Typical Midwest.

"sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg) 08/11/2014 at 17:40 • Filed to: parking

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So I went to pick up my younger brother today from his first day back. This picture was my view for maybe 20-30 minutes. Notice what's in front of me. No, not the lovely blue BMW convertible. A parking space, long enough for any small to medium sized car, minivan, or crossover. After that, a long, long line of cars stretching all the way up to the "No parking" zone at the other end of the school grounds. Now, people like to simply pull up and park forward, which means every car in this line got there before the car behind it, and pulled in. But I had been there before most of them, parked in the shade. The BMW was the last car to be able to pull straight in. So I sat there, for 20-30 minutes, watching car after compact car (like that diminutive Saturn on the left) drive by this space and come around the block or park back in the neighborhood. All because none of them knows how to parallel park/can be bothered to parallel park. Had the space been a foot or two longer, someone would've inevitably tried to "parallel park" by pulling in forward and leaving their ass hanging out into the road.

Also, ignore that no parking sign, as the fine print reads "except school days".

Aaron James > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 08/11/2014 at 17:44

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You're not parking anyway, you're standing.

For Sweden > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 08/11/2014 at 17:45

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I don't see how this is typical of the American Midwest

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > For Sweden 08/11/2014 at 17:46

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People on the coasts seem to know how to parallel park. People around here (I'm not talking Chicago or Denver, I mean in smaller cities/towns) have no clue how to do it.

lone_liberal > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 08/11/2014 at 17:51

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It's not just the Midwest, people around here can't do it either, because they never really have to. The bigger the city the more important parallel parking and the more people who can do it.

King Ginger, not writing for Business Insider > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 08/11/2014 at 17:53

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If by parallel park you mean "bump into shit until you fit into a tiny parking space with no room to maneuver" then yes, they are pretty familiar with that. DC is like watching people fit into the MIDDLE of the human centipede.

ttyymmnn > For Sweden 08/11/2014 at 17:55

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I would say that most "newer" parts of the country, parts that were built around the automobile, have very little parallel parking. I grew up in Norfolk, VA, where there is precious little off street parking, at least in my older neighborhood. You always have to parallel park, sometimes a block away from your house on a Saturday night. Here in Austin, just about everybody has a driveway. Parallel parking is not just a lost art. It never existed in the first place.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 08/11/2014 at 17:58

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I see this everyday in WI.

For Sweden > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 08/11/2014 at 18:01

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I've been to NYC. Hitting other cars isn't good parallel parking

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > For Sweden 08/11/2014 at 18:16

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Apart from that, but in bigger cities (everywhere, including the huge midwestern cities I guess), there is more parallel parking, so people learn how to do it. There isn't much of it here in Omaha, so half the population hasn't got the first clue how to do it.