Double Parking

AARGH, headache!

Why do people double park?

1. There may not be enough parking spaces in the area. We’ll get back to this later.
   
   
2. They’re simply being selfish arrogant asses so in fashion nowadays. We can speculate ad nauseum on their deficient childhood nurturing etc and still get us nowhere so let’s skip it. No need to state the obvious, anyway.
   
   
3. They double park because they know they can get away with it. “Everybody else is doing it.,” they say. Nobody is going to give them a ticket or tow their car away. Even if they get a ticket they can simply ignore it and accumulate piles of traffic tickets with no worries at all. Nobody is going after them. “Just wait,” they say, “by year end there’ll be a sale, and we can settle all the tickets at huge discounts!”

So perhaps the real question is why not double park?

Damn us.

If traffic rules are rigorously enforced people won’t be able to get away with it. While they learn, local authorities can make a lot of money collecting fines. Ignore the complaints about insufficient parking spaces. Like roads, there just will never be enough parking spaces.

In the long run, however, local authorities can use accumulated fines to fund construction of more parking lots. At the same time, potential property buyers and tenants will demand more parking spaces. Existing areas with insufficient parking will be abandoned, so the owners will be forced to redevelop. So in the end there will be enough parking spaces everywhere and nobody will have a reason to double park anymore. Better yet, we’ll all drive less and take trains and buses instead.

And we’ll all live happily ever after.