How lazy are we?

On my way to work, I walk past the Clarendon Starbuck's every morning. I've observed an interesting phenomenon. Customers will ignore the empty metered street parking spaces, and instead try to squeeze onto the small on-site lot. Cars are frequently parked on the sidewalk.

This morning, two cars were trying to back out onto busy Clarendon Blvd., while other cars were waiting to pull into the small lot (causing some pedestrian problems, by the way). At the same time, I counted at least 5 empty parking spaces nearby, all about 20-40 paces away. The cars backing onto Clarendon Blvd. -- along with the cars waiting to pull in -- caused some traffic congestion and led to some honking excitement there for a moment. Here's a pic I snapped just after the rumble.

I'm at a loss to explain the phenomena. Are we just lazy? Are we just in a huge rush all the time? I have trouble believing that it's faster to try to back out into busy traffic than walk 20 extra paces for an empty spot.

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, a new biker, and a happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Comments

[Steve]

A few weeks ago I was walking to the Westover shopping center from my house. I was about 200 yards away from the Post Office on a residential street when I overheard two women who were coming out of the house I was passing. One said, "I need to go over to the Post Office," and then she got in her car and drove there!! Honestly! I was totally aghast. It could not have been more than a 90-second walk.

It was actually quite depressing to see that even when you put goods and services within spitting distance, it is so ingrained in people to drive everywhere, that they can't even walk 200 yards.

[nashpaul]

Depending upon the time of day/week, the meters on Clarendon Blvd. would be in effect while the Starbucks spots would be free. Now I know the $0.25 for the meter seems silly when you're spending $4 for a cup of coffee, but might be part of the reason.

[Chris Hamilton]

I went to that Starbucks Monday morning to get the gang some coffee and observed the same thing. One person parked at what looked liked a "no parking anytime spot" (while empty legal spots sat a few car lengths away), blocked the bike lane and left her car running while she dashed in to get her morning fill-up. Could it be that SOV drivers just feel it is their right to do whatever they want? These are likely the same people complaining about the new higher fees for law-breakers on Virginia's roads. Oy!