The Trouble With Parking Lots

There is something I have never understood…parking lots. By definition, they are a place to park cars. If only it were that simple. It seems like people enter parking lots in their cars and totally forget the rules of the road. They speed down the lanes and risk accidents in order to secure a parking spot 4 places closer to the door of the retail establishment. Stop signs are treated as suggestions. And what is with the angled lines in the parking slots. Nothing is more frustrating than looking for a spot at a busy mall only to find it is in a lane going the other way. Then you have to drive around and try to claim it before someone else does. Some people turn it into a race. It’s just a parking spot. Why can’t all the lines be straight like they used to be, anyway? Wasn’t that a happier time? You could come from the left or you could come from the right. Either way you came, you could pull into the spot. That brings up the next problem: people who either do not know how to park or simply do not care. Take for example, the person with the shiny car or truck who parks in the middle of two spots. What that person is saying is, “Hey, my vehicle is so precious that I am willing to waste space in order for no one to touch it.” Don’t you just hope a bird leaves a big fat dropping on the windshield of that vehicle? I can’t be the only one to think this. When did parking become so difficult? One person can’t stay in the lines so everyone else must park at the edge of their spot on down the row. Once you make it into your slot, there always seems to be a bumper hanging in your area or worse, the dreaded trailer hitch sticking out a foot and a half from their truck. When you pull in, you can’t see it any more over your own hood. So all you can do is pull in the least amount possible and pray that hunk of metal doesn’t go through your grill. I’m surprised more accidents between cars and people don’t happen. People in parking lots act oblivious to the danger around them. They walk out in front of you and just expect that you will see them. Well, what if you are searching for a parking spot and you don’t see them? These pedestrians act like they are unable to be harmed. News flash: If a car and a person collide, the car always wins. Then you try to leave and your reverse lights are on. The same people walk behind your car like cattle wandering in a meadow. Can they not see the lights? A driver can’t see the person until they are in the rearview mirror and by then it could be too late. It makes you want to get back on the open road where there is at least the semblance of order.