Parking Lots

I swear,

Parking lots have got to be one of the most dangerous places on earth today. Why is it that as soon as people exit the highway and enter a parking lot, they suddenly behave as though the basic rules of the road and common courtesy no longer apply ?

I see people driving too fast, driving THROUGH the parking spots between cars with no thought to the people they are endangering. I see people ignoring the clearly designated lanes of the lot and just driving willy-nilly in any direction that suits them, making it impossible to predict WHERE the might turn or stop. People ignore the fact that you are backing out of a parking spot and cannot see them well and just swerve around you instead of stopping !

But this is my biggest hang-up with parking lots, I like to call it the "False Courtesy Syndrome".

Watch for this yourself and see if I am not right. You have stopped and looked both ways before crossing that final deadly stretch to the front door of the store. A car comes along and STOPS. You don't WANT to walk in front of their car, but they won't move on even after you have waved them through.

Fine.

You start to walk across, AND THEY START SLOWLY CREEPING FORWARD, because now "You're holding them up".

AAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHHH !!!!!!

If they had just carefully drove by in the first place, they wouldn't have to stop, you could walk through in perfect safety, and we wouldn't have to have a "Christine" experience of this car creeping towards us. Why do they WANT us to walk in front of their cars in the first place, Huh ?

My belief is that people THINK they are being courteous by stopping, but have not really thought this out.

If someone steps out in front of you then yes, you need to stop. People waiting for you to drive by, DO NOT.

01-05-2005