Why do people care if you park in front of their house?
I work in a suburban neighborhood with very little free parking. To avoid meters and 2-hour parking near my office, I’ve been parking on a public residential street about a 10-minute walk away. I park there about 2-3 days a week during working hours. All of the houses on this street have driveways, and I’ve never seen the street parking even half-full.
This morning a woman made it a point to yell out her window at me that she doesn’t want me parking in front of her house anymore. I didn’t argue because it wasn’t worth it, but I just can’t imagine caring so much about someone parking in front of my house in a public space a few hours a week that I feel the need to yell at them out the window.
I could understand someone being annoyed if I had parked there overnight or for long periods of time or if people used all of the spots in front of their homes, but that s not the situation at all. What do you think? Are public spots fair game, or is it always rude to park in front of someone s house?
Anonymous2016-06-09T09:51:35Z
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Agree with tentofield, unless residential zoning parking restrictions or time limitation parking is indicated, then it's pretty much an open area for public to park. There should be no restrictions for you to park there for a few hours as the street is public property, not private. As you mentioned, the only issue would be if you parked your car on the street for prolonged periods of time. Then neighbors would wonder if it was abandoned or stolen. It is more of a courtesy and personal issue, if a homeowner has an issue with you parking infront of the home. They may have their reason(s) why. I would just respect that even though you could park there. Move on to another area of the street. However, there should be not reason why you could not park there, if there are no parking restrictions indicated on signs. It is public property when it's a street.
Unless otherwise marked (residents only or no parking), you are free to park there. However, from a security point of view, I can understand residents being wary of strange cars always parking there. You may not be a creep but some people will be. Also, just because most houses have a driveway, it doesn't mean that the family can fit their cars onto it - I am very lucky where I live that we can fit 4 cars (at a push - literally nose to tail and one half in bush) into the drive so the family can park. But my dads house has a drive for 1 car only. So if the family go over to him, we suddenly have to find parking for 3 additional cars in a road full of onstreet parking - I could end up parking 1/2 mile down the road from his house - it is first come first served but to never have space because strangers (e.g non residents) park there can be incredibly frustrating.
Added to that is restricted visability - yes you may not be blocking their drive, but have you driven out a drive and had parked cars either side and another almost opposite you? Is it easy to see any oncoming vehicles? Some people aren't considerate and squeeze into spaces and encroach into your driveway (possibly only slightly) but it could be enough to prevent the homeowner getting their own car out. And some people park half on the pavement which then causes an obstruction on the pavement for pedestrians (especially wheel chairs and push chairs) .
So whilst you can park there, if everyone in your entire company parked in the same road, you can understand how annoying it must be for the residents of that road. I've had this very problem that an entire hospital staff had to park off site for 1 day a week and took to local residential streets - which promptly had restrictions put up because of the 200 odd cars having to find a space for an entire day outside houses.
That strip of County, City land belongs to that owner as much as or more than it belongs to you or any single person. If I maintain the easement between the street/road and the sidewalk then technically it's more for my benefit than for you. Secondly, people today feel very uneasy when a strange vehicle is parked in front of their property or home. Sure, you might be harmless but what about the next guy. And what about the person who has to park there at night because they work a grave shift? Am I to not be concerned when I see a different vehicle parked at night? So, there is a security matter for me as an elder person being concerned for my or another person's well being. Yes, many sub-divisions have "no parking" provisions for road frontages for this very reason. Plain and simple, it's an eyesore . It takes away from the beauty of the homes and sub-division as a whole. It makes it more difficult to get your best price if the streets are covered with vehicles. Also, it's a road hazard. If a child is playing between cars and the proverbial "ball" goes out into the street from between those cars parked and I'm passing , even at a slow speed, and I hit a child, this could result in severe damages, law suits . And actually it there were no vehicles parked I may have seen the child well in advance... Why do people not mind inconveniencing others just so they can save money? Why is it my responsibility or why should I be inconvenienced because you want to park closer to work or you want to save on parking fees?
Adnama, as a home owner and a car owner, I can see both sides. Some folk are very protective of their property, and although I believe the public street is fair game unless posted, they may have previous experiences in which a stranger parking in front of their home caused a problem. On the other hand, you have to park. you could move down a bit to another place. You could ask your employer to supply parking. You could pay for the meter. You could use public transportation, etc. I do not know that parking in front of a person's house is rude, but clearly, in this case, doing so has offended at least one person.
i don't own a house but for some reason people do consider the road space in front of their house theirs and it's not. The only real problem i see is if you park in the street where they also like to park their own vehicles. if someone doesn't like it enough to say something to you then i'd chose a different house to park in front of because cars can get scratched and get flat tires and you can't prove how it happened. you aren't doing anything wrong but many people are reactionary jerks with very little common sense and they will punish you because of their own stupidity.