Spanish Parking

We drivers in Spain do not park our cars, instead we abandon them. Patience is not generally thought of as our long suite, so what happens usually is that we drive into the town centre to get as close to where we want to conduct business, and we park alongside the row of cars that is already there and try to be quick about getting things done.

For new comers and foreigners to Spain this is very difficult to understand. Where is the consideration for our fellow man? True, the unwritten rule is that if you are going to do this, you should leave your parking brake off so that your car can be moved forward or backward. Frankly, this is very dangerous. If the road surface has a gradual decline you are asking for trouble.

I once watched as a poor man came back to find that his car was hemmed in by a line of double-parked cars the entire length of the block. He didn’t have the time to wait for the owners to come back, so he started at the head of the line and moved that car out into the path of crossing traffic. One by one he moved all the cars that he needed in order to give himself an opportunity to leave. He was not gentle and several cars suffered scratches.

I find it very difficult to understand the mentality of people who are so self-serving that to lock in another motorist until the offending driver returns is off the radar of selfishness. However, it does seem to stop there. I have never seen a fight break out because of this. I think that you might be taking your life in your hands if you did such a thing in Los Angeles. What is going on here?

Well, first, there’s simply too much traffic inflicting itself in the downtown areas. People need to get in the habit of parking outside city limits and taking public transport into the heart of the city. We also have to learn that walking is good exercise. As a practical matter, if we can park a little farther away from our destination and walk the distance, we do our bodies good.

My general idea is to leave my car several kilometres outside town and ride the bus or metro. Parking in pay parking has grown so expensive as to be offensive. So, these places should be avoided as rip-off stations. Add to that they try to pack in as many cars as possible, and that leads many people to leave the colour of their cars behind.

Moving through the city is an interesting experience in seeing how far people are prepared to go to leave their cars for the duration. The space that is marked for pedestrians is heaven sent for so many drivers who say that if it were not for that they would not have any place to park.

Sidewalks provide much needed parking for off-road space, and any building lot not actively being worked on is welcome space. I recently saw one driver had pushed the edge of the envelope to the extreme by parking nose in between two cars. Very novel indeed!

One final thought: In many ways I recognize that I am becoming just like the Spanish. A case of "When in Spain do as the Spanish do?"

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael