Things I See

The Drunk Parking Lot Designer

By September 22, 2013 No Comments

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Have you ever wondered if your nearby parking lot was designed by a drunk? I’m pretty sure our town hired such a person. It’s crazy really….having a drunk parking lot designer …but I’m sure that most readers would agree that parking lots are not designed well.  As a matter of fact, I think most people would agree that no right minded person could come up with such ill-planned parking spaces and roads. (No offense to the actual designers of parking lots.)  For example, how many times have you tried to exit a parking row only to find that it deadends at a curb leading to nowhere?

The other day I watched as three cars tried to find the exit to a parking area in the nearby mall. I’m guessing that the second car followed the first thinking that driver knew what he/she was doing.  When they ended up at a deadend, they weaved their way around the parking lot until they finally found the only entrance. I, of course laughed, and went into the nearby store. As I exited, I had forgotten about the cars and did what???? Yep, drove to a deadend and had to weave my way all the way back to where I came in.  I’m pretty sure I looked like a drunk parking lot driver!

What must a person be to design a parking lot? I’m pretty sure an architect of some kind right?  Then why oh why would he/she put a median and large tree on a busy  “narrow” section of a parking lot forcing cars to barely miss each other as they try to get where they are going. Does the architect sit in his/her office and say, “How can we make this dangerous and exciting?” Do they say, “Let’s make this one a maze and see how many people get stuck inside the lot at the end of the day?” It really is crazy the things these designers do. Which makes me wonder if they have had a few too many drinks before they start drawing the blue prints….or whatever color of prints they might be.

Don’t even get me started on the spaces they provide for cars….I don’t even think a Mini-Cooper could fit in some of them. The other day I saw a truck pull into the local grocery store and I wasn’t sure what the driver was doing at first. As I got out of my car, I had to laugh. The driver took four, yes four, parking spaces. He was driving one of those Ford F150’s or F7000’s or whatever…you get the idea. It was BIG! It had the double tires and the extended cab and it rocked…if you are into the truck thing. There was no way that truck was fitting length ways into one little parking spot, nor was it skinny enough to fit into a slot. So the driver just parked right into the middle of four spaces. Clever, I thought.  But really? What’s a driver to do? AND…what are you to do when all the spaces in front of your favortie coffee shop are on the diagonal coming from the left, but you can only get to the shops from the right?  Drunk Designer I’m telling you.  It’s the only explanation… really.

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