While out walking the dogs last night I came across the above piece of atrocious and selfish parking. As you see, the car is not only on the pavement, but right on a junction, and it’s also close to a zebra crossing, which you can’t see in this picture, but the red bumpy pavement is a clue. As I walked towards it, two young people were walking away, and one young lady was standing looking at the front end as if assessing its position. By the time I got close, they’d all wandered off (stage left) into the main street.
I took a picture, thinking it was such a horrible way to leave a car that it should be recorded for posterity.
Imagine how I felt today when I took the dogs out for their morning walk, and saw this second picture. 
Clearly the driver had lost control, mounted the pavement and crashed, and I hadn’t seen the road sign because a) it was buried under the car and b) I hadn’t walked round to the front anyway.
So now I feel terrible. Let that be a lesson to me not to jump to conclusions. It wasn’t an atrocious piece of parking at all, it was an accident scene. I’m only glad I’d seen the young folk walk away, because otherwise I’d be feeling even more guilty about the whole thing and fretting about whether anyone had been hurt while I’d walked on without checking.
Thank goodness they were alright, though looking at that sign, and the fact that they’d already taken out a metal pole on the way to it, it’s hard to see how.
Awwww … anyone could have come to the conclusion you did, Jay! Reminds me of a story I heard once of someone who was second in a line at a stoplight, and when it turned green the car in front didn’t go, and didn’t go and didn’t go and didn’t go … so driver of second car began beeping furiously but the first car still didn’t go … because its driver had suffered a massive coronary while sitting at the light and was unconscious.
Jennys last blog post..This Is My Town
Good reminder not to leap to judgment. I hope the young people are all right and not having after effects.
Ruth Hull Chatliens last blog post..Playing Catch-Up
Ooopsss….a pretty fair conclusion to jump to tho’ given the behaviour of some individuals….hell, I sound old….and cynical!
gemmaks last blog post..Sun, sea and sleep?
I would have probably thought the same exact thing. You see people do stupid things all the time, it’s more of a surprise when they don’t!
Hmm.
Sure, part of me feels sorry for the people who broke their car in an accident.
The majority of me, on the other hand, is pretty angry because it knows that the road they’ve just left in the first picture is fairly straight, a 30mph limit with traffic-calming chicanes and a bloody zebra crossing right next to two junctions, one of which is pretty blind, in a village with two schools and a large number of children. And this part thinks that someone - either the driver whose car is seen here or someone coming in the opposite direction - was apparently driving fast and/or carelessly enough to have caused this car to mount the corner so far before the turn… it’s hardly likely to have been a complete accident with nobody at fault.
Jenny - Good grief. I hope he was OK! Do you know the outcome?
RuthHC - I hope so too!
JT - Exactly so, which is why I first thought of atrocious parking!
Jake! - Fancy seeing you here!
Well, you’re right, of course. But it may have been some idiot driving the other way who ran them off the road and then drove on without stopping. We’ve seen how they speed through those chicanes playing chicken, have we not?
oh, i thought it was an accident just from looking at the picture. i can’t imagine someone would do that on purpose, not sober. i saw a car on the highway that was in the grassy part, with the car facing traffic. the car had to spin around to be in this position. i had my camera too, but i was going too fast to snap the picture.
Naturals last blog post..Brain Damaged
Valerie - believe me, people do indeed park on the pavements and verges in our village. We regularly have to walk around cars, vans, motorbikes etc on quite narrow pathways.
It makes me angry - which is why I jumped to the conclusion that I did. Not only do they make life difficult for pedestrians, but they obstruct the view of drivers attempting to get out of their driveways onto the road. Actually it’s a wonder we don’t have more accidents here than we do!
good reminder sandy
sandy ks last blog post..I have thought long and hard and decided this was my face all week
Jay:
Terrible accident, but I guess they left the scene without reporting it to the authorities. Not good.
I am confused. What is a Zebra Crossing? I’ve never heard of such a thing.
Happy trails.
Swubird - I guess they probably should have reported the accident since council property was damaged - they probably did, since the broken bits have already been removed - but they had no legal obligation to call the police if no-one was hurt.
A zebra crossing is the most common type of pedestrian crossing in the UK.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A954713
Hi Jay,
Your story is a good lesson for all of us to not jump to conclusions before we have all of the facts. Thank goodness the occupants of the care were OK.
Barbara Swaffords last blog post..FEFF - It’s Good For The Ego
A zebra crossing? Is that for the animal species or does it mean interracial couples?
God has a way of keeping me humble. Every single time I puff up all braggart-like or I make a rash and unfair judgment about somebody, I get smacked down and smacked down HARD. Every. Single. Time. I’ve gone on rants and raves on my blog about stuff only to be shown what an ass I am. I hate retracting and apologizing and feeling foolish so I’m learning to at least keep my mouth shut and my typing fingers still until I know the whole story.
elasticwaistbandladys last blog post..My House Is More Ghetto Than Your House: Home Bra Repair Clinic
Jay, it’s like you’re a journalist on the scene of an unfolding new story. Great photos. I too hope the people are ok, must have been a nasty collision when the car struck the barrier.
Barbara - It’s hard to do though, sometimes, isn’t it? Especially when people do behave like selfish idiots a lot of the time. *Sigh*
EWB Lady - ROFL!! No, anyone can use the Zebra crossing!
I believe we are here on this earth to learn. If we refuse to ‘get it’ the first time, we keep on finding the same ‘lesson’ in front of us until we do.
Aussie - Thank you! That’s a nice compliment!
Yes, I fear there must be a few headaches at the very least.
You are not to blame for thinking that way - I certainly would - they all park like that around here!
Thanks, Kate - Round here, too! I still felt guilty though.