By Frank Giles

If you’re like me, when you think of a vigilante you think of Batman or some other superhero jumping from rooftop to rooftop. What about parking vigilantes? You know the ones–the people who take it upon themselves to leave a nasty note or worse on a person’s car for parking a little over the line or taking up two spaces.

Now I must admit, bad parking jobs are a pet peeve of mine as well. As an operator, I’ve slapped a few violation stickers on some car windows in my day, but when civilian parkers take action against bad parkers, is it a good thing or does it cause more problems? Some people even carry around pre-printed cards with nasty messages already on them.

Leaving a note is one thing but some parking vigilantes go so far as vandalism. I once saw a car with “Learn how to park” keyed into the side of it. Imagine the time that must have taken. People have actually been assaulted and worse for double parking or parking in a handicap space without a tag. At the end of the day, we tend to think of vigilantes as heroes, but sometime a pet peeve can turn a person into a villain instead. What do you think?

Frank Giles is territory manager with Reef Parking.