The handicap spots are the worst in the lot.

All parking spots near the entrance to store fronts are usually the very worst.

This I can prove.

Test 1.
In a busy parking lot, try to get a 'good' spot. You know, right in front of the door, as close as you can. Like all of the other idiots. Do several trials of this and time how long from entering the lot to walking into the door. Then time walking out the door with a cart to leaving the lot. Repeat for several different lots.

Test 2.
Now instead of greedily trying to grab the same spot as everyone else is, simply pull into the empty half of the parking lot (typically 9/10 of the parking lot outside of holiday season) and pull into a space, then walk in. Do this several times.

Short of supernatural luck, if you pull in a little further away from the door, you will usually get into the store quicker, and leave quicker if you don't FIGHT for the closest spots.

Up near the door, you face pedestrian traffic with and without shopping carts, and more people to bang and scratch your car up, and you'll usually have to back up to get out. There is MORE traffic due to the numerous OTHER idiots trying to get spots, also stopping for pedestrians. Not only do you wait around trying to GET a spot, you become TRAPPED when it's time to leave again. By pedestrians and OTHER idiots in cars waiting to get into and out of those spots.

Park as little as 10~20 yards further away, even the same geometric distance one or two aisles over in the lot, and you find a spot instantly, there's nobody else fighting for your spot, you can usually park next to a cart corral or under a tree on a hot day or a light at night. You won't burn fuel prowling the lot looking for that 'optimal' spot (that isn't), and you'll get in and out much more quickly, often departing without even backing up.

With only minor planning, you can pick a spot that is ideal in every way (except walking a bit further - something you SHOULD DO, anyway) that has a straight shot for the exit, too. I call these my 'reserved' spots, because they're always empty and waiting for me.

The main technical issue with proving this for a TV show is that cameras and celebrities will tend to attract crowds that gum up the test, and getting enough people and cars to do a controlled test in a large empty parking lot could be almost as chaotic, and create unrealistic results, as the nice people you collect might be more civilized than your typical parking lot... people.

So perhaps do it 'hit and run' style in a collection of lots, as a sort of rally race of errands. One guy always grab the so-called 'good' spots near the door. One guy grab the actually good spots a little further off. Have a volunteer passenger for each car walk to the door, grab a cart, and walk back and keep the cameras in the cars or in chase cars. No running. No speeding. See who 'gets home' from their errands first, with the least stress. Heck try four cars with four different strategies. I guarantee the one who always tries to get the BEST spot always gets home last.

Some weekend of the holiday shopping season might be the best time to run this test. Black friday would certainly be the day of the very worst traffic, but on this exceptional day, like the last week before Christmas, EVERY spot is the worst spot in the lot. You'd want busy, but not apocalyptic 'last minute' frenzy that completely fills the lot. Most of the year, this works.

I do not fear sharing this silly little 'revelation', because people in cars are pretty much dumb cattle. They'll do the stupid thing that LOOKS easy, or that they always did no matter what, and consistently leave most of the lot empty for me.

All drivers are not created equal.

If you have genuine mobility issues, then the handicapped spots are incredibly helpful. If you need a cane, walker, or wheelchair, being able to cut every extra step makes life much easier and faster. If you're lucky enough to have "van accessible" spots, you also get the extra room you need to do transfers from wheelchair to car and vice versa. Regular spots are so narrow these days you can't rely on them to be accessible.

If you can't park in the handicap spots (you're healthy), then your idea has some merit. I know I tend to take whatever spot I see without worrying about proximity when I'm in a crowded lot.

And if you park in the handicap spots without having a plate or placard, don't do it in front of me. If you're lucky, you'll just get a ticket.

Where do you live that 9/10 of the spots are vacant? The Wal-Mart Worhippers go to mass every day and they don't leave!

I saw something funny at a handicapped stall that was sweet justice. A non-disabled lady parked there ("just for a second" no doubt). What she didn't notice was an advertising sign, the ones that stand on the sidewalks and they're on springs so the wind doesn't blow them over. Well, a wind started blowing. It kept blowing this sign, then the sign would pop back up again - so it was going 'whap whap whap' against her car LOL. Like it was saying 'get out, get out, get out!'

I think saving time has little to no bearing on why people look for close spots. I personally don't like walking four children through a large parking lot. In cold or wet weather, many people would prefer the warmth of their car over saving a few minutes. I imaging some women park closer than some remote area where they could be more easily accosted. And, of course, some may just be too lazy to walk the extra distance.

I having a hard time deciding whether this is supposed to be a Myth or just a Rant.

I'm still trying to figure out how the handicap parking (which is what I'm assuming he means by "blue spots") figures into it. He mentions them in the title, but then seems to be talking about regular spots and whether it's better to wait for a close one or just grab the first one you see.

Me, I pick the first one I see regardless of how close it is. For busy holiday shopping I try to get one close to the exit and never, NEVER go to the upper levels of the parking structure.

Rant? Myth? Can't it be BOTH?

Besides, I think it would be fun to see the M.B. guys do a race and hear their reactions to parking horrors.

Yeah, I did indeed mean ANY parking spot near the door are BAD news. The blue spots are simply among the spots near the door, and usually the nearest, at that.

Why do people find them so 'desirable'? I don't know. If I had a broken leg or something wrong with my joints, or was very weak due to illness, sure, they'd be desirable spots compared to wondering how I'd make it to the door from my car.

If time isn't your problem, then proximity to the door massively increases the chances of scratches and dings on the car, as well as 'mishaps' with other cars and even people.

And then you have the stress of dealing with all of those... people fighting for a parking spot, fighting to get out of their parking spots, and occasionally just fighting.

I don't park anywhere near the doors because I'm lazy. It's just WAY easier. I'm no cripple, so walking a few extra feet is no big deal.

As for controlling kids 50 extra feet in a parking lot? What's that to controlling them up and down the aisles in the store? At least you can park where you can access the doors, instead of squeezing between cars and doing some sort of sideways limbo dance to get the kid's out of and back into their seats.

Wet weather? Walking sideways and trying to shimmy into and out of the space between two wet and mud-splashed vehicles will keep you dry... HOW? If it's wet out, I get wet. I'm usually dressed for it, and worst case, carry an umbrella. Cold weather? It's freezing and I don't mind. It's 114F in the summer, and I don't mind. It's not that far, and in MOST cases the weather is not extreme.

Where do I live that half (and I said up to 9/10) of the spots in lots are empty? It's been that way everywhere I've lived. Los Angeles, Fresno, Seattle, Palm Springs, they make parking lots big enough for 'the holidays', and most of the year they're mostly empty. Black Friday, the lot's full. A tuesday afternoon in March? They're not so full.

They only seem full because you look in the FULL part of the lot. If you look in the EMPTY half of the lot, the lot is always empty.

Oh yes, I lived near Orlando, Florida for a bit, too. And Oklahoma. Same thing in those places, too. Half the lot is normally empty.

There are exceptions to any rule. For instance, there was a Costco parking lot in Fresno that always seemed to be full... but my spot was always open, anyway. I knew right where it was, and didn't waste a second seeking. The fact that it was at the very edge of the lot may have had something to do with its constant availability for me.

For some of us, just walking that extra few feet is harder. I have a handicap placard, and my folks have handicap plates. We often try to park close, simply because it is harder for me to walk all the way across a parking lot. It is bad enough that I am winded and hurting from the short walk, a long walk is even harder. Now we do not always get the handicap parking, but we will try and find on closer. Is it any faster, who knows, a lot of the time, time does not really matter. All in all if the time difference is only five to ten minutes, it really does not matter to me.

quote:

fighting to get out of their parking spots,

No problem if your spot is close, I'm one of those that look for the backup lights.

As far as the handicapped parking, I have been checkng them out in case I get a tag someday, they are always full, so even if I had a tag I would still be driving around looking for a close as possible spot.

The MBs are in San Francisco, possibly one of the worst places to park in the world.

Supposedly, there are more cars registered in San Francisco than there are parking spaces. There used to be an annual contest held that consisted of trying to find a parking space in the various neighborhoods. They gave out trophies to the fastest times.

In short, half empty parking lots are very scarce in San Francisco, so you take what you can get and consider yourself lucky.

Yes, but five to ten minutes adds up quickly if you have more than a couple of errands to run.

And so does the frustration.

As I said, there are exceptions to every rule. San Francisco can't even be driven in, as far as I'm concerned. Not only is the traffic highly congested, the pedestrians act like they WANT TO be run over. Much better to find a BART station outside of town and hoof it once you get in there.

Of course, I've been with people and seen worse parking. Three big-box stores right next to each other, and they will drive their car to the front of each one, trying to get a spot near the door each time. These aren't 'handicapped' people... other than in their heads.

It's weird. You get some place like the Del Amo mall, and they battle for 20 minutes for a 'perfect parking spot' in 78 degree perfect southern california weather, in a parking lot with 12,000 spaces in it, fighting over the 50 spaces nearest a door, then walk up and down inside a 78 degree mall that's a mile long with two levels, visiting both levels, not counting walking around inside of shops... maybe take five miles off the soles of their shoes indoors, and it's 'too far' to walk 50 extra feet across the parking lot in perfect weather???

I just get irritated by the "sitters" blocking the entire isle waiting for someone to load their purchases in their car so they can get their spot. It has always amazed me how much effort people will put into getting a spot that is 50' closer to the door just to go in and walk around a quarter million square feet store. The ones that do it at malls are even more amazing.

Handicapped spaces/needs aside, I find a huge waste of time are the "for parents with small children" spots.

When I've had the RGlet, I always parked next to the cart corral. It's much quicker and easier to toss the kid and the purchases in the car without having to also walk the cart halfway to Siberia after unloading and then carry the urchin back to the car. I guess if you don't use a cart, it can save you lugging your spawn all over the parking lot, but I've found them to be rather pointless.

... what puzzles me even more are the people that will park in the Medical Centre parking (handicapped spaces or not) because they don't want to walk an extra 50 feet on their way to their workout at the FITNESS CENTRE.

Ya, you saving a few steps before and after your workout is MUCH more important than the people on crutches or in for hip replacement getting a close spot to their building.

Hay folks. My wife and I have manual wheel chairs. Please don't park in a handicap spot to "just go in for a sec." At times the spots are closer to the store and it doesn't always mean, its closer cause some nut put the ramp down at the end off the walk. Or I have had people sit there in front of the ramp to the store walk and sit there and tell us to wait till their husband or wife comes back. While we wait in the snow and rain.

People feel that the handicap spots are "prime", but they lose it on the tremendous problems with shopping with a wheel chair. Next time your at a store walk through a clothing area. Now imagine trying to push a chair through the area to get to a rack of clothes. Or push a chair through the isles that are so full of extra boxes that the chair doesn't fit, so we have to go around the isle to the next and back up to get something.

Years in a manual wheel chair with my wife in one also, got my heckles up on this post. "Blue Parking Spots" aren't for quick shop parking. Give some us folks a break. RJF

Since I couldn't edit my post, one more point. We have had cars park so close to our doors that we could not fit the wheelchairs to get to the car. Since we don't walk, we have to locate to owner to move the car so we can get in. RJF