupt automatic connections. In this view, expressing anger is not a triggered response but a learned habit. The habit specifies when anger can be expressed as aggressiveness, and when it must be inhibited or hidden. Anger is a habit that can be modified to restore human choice in provocative situations.

Even if it feels as though anger is automatically aroused, it does not automatically lead to aggressiveness. The connection between anger and aggressiveness is mediated by norms and principles, by what the person feels is or is not allowed. If a philosophy or value system permits the expression of aggressive behavior, and if the conditions are right, the person might act out when angry. The aggressiveness in road rage is a behavioral strategy used to enforce domination of a stranger; someone who is seen as deserving punishment for having inconvenienced us, or for having placed us in danger out of stupidity, incompetence, or a lack of consideration or caring.

Daniel Goleman writes that anger "is energizing, even exhilarating."24 Venting rage behind the wheel feels like a catharsis--"Isn't it better for me than holding it in?" Does this justify hostility or uncivility? While long held popular belief says that venting anger is healthy, recent medical research concludes that venting instead increases stress and depresses immune system functioning.25 The new message is: anger kills.26 However, culture has inherited the ill effects of the "venting is good" model. Goleman points to the "seductive, persuasive power" of anger, of the illusion that it is uncontrollable, triggered automatically, that we're not really responsible when it just comes out.24 But actually, the "triggering" stimulus is merely the sudden realization of physical endangerment. Someone cuts us off and we hit the brakes. As the foot moves, the brain reacts simultaneously and prepares for the worst. For a few moments we experience overwhelming physical sensations. This is the moment of choice.

Drivers Behaving Badly on TV

A crucial question many have asked in the past decade is, why has road rage exploded in the 1990s? Traffic congestion has existed since the 1950s and has worsened since the 1970s. The root of road rage is a "culture tantrum" because the way we express anger and when we do it is culturally condoned or sanctioned. What has occurred that has promoted the cultural norm of highway hostility? Psychiatrist John Larson attributes this new attitude to "the Road Warrior type movies of the 1980's" and today's television that teaches impressionable individuals that "Vigilante behavior, even that which harms others, is virtuous, associated with heroic figures, and easy to do."3 These entertainments reveal that the readiness to use violence is a cultural habit.

One of our students' favorite research activity is observing popular television programs and taking notes on scenes that portray drivers behaving badly:4

July 17, 1997, 6:17pm: The Simpsons (adult cartoon series):

First incident: The three kids were watching TV, the cat was trying to kill the mouse and as the cat was running from the house, the cat runs onto the road and gets run over by a speeding truck. The Simpson kids watching the show are laughing very hard at this scene.

Second incident: Homer Simpson is late for work again and speeds into a public parking stall, almost hitting a pedestrian. Homer doesn't slow down, he just chases the pedestrian until the person moves out of the way. Homer yelled at the pedestrian for being in the way.

Two researchers at Penn State university observed people in a shopping mall parking lot as they were leaving.2 They noticed that departing drivers (both men and women) took eleven seconds longer to vacate their spot when someone else was waiting for the space than when no one was there. Even the implication of "pressure" by just waiting can evoke resistance. Instead of hurrying up, they tend to take longer. This power-based behavior is counterproductive because it takes longer for them to leave and engenders hostile reactions. So why do people do it? They investigated the issue further by sending in cars driven by a student who honked at the departing driver. Drivers who were honked at took even longer to depart than drivers who were not honked at. The researchers attribute this "territorial behavior" to people's desire to proclaim rightful occupancy of a space. When this right is questioned by a hostile honking motorist the tendency is to reaffirm rightful ownership, and this is accomplished by taking even longer to vacate the place because the power struggle is the focus.

Even a simple trip to the shopping mall can be upsetting when one is emotionally unprepared to handle crowded conditions:

On a Saturday afternoon during a sale at the mall, I arrived at the parking structure. Glancing at all the cars circling round and round looking for parking made me cringe. I knew I was doomed. As usual, I started off in my calm, cool, and collective manner. However, after circling around 15 times looking for parking, my blood pressure began to rise.

After circling a few more times, my patience ran very thin and once again I became angry and hostile. I felt like eliminating all the people in sight. I kept thinking: "Why does everyone have to shop at this mall at this particular time?" It frustrated me that I couldn't start shopping until my car was properly parked, but there were no spaces available. Every time I saw people walking to their car, it was located behind me. Or else they would just drop off their packages and head back for another round of purchasing. My two famous quotes for the occasion: "This is CRAZY!" and "I hate these people!" I was wasting my time looking for parking space when in fact I could've been looking for a nice pair of jeans.

She's obsessed by the idea that she's wasting time finding a parking space rather than making purchases. Unfortunately, her mind has set up a no-win situation that is torturous. She separated the act of the purchase from the act of parking and this illogical distinction only allowed her to torment herself. Verbal road rage seldom works to achieve goals and increases strife.

Our studies reveal that these feelings and responses are far more common than we'd like to believe. In many cases, verbal road rage gave way to epic road rage:

As the traffic slowly progressed, I would become violent to a high degree--pounding my steering wheel, stomping on the floor, and talking out loud to myself.…Although my actions resorted to hitting and kicking objects, they were very mild in comparison to my thoughts. Glaring at the stream of cars ahead of me, one thought would constantly run through my mind: "What the hell is taking so long?!"

Off of this question branched many abhorrent, detestable thoughts about the construction workers and the motorists around me. Anything that hindered me from my final destination was cussed and cursed at repeatedly. No longer was I the passive nice person. I was now an aggressive competitive roa