True or false: "Bumpers are for bumping"

cars don't have bumpers anymore

i think one shd try to avoid hitting somebody else's vehicle at any speed

They don't have bumpers so much as crumple zones, so there's no longer a rubber protective layer on top of a strong steel crosspiece to take the impact...just those delicate body panels that scratch and crease. Hueg parking fail.

400 posts easy

Hmmm, I hate bumping into someone else's car however lightly and quite embarrassed if this ever happens. If someone does this to my car though, who gives a shit? It's only a car.

Nick's got it

Shame I mangled that first sentence really.

this isn't acceptable practice but it isn't a big deal

yeah, I generally don't give a shit if someone bumps into my car a bit

if we all drove large pickup trucks we'd still have bumpers

If you touch the bumper of the car ahead or behind while parallel parking, you are almost certainly trying to fit your car into a space that was not large enough, showing poor judgement. Because no damage should result from this ultra-low-speed impact, I can't see getting upset over the collision itself, but if my car were the one bumped, I'd be worried that the driver who showed such poor judgement in the first place was liable to do something even worse.

Based on the implicit premise of the poll, that tapping bumpers doesn't show poor judgement, I vote: false.

tapping people's cars, that's where I'm a Viking

Hmmm, I hate bumping into someone else's car however lightly and quite embarrassed if this ever happens. If someone does this to my car though, who gives a shit? It's only a car.

― gotta lol geir (NickB), Friday, October 18, 2013 11:06 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I left a note for someone once when I barely tapped em, I felt so bad. they were probably mondo confused but w/e.

also left a note telling someone they were an idiot cuz I didn't like their bumper sticker

Fact of life with street parking. Hard to pass judgement, it just is and will always be.

Glad I don't have a car anymore. The stress of trying to find a spot was not fun. Driving around for what seemed like hours. Finding a spot, learning it was just to small and the end up parking 10 blocks away.

most people in Orlando don't know how to parallel park because most driving tests in FL don't include it (three-point turn is the extent of what you're required to know, and most driving tests don't even take you on the open road anyway).

But it's pathetically easy because most of Orlando has drawn side-street parking, meaning you can see the space you're backing into. there's not a lot of the "gee, do I have enough space between those two cars" parking scenarios here. and some people are so bad at it they'll park a block away to avoid it anyway.

saw this one old lady basically play pinball with the cars in front and back of her while parking once, all while other spectators were shouting "EXCUSE ME, MISS!" at her, trying to inform her she was thwacking other peoples' whips. to no avail. it was kind of adorable.

Just to be the voice of whatever, I have to say, if I had a car (and when I briefly did), I was pretty protective of it. It's not "just a car"--it's the most expensive thing I have ever owned or probably will ever own (assuming I never make enough money to buy a house anywhere good). And given that bumpers are no longer sturdy, dent-resistant, easily replaceable parts and are now integrated and cosmetic and part of the bodywork, I think it's even LESS acceptable to scratch or dent them.

http://i.imgur.com/K97ArCU.jpg

I share Jeff's view. I would never intentionally tap someone's bumper, but wouldn't get too jammed up if I did. And I accepted being tapped/scratched as the price of urban street parking.

Now, people clipping off the car's side view mirror and not leaving a note was another thing. Savages.

This poll is kind of like polling: 'sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you'. True or false?

Yeah it's pretty awesome, I agree.

True or false - Bumpers wanna bump?

my saying is 'that's what bumpers are for' and yes, bump away.

"Please allow me to bump thee"

http://www.rottenchestnuts.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/humpty.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM9uMJWtNww

http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2011/05/08/how_about_those_drivers_who_parallel_park_by_touch/

i prefer to parallel park by smell

i would never bump on purpose and would not even say "bumpers are for bumping" but it's not worth getting heated about i guess

Some years back, I was on vacation in Paris, sitting in a cafe, looking out at the busy street that was heavily parked up with tiny cars. Another tiny car rolls up in front of me and prepares to park in what is clearly too small a space for even such a tiny car. I'm thinking "no way this guy can park here" but what does he do? He uses the front bumper of his car to push the car in front of the space forward enough to make enough room for him to park.

Now that's touch parking!

they make cars that parallel park themselves now, welcome to future

i've been told it's the done thing in france xp

cheese-eating-bumper-monkeys

this angst about bumping a bumper is clearly some American hang up

i think it's more the suggestion that tapping whilst parking is what the bumper is designed for when...it isn't!

when i lived in an insanely crowded neighborhood in boston i used to follow the thinking of "tapping is okay" and i think everyone else in that neighborhood did too. but now my bumper has 100 little chips in it, and that really sucks. i never tap anymore. a good parking job will never involve hitting another car.

it's funny cuz even with the spaces clearly marked off here, you basically see people who can't parallel park leaving their car askew at an angle, poking out into the street, because they give up after three attempts.

I just do that because I just pulled in and dgaf

you knock my car cos you can't park right i'll fuck you up, how does that sound

much darker Taylor Swift lyrics than I'm used to

can I just gently glide into it on some minnesota ice

http://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/cameron-garage1.jpg

if you're so fuckin precious that you cannot have your car touched, then don't place it in a parallel parking situation

I absolutely agree with NA's definition of "bumpers and for bumping," and the bumper of my 13-year-old car bears ample evidence of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrQBvUCENes

http://youtu.be/Tc1IphRx1pk

I believe that if you think bumpers are for bumping, I should be allowed to run you over because tires are for spinning on your face

(obv voted true)

irl lols

Unless you have no depth perception at all, people who use bumpers for bumping are disgusting savages

http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/081006-wellmannered2-hmed-11a.grid-6x2.jpg

^this is the face of bumpage

tbh I have no idea where the back end of my car is

i rarely tap another car's bumper while parking. sometimes it happens. i used to worry/feel guilty, but i'm over it. i don't do it as a matter of habit, prefer not to do it, but it's gonna happen sometimes because i was slightly off in my angle, misjudged space etc. no big deal. life goes on. i don't care when people tap my bumper. it's fine.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Dale_Bumpers.jpg

http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/bumping-a-car-while-parallel-parking-your-opinion#axzz2i79h6VP2

if you dont want your ride to get all scratched up then you shoulda known better than to park near the assman

This poll should have a breakdown for urban/non-urban dwellers.

If you touch the bumper of the car ahead or behind while parallel parking, you are almost certainly trying to fit your car into a space that was not large enough, showing poor judgement. Because no damage should result from this ultra-low-speed impact, I can't see getting upset over the collision itself, but if my car were the one bumped, I'd be worried that the driver who showed such poor judgement in the first place was liable to do something even worse.

what about when you're trying to leave a space, but someone in front or behind (or both) has pulled too close to you, making the bumping inevitable? this just happened to me. car had plenty of space when i parked it last night, but this morning it was 'boxed in' as they say. but i had to take it to the shop to get inspected, couldn't just leave it there.

If they box you in, then I say ram them but good.

lips are for kissing iirc

I call 'em face bumpers

http://dmftp.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Joe-Tex-Aint-Gonna-Bump-No-More-album.jpg

Butts are for butting

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Ha, you so funny, System.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

controversial results

really

this needs a revote cos result is RONG

this is one of the dumbest things i've ever heard

which "this"?

this: the idea that "tapping" someone's car is OK because... you're "tapping" it in a place designed to absorb impact. if you're unintentionally bumping someone's car enough to formulate an aphorism about it... it's a good thing you're not a valet, i guess.

my new car has a reverse camera and I know exactly where my bumper is at all times!

I thought y'all called them fenders.

those are the pieces to the side of the bumper, above the wheel

Well that's a longstanding misconception cleared up. I wasn't entirely sure what you meant but the Wikipedia picture is almost comically helpful.

RONG

not long ago i had a most enlightening discussion with someone who was probably lying to me but i don’t care enough to bother verifying, where he said that where he comes from bumper cars are called dodge-‘ems, and the point is not to bump into each other but to avoid bumping into each other, which sounds boring as hell

pls don’t bump my real car tho, & i won’t bump yrs

all bets are off in the bumper car arena where i will destroy you utterly.

My omni had REAL bumpers - in fact I was rear ended once and the only damage was my rearview mirror fell off my windshield

https://i.imgur.com/25FTp9s.jpeg

where he comes from

I regret to inform our feline friend that this place is called "the planet earth"

most bumper car places i've gone have had signs even saying not to intentionally bump people but nobody enforces it

c/d - carjacking someone on bumper car ride

my new car has a reverse camera and I know exactly where my bumper is at all times!

― ultimate american sock (mh), Saturday, May 23, 2015 4:51 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I voted "True" in this poll nine years ago, and still mostly agree with the sentiment, but I also now have a car with a backup camera, which means it is MUCH easier for me to avoid doing something that once seemed like an inevitable reality of parking in a city.

my backup camera is so small it's barely useful.

you and your fancy 21st century cars

I almost bought one of these for my GF's Mazda 3 but then I realized it wasn't a very romantic Xmas gift:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91+n8E4U8WL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTeUm7Fy7Y0

'Marco Polo' at Target... this one is chilling:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/tiktok-target-sex-trafficking-hoax-marco-polo-1234589134/

wrong thread, sorry

always hate when I am parallel parking and look up and I'm inside a Target and my kid is getting kidnapped

there is something strang e about Target for sure

Right or wrong, it’s super common in a crowded city. Look at the bumpers of just a few cars in Chicago and you’ll see a lot of them are really chewed up from street parking.

On my car, the license plates get all the impact and both of them are chipped to shit and both are even bent — possible from catching on someone with else’s plates.