How Do You Park?

[pzarquon]

I just recently recalled a strange feature story on one of the network news broadcasts, purporting to study how people park. You know, the strategies and tendencies people have when hunting for a parking space in a large parking lot.

You've got those that circulate constantly. You've got those that stake out a stretch of cars and just sit and wait. You've got those that don't care about proximity, and take the first available spot, even if that usually means parking at the far end of the lot. Each strategy has its advantages and disadvantages, and are chosen as much for effectiveness as they are for a driver's personal style. Hey, some folks don't like to sit and wait for anything!

So what do you do?

I think the segment concluded that, in terms of average time to park, shop, and get back, the best strategies were "first available (far end of the lot)" and "sit and wait" - the Jaws-like wanderers often missed half a dozen chances at a space simply by rolling past them a few seconds too early, and were also more likely to have spots "stolen" (or get into shouting matches)...

[Linkmeister]

First one I run across. If I'm really ambitious I'll park at the opposite end of the lot so I have to walk a few dozen yards or so; it makes me feel self-righteous about exercising. :D

[Miulang]

I park as far away as I can, especially avoiding spots next to older cars. I try not to park next to older cars because the owners of those cars don't care if they open their doors too wide and crunch the door on my new car! :mad:

Miulang

[helen]

I rarely drive but when I do I tend to park with most amount of empty space around me. If it means walking a few hundred feet away so be it.

[808_m3]

I usually go for "corner" spots, that is, the ones at the end where you do not have a car on one side. At least with that type of parking space, you can park your car as close to edge as possible and not have the opening door on the "car" side ever reaching you for a nice car ding.

Of course, these are hard to find, so I'm like helen where I find parking spaces with a lot of empty space. The thing is, parking your car out there does attract attention.

"Hey, look at that anal guy parking his nice car out there, let's go key it!" :mad:

Sadly, I've had collegues who experienced this before.

[pzarquon]

Clearly, the solution is to not drive a nice car. :p I don't think I'll ever own a new vehicle, and for that matter, probably never one that isn't at least five years old.

I didn't used to mind parking far away, and the exercise is always good... but these days, those stalls are just as reliably full. Besides, now that we often travel with three kids, the primary concern in a parking space - if we have any choice at all - is the proximity to the shopping cart corral!

[Glen Miyashiro]

PZ, don't worry, this will pass. You just have to wait until they're old enough to walk on their own. And a few years later, they'll be begging you to park as far away as possible so as to minimize the chance that they might be seen leaving or entering the car with you. ;)