Junior Lily Qian describes her fear of driving, especially in parking lots. Her previous experiences have formed her attitude.
What kind of cars do you have?
The big one is the Toyota Highlander, and the small one is a [Toyota] Corolla.
Is parking scary?
Parking is scary because the spaces are too small, too many teenagers drive big cars, everything is cramped together and everyone is a scary driver, like teenagers are scary drivers. Like my friends are all scary drivers and teenagers drive scary.
How are they scary drivers?
They’re reckless. I guess I’m not talking about Rock Bridge students particularly, but from my firsthand experience, sitting in other people’s cars, that they are reckless drivers.
Have you had any instances where you have had trouble parking in the lot?
Well, I’ve had to like switch parking spaces because at first it seems like a good spot but then I realize that there is no way my car could fit in there, it’s too tight.
What are some difficulties you’ve faces in parking the big car (Highlander) and the small car (Corolla)?
The big car is way harder to park because the parking spots aren’t even designed for big cars in the first place. If the lot is empty and you see one car out there and it’s a big car and its parked in the middle of the space, you can see just how cramped it is because there’s barely any room on the two sides, even if the whole parking lot is empty. It’s just not designed for big cars.
What are your strategies you use to be able to park well in the lot?
For the north lot if you get there before 7:40, then there’s always spots available for you to park in. but like after that, the parking lot fills like exponentially so you’re pretty much out of chances to gets pots after that. If you do park badly, you need to fix it, by pulling out and trying again instead of leaving it like that, then it makes it worse for the people that have to park next to you. I always try to park far away from like….I try to park where there are open spots around me, to reduce the chance of[hitting others or] getting hit.
What is your worst fear in the parking lot?
My worst fear would be hitting a car in the parking lot or having someone else hit my car and leave without reporting it. The worst part is when you’re stressing out because you’re too close to another car and you feel like you’re going to hit them so you have to … whenever it happens I just pull out and park in a different spot.
By Kaitlyn Marsh