“Because I don’t drive much, I’m trying to figure out if I made an etiquette or rules mistake.”

“Dear PoPville,

I’m car free so don’t drive much, but recently rented a car for some errands. In the middle of a block on 11th street, I got into position to parallel park, checked my mirrors and noticed a bike and some traffic coming up behind me. As I waited for the traffic to pass (a pause of no more than 5 or 10 seconds), the biker became irate, cursed at me for being in the bike lane, and swung something (I couldn’t tell exactly what) into the side of the rental car, leaving a significant dent and scratch.

Because I don’t drive much, I’m trying to figure out if I made an etiquette or rules mistake.

I thought it was obvious that I was preparing to parallel park and had my signal on. Parallel parking does require cutting into the bike lane to maneuver into position. I’m not anti-biker and fully recognize the hazards they can face with drivers blocking the bike lane, etc., but how else can one parallel park other than by sidling up in front of an empty spot, and then backing into it through the bike lane?

Anyway, was also hoping for an answer for damage purposes, as it looks like they did enough damage I have to go through a whole process with the rental car company, and I’d like to know if I was in the wrong here.”