Parking Skills Also Needs Licensing

I will be the first to admit that I am somewhat of a snob when it comes to driving. I think that it is something that is relatively easy to do and not that difficult to do well. Still, there are those who make the entire process more difficult than it needs to be and there are still others (who seem to be growing in numbers) that I feel shouldn't even be allowed near a car let alone be allowed to drive one. Why? Well because a lot of their actions serve not only to be dangerous and inconsiderate but downright ridiculous and rude as well. Just take a look around and I'm sure you'll notice these things too.

As kids growing up, most of us found enjoyment (at least for sometime) in coloring. One of the cardinal rules at the time was to stay within the lines. Many of us went against this rule simply because we were sticklers for flaunting all the rules anyways. Still, if we attempt to carry over this belief into adulthood, I think we'd find that there would be a tremendous drop in the number of road rage cases that seem to abound these days. As you can see from the picture above, this driver (I won't say if it's a man or a woman because I don't know) has parked in a space that was available. Never mind that it is clearly marked for compact cars only and that the vehicle being driven in question is an SUV, but the fact that the driver has effectively eliminated two parking spaces with one parking manuever is what ticks a lot of people off.

Sure it's a minor issue in the grand scheme of things but still, why should we apply such rules and others don't have to? I'm sure there are some people out there who will say that if we're too meek or law-abiding to not raise issue with this fact then we're the ones with problems not them. But still, I can't tell you how many times I have driven someplace and parked my car within my space only to come back and see that someone has pulled into the space next to me and not bothered to see if they are within the confines of there space or not. Heck, they don't even bother to see if someone parked next to them can get in their car or not. I usually seek out parking spaces at the end of a row simply because I can put some distance between me and the car next to me; though there are some who then do the same thing and park on my side of the line in order to avoid the person next to them from hitting their car.

I once had a neighbor who drove a massive SUV that was nearly two times the size of my diminutive little car. I have an end parking space at my house and so I usually park it as close to the curve as I can to ensure that I have sufficient space to get in and out since my doors are a little longer and also so that I wouldn't hit the car next to me. I get home one day and this woman has parked her SUV so far over the line that after I get into my parking space, I am barely able to get out of my car. After struggling for five minutes to expel enough air from my body to collapse my chest and get out of my car, retrieve my briefcase and head inside. It was at that time that she came out onto her balcony and asked me if she had parked too close. I figured deafening silence would be answer enough.

I had a friend in high school who when she learned to drive, never could parallel park and was too scared to pull into a normal parking space and even then couldn't pull out of the parking space when leaving. That being the case then why even bother driving? All of these manuevers are part of being able to drive and if you can't do these things then you shouldn't drive. What about the fools who intentionally park crookedly or over the line in order to take up two spaces? Do they think that their cars are so pristine and worth so much more than ours that they need the extra space? Do they think that just because they spent so much on their car that they are priveledged to take up more parking space? Perhaps they need it for their ego. Whatever the reason, I'm always tempted to leave behind some message that conveys what most of us really think about them taking up so much room. I don't think any of what I have to say compares to what one person wrote to someone who had taken up two spaces. And so I close with a copy of that note.