Take your foot off of the pedal!

There is this weird notion that people in Seattle can sit in their parked cars in fully-packed parking lots, with their foot on the brake pedal, lighting up the red and white lights yet they only seem to be ‘hanging out.’ These parked people aren’t looking behind their car to see the lineup waiting, with their yellow turn signal blinking and anxiously awaiting for your departure.

In most cases, these parked people may eventually be leaving but think that if they leave their foot on the brake pedal then they’re being safe, while using their cell phones. Are those drivers aware what kind of a long line they have created whilst their feet were on the brake pedal? It is probably safe to say that they can always wait until they get home to check their phones. They won’t be missing anything.

If it sounds like this has happened to me, yes this has happened to me many times, I am the angry person who is always honking, and you have just turned around to give me a nasty look and still not moving. Maybe they don’t know what they’re doing? Maybe they don’t even know what their feet are doing? Maybe, just maybe, they’re lecturing a teenage passenger about how much they just spent at the mall?

I have a few suggestions that may help. For one, people should let people who see them get in their car know that they’re not leaving. How about not turning the car on at all, I think everyone’s first reaction to getting into their car is to turn it on, so just don’t get in at all. If it is required to turn the car on and to warm it up because it’s cold outside, then when the driver sees a long line of cars waiting behind them, they should just leave and wave to the person who waited patiently for them. It is a kindmess and will go a long way to making a more pleasant experience.