Kramer’s Korner: Hey Amarillo, Stop Cutting Through Parking Lots

Everyone has their pet peeves, right? I have plenty of them, but most of them I can work through and be ok with. Some bother me more than others, and some to me are just inexcusable.

Little did I know I'd be able to pick up new pet peeves as I got older in life. It's been a long time since I've have a new one, but thanks to something I had never seen anywhere until I moved to Amarillo, I might have one that rivals my top peeve.

Introducing people that drive through the middle of a parking lot. Seriously, I didn't know this was an actual thing until I moved to Amarillo.

You know what I'm talking about, right? Those people that are in the Walmart or United Supermarkets parking lot, and because they can't be bothered to go down the lane that's actually intended for the cars to go through, they'll fly across the parking lot crossing THROUGH those lanes and creating havoc.

I'll use the Walmart on Grand St. parking lot for example. That parking lot is HUGE, I've never seen so many parking spaces like that for a retail place outside of a mall. Most times I go there, only about half of the parking lot has cars in spots, leaving this entire second half of the lot wide open.

And people take serious advantage of it. You see cars coming from four different directions, and considering there's no air traffic control on the ground, you can't coordinate how these cars are all going to end up in the same spot safely.

Not to mention there are people actually following the rules of the parking lot that nearly get sideswiped by those who simply can't be bothered to do what they're SUPPOSED to do.

When I go to this particular location, I will literally drive all the way around that parking lot just to get a spot simply because I don't feel like getting smashed by someone. Problem is, even that isn't enough to ensure I'm not going to get smacked by someone doing what they shouldn't.

If you know that Walmart, you know there's a light there just off of Grand where you turn left to work your way into the parking lot. As you work your way past the gas station on the right and McDonald's on the left, you reach a stop sign.

Just as you're getting ready to turn, out of nowhere comes a car that whipped through 40 parking spots and you either have to lock your brakes up to stay at the stop sign, outrun the car coming at you (since there is no stop sign when you tear through the parking lot), or go ahead and turn and take the hit.

Look, I understand it seems more convenient to just cut through the parking lot, but it won't be when you inevitably hit someone. I've seen FAR too many close calls in a parking lot, with cars AND pedestrians.

Take a chill pill and add the extra 20-30 seconds it'll take you to cruise through the parking lot properly. You aren't going to get anywhere that much faster by putting everyone else at risk.