supermarket car parks! signage

samiesnake

well im angry all the (7)years i have been driving i have followed supermarket signs like arrows on the floor etc only too have had a small collision with someone going the wrong way to the direction of the arrows on the floor and now apparently these signs are not even valid! why do they put the signs there if its not legal! i think motorists should be informed and told more about this. ok ok i was reversing out of a space and i had checked both sides but i focussed on just one side the direction i presummed vehicles would be traveling! i always thought it was the same as a one way street. i think this very wrong!!!

ontrack

Usually I find looking where you are going irrespective of whether you are "in the right" helps to avoid collisions!

27col

If a pedestrian had been walking along they could have come from either direction. Would you have backed into them if they had been walking against the direction of the arrows? No, the simple truth is that you were not paying enough attention.

almillar

You're on private land on an unadopted road. The signs are advisory and of course, should really be obeyed if you don't want anarchy. But you reversed out into someone, which doesn't have much to do with the direction of the arrows. 50/50 at best. Consider reversing INTO spaces instead of OUT OF them, you can usually see better.

mattyprice4004

I'd be angry too - angry at myself for not knowing how to reverse and be aware of my surroundings.

Why on Earth would you think any sign on private land needs to be 'legal'? It's their road, they can paint what they want on it! If they covered it in smiley faces, it wouldn't make it a legal requirement for anyone driving on it to smile...

Look where you're going next time. And it's not very wrong, you're very wrong.

neilmcl

samiesnake wrote: »

well im angry all the (7)years i have been driving i have followed supermarket signs like arrows on the floor etc only too have had a small collision with someone going the wrong way to the direction of the arrows on the floor and now apparently these signs are not even valid! why do they put the signs there if its not legal! i think motorists should be informed and told more about this. ok ok i was reversing out of a space and i had checked both sides but i focussed on just one side the direction i presummed vehicles would be traveling! i always thought it was the same as a one way street. i think this very wrong!!!

I think most people would agree that it's your driving and observational skills that are wrong. Clearly in "all the (7)years" you haven't learned very much!

Crabman

samiesnake wrote: »

ok ok i was reversing out of a space

If you're able to reverse out of a space, how about reversing into it when parking?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vszmdhMs9ZI

That way you'll be able to drive (forwards) out of the space which is much safer than reversing out, as you have unfortunately discovered.

rdwarr

I'm more with the OP on this one. One-way signs on private land are there for a reason, to help ensure the safety of customers. People who say "These may be the rules but they don't apply to ME" must accept responsibility for their actions when it all goes wrong.
Sure, you still have to look both ways but I'm sure the insurance company would be very interested in somebody driving the wrong way up a one-way street, private land or not.

Hintza

If car parks were laid out more in a herring bone pattern, it would all be easier and much more intuitive and save accidents like this.

Tilt

Everybody who is saying "should reverse in", how then do you get your shopping trolley near to the boot of the car?

neilmcl

Lets not get all bogged down in the whole "they should learn to reverse into a bay" argument again. The simple fact is the OP wasn't taking any due care & attention and is at fault.