PH Blog: Politeness costs nothing...
...So Chris Harris is dismayed to discover that local authorities won't let you exercise it in a pay and display car park
The modern road is pushing more of us to this, reckons Monkey
Do you always make a point of thanking anyone who might deserve such a gesture? I do. Partly because I feel that motorists should afford each other more than basic courtesy, because it makes what has become a hostile environment a little more pleasant; partly because anyone who drives a white Porsche with a trestle table strapped to the boot needs every opportunity to smooth the territory and mitigate against regular slappings.
But the authorities don't exactly help matters, do they? Everyone who drives in the UK does so in constant fear of incurring some kind of penalty that might cost them dearly, thereby creating a loaded Petri dish for the cultivation of fear, anger and lack of compassion for other motorists. We all know what these situations are, how they arise and how unpleasant the consequences can be, but there is one recent addition - so peripheral it is almost invisible - that defines the hostile environment of UK driving. Pay & display parking.
Where I live, you now have to enter a number plate to be issued a ticket. They tried this in my native Bristol in the late 90s, but the machines were calibrated for the old-style number plates, quickly became obsolete and the council didn't bother to update them. Sadly, such a machine now exists where I live.
Denying a motorist the chance to single-out another human being and say "Would you like my ticket, it still has an hour left on it" is one of the most short-sighted decisions ever made by local government. In those few words, you create a positive, human exchange that will only breed good feeling. Heaven forbid, people might actually then smile at each other and proffer further pleasantries.
But it isn't to be. Sociologists will probably be able to prove that the few thousand pounds gained in parking revenues will be lost through some anger-related incident further down the line - but that misses the point. Here was one of the few motoring scenarios where people could be generous to each other, interact and make outward gestures of kindness - and now they cannot.
Not being able to flag down a mother wrestling three children in an MPV and then save her the hassle of going to the machine, finding she's forgotten her purse, going again - and returning to find the gearlever uprooted by young Tommy - makes me feel sad.
The further we are forced to retreat into the hermetic seal of the motor car, to become isolated from other road users as lone, uncommunicative beings, the more hostile the roads will become. We could all do without that.
As anyone who has ever encountered a politician (be it local, state, federal or whaterver in your part of the woods) will testify, they can not care less nor can they read.
As long as it brings in the bacon any measure is a good measure.
And we are to blame for it as well. We elect these people or we do not bother to go against them.
UK might not be Belgium but it sure has the same issues. So perhaps Europe does exist after all?
Michel
I was approx 10 mins late getting back to my car once and found a ~£30 fine stuck to the windscreen. I was furious, mostly because i nearly always come back to my car with > 10 mins left to run on the ticket!
Fully agree on the politeness thing. I try very hard to be courteous on the road, in an attempt to disprove the received wisdom that all BMW drivers are d*cks. Mind you, a friend of mine recently pointed out that while I might let someone out, it's probably certain that in the next five minutes that same someone will get cut up by another BMW driver, therefore undoing my gesture.
A few years back I gave a ticket with a couple of hours left on it to a rather attractive girl who said "thank you, that's very kind".
I replied saying jokingly as I walked away "you can pay me back by going for a drink with me sometime", not thinking for a moment she'd say anything other than give a polite giggle or somthing.
Thing is, she said ok. So that night we went for a drink, etc etc etc.
So the lesson is, be generous and get laid ! haha
What if I don't want the local authority to have my number plate, or I can't remember it and i cannot be bothered walking back to my car to look, or i am just in a bad mood?
Whast if I punch in random numbers, yet pay for the ticket? Would it be reasonable to argue that I did what I was obliged to do (i.e. pay for the parking space) but refused to jump through hoops to do it?
Make all carparks pay-as-you-leave, pay-by-card permitted. It works and it's easy.
I was approx 10 mins late getting back to my car once and found a ~£30 fine stuck to the windscreen. I was furious, mostly because i nearly always come back to my car with > 10 mins left to run on the ticket!
When I got back to the house I realised I still had the ticket in my pocket, but a twenty pound note was missing.
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