There are a lot of things in this flat land of cornfields that are strange, foreign, and take getting use to. One of those is diagonal parking.
I know, I know: diagonal parking is easy. When you’re first learning to drive, you wish all parking lots were diagonal and parallel parking had never been invented. The dread of parallel parking is one you never quite get over. Other parking you get use to, especially when you live in a place where straight parking is the norm. Like New Hampshire. Almost every parking lot in New Hampshire was straight on parking. I didn’t realize how adjusted I had become to that until I came to Indiana.
Straight parking is a no-brainer. You go down the row, find a place where you can pull your size vehicle in safely and do so. When you return to your car, you decide which direction is most convenient for you to back out and off you go to your next destination. Diagonal parking, on the other hand, is a safety hazard. At least it is for those of us who apparently think too much.
To diagonal park correctly, the front of your car has to be headed in a certain direction. They try to make this easy for you by painting large arrows on the pavement so you know if you can go down that row or not. Of course those arrows get washed off the pavement. And they never get replaced. So you’re left to figure it out yourself. You tell yourself, “The cars already parked are angled in that direction. Therefore the front of my car has to be headed in that direction…” Meanwhile, you’ve either passed the row you were contemplating on parking in or the guy behind you is sitting on his horn trying to rush you to a very momentous decision. Or maybe you pull into the row and then think, only to discover that you’re not suppose to be going down that row because its an up row. Or up that row because it’s a down row. Or – just to really confuse your poor mind – the row goes both directions! Meanwhile, the natives are eyeing you and reaching for their cell phones to call the police and report a hazardous driver.
Such is parking in Indiana. It really takes more thought than it ought. It is a terrible hazard to myself, my vehicle, and these native corn-fielders who think diagonal parking is natural instinct. And I thought Massachusetts drivers were dangerous!
Here we tend to have all three types of parking, no matter where you are. In country areas I've noticed that angle parking is often a matter of reversing in, where as in regional and city areas its almost always nose first, and reverse out.
ReplyDeleteI think I"m getting worse at parking - or I don't care as much, bt I used to be able to park much straighter than I do now... its a little worrying.
Hey.... I heard that comment about Massachusetts drivers. :-) And I agree with you that you probably think too much about parking. I absolutely hate parallel parking and will do just about anything I can to avoid it, much to my sister's digust!!
ReplyDelete~Katrine