Pondering parking pet peeve

Peter at the meter was probably right

Every Saturday the Post features an article called “Getting to Know,” in which a member of our community is profiled.

The writer asks a series of questions about work and family — do you prefer tea or coffee? Favourite movie? And stuff like that. Then they ask about pet peeves, something that really bugs you. People usually answer with something like “politicians” or “injustice.” If they asked me, my answer would be “the way Cape Bretoners park their cars.”

Capers feel they have the right to park wherever they want, whenever they want. Take for example, fire lanes. Every mall and grocery store has a fire lane clearly marked in bright yellow with the words “No Parking: Fire Lane” or “No Parking:- Emergency Vehicles Only.” Any time of the day or night you will see cars parked in these restricted areas and if you say anything to the driver you get one of three answers: “I’m waiting for the wife.” “I’m only going in for a minute.”

“Why don’t you mind your own *%$# business!”

I wonder how they would feel if the wife was inside the store when an emergency arose and the ambulance couldn’t get to her because of cars blocking the fire lane?

The next group to taste my scorn are people who abuse handicapped parking spots, those perfectly healthy and able-bodied people who take up these spots while the legitimately handicapped have to find another spot. Then there are those who use someone else’s handicapped tag or plate to park in handicapped spaces. You may not believe this but handicapped parking passes are assigned to a person, not a vehicle. So if Grampa gets a handicapped permit it is only valid when Grandpa is driving or travelling as a passenger in the vehicle. This doesn’t mean that the perfectly healthy Junior can take Grampa’s car and use handicapped parking. And don’t get me started about those who park in a handicapped spot then limp from the car to the store!

Then there are those who take up two parking spaces. They get out of their car with the yellow line clearly visible running down the middle of the vehicle. If they can’t see this maybe their eyesight is so bad they shouldn’t even be driving.

Next comes the four-way flasher group who reason that as long as they have their emergency flasher going they can park wherever they want.

The only group I can sympathize with, a little, are the poor souls trying to find a parking spot on Charlotte Street. We have been promised a downtown parking lot since the 1960s but nothing has happened to stem the flow of traffic to the malls. Then they go and move the parking meters back from the street so you never know which meter is yours, so people take up two or park in the middle of two so you never know which meter is yours or which one to put money into if anyone actually does.

So what’s the solution? Drive-throughs. Every restaurant has a drive through window and the Timmeries have even gone to two-lane drive throughs. We have drivethroughs at the bank and the liquor store even had one for a while. First Nations communities have drive-through smoke shops and I’ve even seen drive through churches, or at least drive-in churches.

So why not just widen the aisles at the mall and the grocery store so we can drive through and pick what we want from the shelf the pay at the drive through ATM? It would save a lot of parking headaches.

What’s next? Drive-through wakes?

I’m just sayin’...