The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
It was a cold and windy night last December. I had just snapped some adorable pictures of kids with Santa Claus at the Creighton Sportex when I stepped out the door and command-started my car. I did this not only to warm up my wheels, but also to remind myself where I had parked. This was, after all, probably my fifth or sixth trip of the day. I remembered that the vehicles had formed two tidy rows not far from the main entrance. But as I looked out at the chilly parking lot, I saw no sets of lights suddenly illuminated. A closer inspection revealed that someone decided to begin adding a rather crude third row to the two rows of parked vehicles. I was boxed in, trapped like a fly in a spiderweb. I could not go forward, I could not go backwards. I could not even use some fancy wheelwork to angle my way out. There must have been 40 or 50 cars in the parking lot and a few hundred people dispersed inside the Sportex. There seemed little hope I could track down the perpetrator. Unfortunately, I had to be somewhere in Flin Flon lickety split. Fortunately, I was able to bum a ride, but it was a needlessly inconvenient experience. IÕm not one of those people who says Flin Flonners canÕt drive. I think the good driver-bad driver proportion we have is about the same as anywhere else. But when it comes to parking, we have issues, and IÕm not only talking about this particular experience. The Flin Flon Post Office is another example. Many motorists think that as long as they leave their cars running, or as long as theyÕll only be a minute or two, that the yellow curb does not apply. But just as there was that night at the Sportex, there is a consequence to this. That curb is yellow to allow the bus to stop and its (often elderly) passengers to easily board and unboard. Then there were the problems we had a couple of years ago with able-bodied drivers abusing the handicapped parking spots downtown. Everyone knows that the odds of getting caught while spending five or ten minutes in a handicapped zone are probably pretty slim. So maybe we shouldnÕt be surprised when thoughtless, lazy drivers decide their convenience is more important than allowing our disabled and elderly to conduct their business with slightly more ease. How about motorists who park waaayyy too far from the curb? WeÕve all done this, but not everyone is willing to correct the mistake by hopping back in the driverÕs seat and doing a proper job. Vehicles partially blocking the driving lane have led to accidents before and will lead to accidents again, particularly on icy roads. ItÕs just so senseless, because winter driving is often risky enough. Of course I havenÕt been perfect. I know what itÕs like to be in a huge rush and scoff at a ÒReserved for the City of Flin FlonÓ sign, if only for a minute or two. (IÕm not confessing to anything... Mayor Therien might be reading this). But the Sportex experience really brought home the fact that irresponsible parking has broader implications than we may want to believe. I hope it has the same affect on you. Local Angle runs Fridays.
