OPINION: War in the carparks

One toot of the horn wasn’t enough, so the driver of the silver Camry beeped three more times in the space of 15 seconds.

My crime? Waiting at the Albany Plaza shopping centre for someone to reverse out of their parking bay.

Christmas has arrived.

Surely waiting a few seconds for other traffic to move is not that frustrating.

No, the first beep came within seconds.

I assumed it was obvious I was waiting for the other vehicle to reverse — perhaps it wasn’t?

Perhaps the Camry driver (I don’t want to slander all Camry drivers, I’m sure some are reasonable or have disabled their horns) thought I had decided to park in the middle of the road on a whim.

Perhaps they didn’t see the dazzling white reverse lights of the large four-wheel-drive.

Perhaps they accidentally hit their horn ... four times.

The four-wheel-drive had driven off and I proceeded into the bay.

I then watched the same Camry speed off around the carpark before beeping at another car that dared to cross its path.

The worst part was not the unnecessary obnoxious beeping, or the impatience of the driver, but the fact the driver had children as passengers.

I’m sure they learnt a valuable lesson about perfecting motor vehicle horn use but also a not-so-great lesson about the virtues of patience, particularly at Christmas time.

Let’s hope these kids aren’t beeped if they take too long to open their presents this Christmas.