Witnessed recently, driver wants to parallel park, long strip of 20 empty spaces, but driver passes by the empty spots, and parks after the first occupied space, nosing in between the first two parked cars, rear end still in traffic, so next, a series of backing, forward, backing, forward. Net savings to driver: maybe 8 steps.
I suppose everyone has seen this sort of bizarre driver behavior, but wondering what could possibly motivate such a thing?
I go to the gym occasionally, don’t mind parking far out and walking, but people will wait for a parking spot in the first row, to go in and exercise. Go figure.
lol … I’ve seen that phenomenon too, espcially at golf course where the would-be golfer drives around the parking lot 6 or 7 times to get a spot a little closer to the club house, then proceeds to walk 5 miles to cover the course’s 18 holes. But at least those folks are saving more than 8 steps.
VDC has posted many times about this brain dead behavior.
Maybe they think it’s a stair step machine … 
One word IDIOT’s. 
Also common sense isn’t so common anymore
What I used to see walking down by the river all the time was people walking for their health and smoking.
When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I had a friend who had similar behaviors. When we went to the mall in his car to buy records or clothing, he would drive around and around the area of the parking lot adjacent to the main entrance in order to get one of the closest parking spaces to the front entrance. This typically took anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes until someone vacated one of those very-close parking spaces.
However, just across the “aisle”, in the adjoining section of the lot, there were always a LOT of vacant spaces. We could have instantly parked in one of those empty spaces, been inside the mall, and reached the desired store in the same amount of time that he wasted driving in endless circles looking for a space very close to the entrance. Gas was cheap in those days, but he also wasted a lot of gas while he cruised around for a close parking space.
Obviously, even in his later years he still does things that defy logic. He has resigned himself to living in a tiny apartment in a dodgy section of a so-so town because he lost so much money through his gambling habits. And yet, he leases a new Caddy every 2 or 3 years in order to “impress the doorman when I pull up in front of the casino”. 
Go figure!
Maybe they’re not walking for their health. A long time ago I was riding my bike, home from work. I stopped at a local cash and carry on the bike path, for a break. Got myself a beer, sat at the picnic bench and while having a smoke and sipping my beer, a hard core “biker” in all his glory, regalia, and uppity attitude stops and loudly comments on my unhealthy biking strategy. I just informed him I wasn’t asking for, nor cared about his opinion. I wasn’t riding for fun or health, it was my transportation, nothing more nothing less.
My favorite brain-dead activity to observe in parking lots is the phenomenon of people who will park in a “rear” space, even if they could pull directly into the parking space in front of them. (No, there are no “tire stops” in parking lots in this area because of the need to plow the lots during the winter months.)
I once observed a guy going forward and backward several times, apparently in an effort to center himself more precisely in a “rear” space. Each time that he pulled forward, he was in an empty “front” space, and then he would back up again into the desired “rear” space. Lather, rinse, repeat…
And, just to complete that brain-dead scenario, I almost always see those same drivers backing out of their “rear” parking spot even if the space in front of them is still empty.
Same here, see people not pull through when available.
I always look for a pull through space, even if it “costs” me twenty extra steps.
Then there are those whom block an aisle waiting for a car to pull out of a space.
+1
In addition to giving me a bit more exercise, being able to “front” out of a parking space is potentially much safer than having to back out of a space in a parking lot.
When I drive my friend’s Forester, it has Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, which I find very helpful. In addition to letting you know about approaching cross-traffic from as much as 30 feet away, it even detects pedestrians who decide to walk in back of your vehicle while you are backing out. I eagerly look forward to my next car, which will have that feature.
I was talking about people walking along a riverwalk in a park with no businesses or homes along it and I said nothing to anyone about their smoking. I was just commenting about the incongruity of it.
+1
When I take my powerwalks alongside the D&R Canal, I occasionally encounter people taking their walks while deep-dragging on a ciggie. I never say anything to them, but my thoughts include the idea that putting one’s self in a position of deep-breathing while simultaneously puffing on that cancer stick is probably adding a lot more danger from that ciggie than if they were smoking while just sitting on their porch.
Cig’s while walking? Ok, I got a Calif-incongruity. Fires big problem here. While almost everything that could cause a fire is illegal, smoking & throwing the cig butts on the ground, perfectly legal. When asked if the dry grass along a public trail could potentially be a fire hazard, the fire-prevention expert said “no, there’s no ignition sources”.
Sounds like y’all need a new fire-prevention expert.
I like to have access to the trunk of my car when I return.
I could simply move my car away from the other vehicle to load my trunk but what do you expect from the brain-dead. I park in a location that allows access to the trunk.
No it’s not legal, it’s called littering. And if your fire prevention expert really said that, I agree you need a new one!
I do that at the grocery store, so I don’t have to maneuver the shopping cart between cars to reach the back of my car.
