If there’s a single word assured to grind a driver’s gears it’s ‘parking’. Whether or not it is parking fines, hazardous parking, selfish parking, or just an inability to park, there’s practically nothing quite like it to get a motorist’s mad up.
For some time, motorists have taken to social media, blogs and message boards to vent their anger over parking tickets, unfair fines or even how nearby councils are fleecing automobile owners. But, increasingly, it’s the drivers themselves who are left with nowhere to hide as much more folks are taking to Twitter to post very first-hand evidence of the UK’s most inconsiderate parkers.
But can this modern-day ‘naming and shaming’ of motorists really support curb the problem of impatient parking? We caught up with the smartphone behind @ZigZagCriminals (who took the image above) to find out…
Q. What prompted you to start off @ZigZagCriminals?
A. As I drive about the Wirral I see awful parking everywhere, specifically outside schools and even close to zebra crossings. I began the twitter feed to try and shame these bad drivers with their awful, impatient parking. Certainly it wouldn’t be so challenging to park effectively?
Q. Have you had much feedback from motorists?
A. I have had feedback from the public – but it’s primarily negative as it is typically from the driver of the vehicle that ‘starred’ in the photograph. In truth, I’ve had to report and block some quite explicit comments and Twitter has been really supportive in this.
On the other hand, I have had a handful of like-minded members of the public, locally and further afield, who agree with what I’m doing. And they have supplied more images and comments to add too.
Q. Have the police taken an interest in what you are performing?
A. Not really but the regional council appears in each and every so often and parks its camera cars in locations I’ve highlighted. So it’s nice to see anything is working.
Q. Do you consider this kind of self-policing can aid quit anti-social parking?
A. I do not think that this sort of [Twitter] feed will ever completely cease folks from this sort of terrible parking. But I am seeing it significantly less and significantly less about the areas I drive. People don’t like seeing their pride and joy (sitting on zigzags on the road) posted on the web for all to see – and a witty comment underneath.
Curbing problem parking
There’s no denying social media can be a strong weapon in the fight against unsafe parking. Not only does Wirral Borough Council verify in on @ZigZagCriminals to check for difficulty parking hotspots, a local council in Suffolk has praised a parking campaigner who publishes images of negative parking to his Facebook page.
A Waveney District Council spokesperson said of the ‘Park it Right’ Facebook page based in Lowestoft, Norfolk:
“Any public help and awareness for considerate parking can only be a very good factor and if folks want to report incidents to us they can contact us or appear up ‘nuisance parking’ on our web site.”
And if naming and shaming a driver is enough to make them believe twice about stopping on college zig-zags or gate-crashing a disabled bay, it has to be worth a rapid tweet.
Just make sure you exercising a bit of caution and typical sense when carrying out so – there’s no telling how some drivers will take to getting outed as a zig-zag criminal.
Would you name and shame an inconsiderate driver? Or have you ever taken to social media to complain about someone’s drivng? Let us know…
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Can social media quit selfish parking?
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