Five Minute Friday: Does it matter how I park?

ONCE:

Not once have I ever tried back in angle parking in our city.

Back in angle parking (and I really have no idea the grammar of this — is it “back-in angle parking”?) is a parking scheme where drivers are required to back in to parking spots. Although many of us may choose to back in to spots so it’s easier to exit when we leave, in this situation it’s required.

I’m not sure how heavily our city enforces this, but I heard when this plan first started that you can get tickets for parking nose in.

Apparently, the premise is that back in parking is better for traffic flow because a driver can leave a spot easily and cause less delay for the other motorists behind them.

But here’s what I don’t get — doesn’t it cause a delay when the motorists behind you have to wait for you to park when you ARRIVE also? AND … we all know parking dynamics — how do you signal that you’re going to back in angle park in a way that the person behind you doesn’t get too close? If they’re too close when you start signaling, does that result in a domino effect for the cars behind them?

Here’s why I’m thinking about this.

On Tuesday, I’m doing an Instagram takeover at Engaging Local Government Leaders (please join me!). I had to write an introductory blog post explaining what I’ll cover that day. Of course, during a pandemic my choices re: types of field trips to take to capture fun Instagram stories are a little slimmer and I’m sure everyone understands that.

But I ended the post talking about how even though I’m a cheerleader for my city (always), I don’t always agree with them. And back in angle parking is one of the areas where I’m not so sure I’m prepared to cheer. Therefore, I said, “Maybe I’ll take you to a back in angle parking spot.” I probably won’t film ME trying to park in a back in angle parking spot — that’s really a two-person job and I can only coax my husband into so many social media adventures! (I guess I could take my tripod but …).

Ever since I wrote that and submitted it, I’ve wondered if I sound like an absolute whiner bringing up the idea of the parking being an annoyance. BUT I’ve learned that much of writing success lies in pulling at the thread of the little things in our lives that turn into big things in our minds.

I also know of an area that has lots of back in angle parking — but rarely has big crowds. I can at least take a picture of it …

… while dreaming of successfully occupying one of those spots!

*note: I messed up my timer, so exceeded my five minutes — not the first time for that!

Welcome to this week’s Five Minute Friday. Our instructions, via creator Kate Motaung: “Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation.” (But I can’t resist spell checking, as you can imagine.)

Paula Kiger

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.