Why bad parking across Australia shows that you're entitled

From vehicles sprawled across multiple spaces to able-bodied drivers who steal disabled spots, so many fools are parking not just illegally but obnoxiously. 

It’s public enemy number one.

No matter where you live, where you drive, or even if you don’t drive at all … parking is a problem.

Whether it’s a matter of finding a spot or getting fined for a spot, it’s the one issue that unites Aussie residents.

Online community groups have been filled with the anguished comments of those who dared to park in their own driveway, only to be slotted by one of those council Park Safe vehicles that sneakily snap your civil sin and then post you the surprise bill.

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A woman is fighting a fine for parking in her own driveway. Picture: 7NEWS

Similarly, social media feeds have been cluttered with content about the struggle to snag a park at the shops, the beach, or even your suburban street.

I’ve never been quite sure whether it was because of or despite these reasons that, in this case, Gold Coast, seems to be home to an unreasonably high number of terrible parkers.

Even worse, many of the most egregious offences seem to be committed by drivers who clearly have the skill to manoeuvre their vehicle into precise places … but they consciously choose to park not just illegally but obnoxiously.

Examples of bad parking on the Gold Coast Picture: Reddit

I’m talking cars and utes deliberately sprawled across multiple spaces, some parking horizontally in order to take up as much space as possible, some opting to straddle the white line, some viewing the yellow-lined buffer zone for disability parking as an open invitation to squeeze in their own sedan.

And it’s not just suburb-specific, this has been occurring across the Coast. There’s even a Facebook page set up to call out these offenders, Bad Parking Gold Coast & Northern NSW.

Look, as someone who is somewhat challenged when it comes to both spatial awareness and depth perception, I understand that we can’t all be perfect parkers.

My poor old Mitsubishi has borne the scars of multiple Pacific Fair pillars which jumped out and scratched the exterior when I least expected it.

BLURRED Bad parking examples on the Gold Coast Picture: Reddit

In my defence, while I do have reversing cameras, they are not the kind that beep when you get too close. And that’s my excuse … for the first collision with a static object, anyway.

Regardless, any traffic transgressions I’ve committed were due to a busy mind preoccupied with problems other than parking, certainly I never intended to create a hazard for fellow motorists.

But that could not be said for far too many taking up far too much space … and not just with their vehicles.

What kind of person would you have to be to deliberately park across not just one but multiple spaces, some of them marked for drivers with disabilities?

What sort of sense of entitlement must you have to disregard others?

Bad parking examples on the Gold Coast Picture: Reddit

Examples of bad parking on the Gold Coast Picture: Reddit

This kind of delinquent parking goes beyond a simple lack of empathy for others, it’s a calculated action to offend.

So why have we seemed to suffer more than our fair-share of these fools?

Well, I have developed a theory.

Gold Coast, for example, is a city famous for its beauty, not just our natural geographic assets like the beach and Hinterland, but also our occupants - from models to influencers, the young and beautiful have long been drawn to our shore like moths to a flame.

Perhaps this emphasis on exterior has been transferred too to our cars, our vehicles as an extension of ourselves.

Parking effort on Burleigh hill

Indeed, many of the offending cars sprawled across multiple spaces are well beyond my humble Mitsi. Whether revved up utes or swanky Mercedes, these vehicles have become not just precious possessions but possibly representations of the owner’s over-inflated ego.

As such, they don’t just demand more space, they feel they deserve it. The owner, and their car, are simply better than others because they are beautiful.

Believe it or not, this theory has been backed up by studies into the psychology of bad driving and bad parking.

According to the Association for Psychological Science, multiple studies have shown a link between narcissistic qualities and aggressive or selfish driving practices, including parking across multiple spaces.

And guess which group frequently displayed narcissistic traits? Yep, social media influencers.

A study by the Copenhagen Business School found that influencers “had high scores for narcissism, extroversion and self-monitoring traits … in other words, influencers spent more time looking at themselves on social media, with deep concern over how they were seen by others, rather than making stronger connections to their followers”.

Now, that’s not to say that every influencer must be a narcissist, in fact I would suspect many narcissists are wannabe influencers rather than the real deal, or that every narcissist has parked illegally.

But the fact is we live in a city where beauty is part of our brand … and where parking is a big problem.

I guess it’s just proof that, when it comes to the Gold Coast, it’s not always easy being beautiful.

Originally published as Why bad parking across Australia shows that you're entitled