Things I Hate, Part 6
"Compact Only" parking spaces
It occurs to me that this really isn’t an unusual thing to hate. Hating “Compact Only” parking spaces is like hating cancer or income taxes. Nobody likes them. So this whole post is now feeling a little gratuitous to me. Whatever. The rant is written and so it must be posted.
Those miniature parking spaces are the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. Whose bright idea were they?? Nobody wants to park in them. Nobody, not even people who drive compact cars. When I had a compact car, I avoided them like the plague. Even when used correctly, those spaces increase the chance that your car is going to suffer some sort of body damage while you’re shopping by about 1100%.
Invariably, though, somebody parks their Ford Behemoth Extended Cab XL Dualie in a “compact only” space, technically between the two white lines, but leaving only about 1/8 inch between the Behemoth and the white line, and thus rendering the spaces on either side unusable by anyone except Barbie and Ken in the Barbie Cool Convertible™. This starts a chain reaction of parking irregularities. Other vehicles of varying sizes and shapes randomly fill in the remaining parking spaces. Some people try to use the white lines as a reference. Others ignore the lines and just park a reasonable distance from the car in the next space. Add a couple of hours of normal comings and goings at your average shopping center and the result is a jumble of cars parked in such a manner that the average amount of space taken by each one is way more than one normal-sized space. When all is said and done, more parking would be available if they just made all the spaces normal-sized.
If you’re building a shopping center and the rules say you have to have x number of parking spaces, then you should have x number of real, usable spaces. Painting the lines closer together isn’t fooling me or anyone else with a couple of brain cells to rub together. Why is it fooling the people writing the parking requirements regulations?
It occurs to me that this really isn’t an unusual thing to hate. Hating “Compact Only” parking spaces is like hating cancer or income taxes. Nobody likes them. So this whole post is now feeling a little gratuitous to me. Whatever. The rant is written and so it must be posted.
Those miniature parking spaces are the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. Whose bright idea were they?? Nobody wants to park in them. Nobody, not even people who drive compact cars. When I had a compact car, I avoided them like the plague. Even when used correctly, those spaces increase the chance that your car is going to suffer some sort of body damage while you’re shopping by about 1100%.
Invariably, though, somebody parks their Ford Behemoth Extended Cab XL Dualie in a “compact only” space, technically between the two white lines, but leaving only about 1/8 inch between the Behemoth and the white line, and thus rendering the spaces on either side unusable by anyone except Barbie and Ken in the Barbie Cool Convertible™. This starts a chain reaction of parking irregularities. Other vehicles of varying sizes and shapes randomly fill in the remaining parking spaces. Some people try to use the white lines as a reference. Others ignore the lines and just park a reasonable distance from the car in the next space. Add a couple of hours of normal comings and goings at your average shopping center and the result is a jumble of cars parked in such a manner that the average amount of space taken by each one is way more than one normal-sized space. When all is said and done, more parking would be available if they just made all the spaces normal-sized.
If you’re building a shopping center and the rules say you have to have x number of parking spaces, then you should have x number of real, usable spaces. Painting the lines closer together isn’t fooling me or anyone else with a couple of brain cells to rub together. Why is it fooling the people writing the parking requirements regulations?
posted by Jill at 8:11 PM
3 Comments:
It isn't just parking spaces.
My house was built seven years ago, and neither my car nor my wife's truck will fit in the garage because it is too short.
Fortunately my hot rod is petite enough that it will, or I'd be pretty miffed having to keep ALL THREE cars out in the elements.
Isn't it American of me to have one more car than licensed drivers in the family? :)
Ian
I'm with Ian, in that my truck is too long for my circa 1983 garage. But that wasn't what I was going to gripe about. I think any garage type grumblings would be incomplete without mentioning the "sever tire damage" one way gate deals. Those things freak me out, even when I'm going the right way. You don't see them so much anymore, and it's a good thing. Seems like an invitation to a lawsuit these days, but really- what fiend ever thought those were a good idea.
Don't get me started on the "Denver Boot"
My luck is to find a space between two vehicles. I park with plenty of space to exit if I take in a deep breath as I squeeze through the crack in the door. While in the store, the vehicles on each side leave making it obvious that my vehicle is parked dead smack on top of a divider line making me look like a complete jerk.
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