The Pull Up Society of Left Turn People

      The Pull Up Society of Left Turn People

             As late as the middle part of the twentieth century in America, we were a nation of small towns with mom and pop commercial establishments located in the center of the city.

              There weren’t half as many cars then. People walked, rode bikes or used public transportation. It was a slower more bucolic area where people knew everyone around them and probably everything about them too. Infractions of the law were duly noted and widely talked about in the small communities.

                When you needed supplies, groceries or some service, you drove the family car to town and parked right in front of the mercantile establishment. You made your transactions and then drove home with your purchase. Odds are that there were only a few red lights on the main streets to regulate the sparse traffic.

               Then came the gilded age of American commerce. People flocked to the suburbs, driving automobiles, often several to a family. The same city streets had not been built for this new automotive onslaught. Traffic started to clog up at intersections. Seeking solutions, the various cities and towns abolished the old “angled parking” spaces to broaden the streets. This helped some, but made for fewer and fewer parking spaces. The population explosion of the late twentieth century flooded the urban centers with new arrivals and even more automobiles.

             Although conditions and density had changed, people’s habits of “pulling up to the front of the store” had not. Many still sought that elusive parking space that was only a few steps from the store. In the larger cities, of course, this practice had already long gone the way of the dodo bird. Surface lots nearby, or parking garages in the larger cities, helped handle the housing of the surface vehicles. Public transportation became a necessity rather than a choice.

          That is, for some people it did. Some folks still insisted in parking in front of a commercial establishment, no matter how congested the traffic, to “run in and buy something.” After all, they reasoned, they would only be gone for a few minutes. Outside on the street of course, the traffic snarled and other people were put at risk because of the illegally parked vehicles.

           And then of course, there are the “lazies.” They didn’t have any ingrained pattern of parking, from days of yore, to account for their actions. They were just too lazy to walk a few more steps from the parking area next to the store. And if they did inconvenience people this way, so what. These are what I call the “left turn people” of life. They are those in front of you at a light who mosey through the signal, not caring who behind them gets through as well, as long as it is convenient for them. And none of them probably use turn signals either.

          I don’t know if this is a commentary on a newer form of selfishness or some type of passive aggressive rebellion. But I do know that I now stand up and cheer when a meter maid or parking officer writes up a traffic ticket for the sputtering offender. Sometimes, there is an actual justifiable rhythm to life and people get what they deserve.

          The lesson of course is to look out for others, extend every courtesy that you can to those around you and park where you are supposed to park. The extra few steps you expend in walking might even do you some good.

                                    -30-

                            (593 words)

                  Joseph Xavier Martin