We all had that someone – mum, dad, aunt, neighbour – who told us everything we needed to know about parallel parking. Over time we lose some of it and pick up bad habits. Drop back into driver’s ed with a smart video.
Most of us tend to focus on getting a spot as close as possible to the door of a store to save time, but focusing on leaving the store can help you pick a better spot.
If you routinely park in locations with time-limited parking (a situation which isn’t at all uncommon amongst some staff members at Lifehacker Towers), then news of an approaching parking officer is cause for a mass panic and much moving of vehicles. Mapkats aims to help alert you of impending parking doom via the iPhone.
Here’s a tip to help you avoid a parking fine if you’re a Sydney driver – moving your car just a few spots (or even around the corner) before the expiry of a timed parking restriction may not be enough to avoid getting a parking ticket.The SMH reported yesterday that a woman lost her appeal against a $79 parking fine she was given even though she moved her car before the 2-hour parking limit expired, into a spot around the corner.To avoid a parking fine, you need to leave the “parking sector” – and it looks like that’s a bit of a grey area:
“A parking sector… is usually an area between two [sign-posted]one-directional arrows, unless indicated otherwise. Generally a zone would not extend beyond one street, but we’d have to check with [the]council if this is the case here.”
The woman who was fined was parked in One Island Drive, Pyrmont. It sounds like enforcement is at the discretion of the council involved – so you may want to check with your local council about how they define “parking sectors” or play it safe and drive a decent distance away if you have to move your car.
These days, it’s harder to get a new mobile phone without a built-in camera than with. If you’re not all that enthused about taking grain pictures with it, you can still get some value out of the little lens, as detailed at the Digital Inspiration blog. One idea in particular caught my eye: Car Parking – Most shopping malls here have huge underground parking but there aren’t any signboards so it gets tough to locate the car. So when you park the the car, just look towards the lift (or the exit) and take a picture or record some video. This will save lot of effort (and time) when you return with all those heavy shopping bags.
If my area mall has parking numbers, I sure don’t notice them, so I’ll be giving this a try soon. What MacGyver-esque uses have you pulled from your mobile camera? Give up the secrets in the comments. Photo by Mrs. Gemstone.
Interesting Uses of Camera Mobile Phones [Digital Inspiration]
