Hellobee Boards

It would annoy me because optically it looks so weird to see cars park like that so it stands out to me but I definitely wouldn’t say anything. Likely if they keep doing it, bylaw will give them a ticket but if they aren’t blocking things or driving crazy then I would leave it.

In California I'm pretty sure it is illegal to park facing oncoming traffic. So yes, it would bother me. I'm a big rule follower when it comes to traffic laws!

No, it wouldn’t bother me. If there are rules in my neighborhood folks are not following it. Depending on how the drivers enter the street determines which direction they face when street parking. Since there are rules against it you can anonymously report them.

It doesn't bother me. But my husband also def got a ticket for doing that in my parents' neighborhood on a very quiet, low-traffic street. Like there's only room for one car to drive down the middle of the street at a time anyway, so I don't even see what difference it makes.

I would think it's strange but it wouldn't bother me unless I see them doing actual unsafe things...

So if they are parking the wrong way, does that mean their driver side door opens to their property? That would be the only reason I can see that they would do that.

Everyone does this is az and it makes me insane. I grew up in ca where they enforce the law that you can't park the wrong way. I have no idea if it's also illegal here but regardless people do it all the time.
I have no advice, just commiseration

I didn't know until I was about 25 that this was a rule
It didn't come up much before then.

We always used to park the wrong way in front of my parents house- it’s a small street and their road is a circle, basically, so you can come or go from either direction, so now that I think about it, we could have just entered from the other side and parked on the correct side. But, we had a small driveway so one car would be parked there and the others (both parents had a car and then the kids started driving too) would just pull up on the street.

If it’s a car seat thing i could definitely understand it. But probably they just pull in from that direction and don’t think about it. It might very slightly annoy me but not enough to say anything. I’m confused why at least one wouldn’t be in the driveway though. Do other people park on the street in general? In my neighborhood growing up, all the driveways were small so most people had a car on the street. Where I live now our driveways are big so no one parks on the street except visitors so it would be weird.

@Corduroy: Are they American? I ask because in a lot of international cities, parking any direction you please is the norm...so they may not be totally aware that this isn't ok (although if you're driving in another country, you should know the rules...)

But yeah - it would annoy me as well. Mostly just because they have a driveway, and don't park in it!

You said no kids, right? Otherwise I was thinking it's possible they park that way to unload kids on a particular side of the car?

@Corduroy: oh they park in FRONT of their own drive way? That’s so weird. Unless they had kids who play in the driveway, in which case that’s a way to keep kids from running into the street and other cars (like delivery drivers) from pulling into a driveway where kids could be playing.

@Corduroy: It would totally bother me to have to look at it every day. It seems akin to parking on the grass. I don't know that I would do anything about it except hope they move soon. Maybe ask them about it when see them - totally a fair question. I have a very odd car permanently parked at the end of my cul de sac. I hate it. But not going to do anything about it.

In our previous neighborhood, a lot of people parked on the street due to very short driveways. Many routinely parked in the wrong direction, and I thought it gave the otherwise neat neighborhood a chaotic appearance. Since it was so many people, I never said anything. However, if it was just one person, I probably would have.

Re: parking in front of other people's houses...we actually had someone knock on the door at like 8:30 p.m. recently. And he just wanted to ask if it was OK if he parked in front of our house. My husband was like, "Um, yeah, that's fine?" So weird. And kind of annoying. It's a public street so it's not like we get to dictate that anyway. I guess he was trying to be polite, but...it was kind of late to be knocking.

@Sams Mom: I don't think they were a neighbor, I'd never seen them before. We often get people parking in front of our house, though. It doesn't really bother me because our driveway is wide enough for us to park our two cars side by side anyway. At my parents' house where I grew up, though, it's the ONLY one on the entire street that does not have a driveway. So it's extra annoying when people park in front, like hello, you all have driveways. Can you at least let us park in front of our own house?

Oh, and our last neighborhood in Houston, you actually got a ticket if you parked in the street (instead of your driveway) overnight. If you had guests, you were supposed to get a special pass from city hall. There was no HOA, it was just the city rule.

@MrsSCB: my sisters town is like that- you have to call and tell them if someone is parking overnight in the street. I actually got a ticket because she called, but then she had moved my car and parked the wrong way on her street. I forgot about that until now, so yes, definitely wasn’t allowed there!

This would not bother me unless I felt it posed a safety hazard.

It bothers me when people do it at daycare, because you pull up facing them and get the daytime running lights shining in your eyes. And it’s illegal here to park the wrong way. I doubt anyone would do it at their house.