Bad car parkers on hit list
Parking vigilantes on social media have Perth drivers in their sights.
The Facebook site Perth's Crap Parkers is naming and shaming motorists who cannot or choose not to park correctly.
The site has dozens of photographs - from Rockingham in the south to Wanneroo in the north and Midland in the east - showing discourteous and illegal parking.
The most common misdemeanour appears to be parking across two or more spaces but there are also examples of parking in bays reserved for the disabled or motorcycles.
One photograph shows an electric bike parked on a footpath and allegedly "stealing electricity" from a Cockburn shop's power point. At one stage, the site asks: "What's your biggest parking pet peeve? Is it double bayers, line riders, able people stealing ACROD bays, people who park right on top of your car so you can't get back in?"
The site gives anecdotal support to the findings of an analysis this year by car insurer AAMI that WA drivers cannot park.
The analysis found that one in four accidents in WA last year were dings to parked cars, most often in shopping centre carparks where motorists had to cope with tight turning circles.
"We know developers try to squeeze in as many parking bays as possible, so there's not as much room as there used to be," AAMI spokesman Reuben Aitchison said. "But the growing number of carpark dings also reflects motorists being less careful."
Mr Aitchison indicated that many of the accidents were in Morley, Joondalup and Midland - suburbs that also feature among the photographs on the Perth's Crap Parkers site.
RAC senior manager (policy and research) Anne Still said: "All motorists needed to act with courtesy, in a manner that avoids endangering or inconveniencing other road users and ensures the smooth flow of traffic."
Hundreds of parking infringements are issued across Perth every day, with the City of Perth issuing an average 340 tickets daily. It issued 118,105 parking infringements in 2012-13, worth $8,371,350.
