Parking, Pedestrians & Stop Signs

For those of you interested in some of the differences here, this post has to do with a few of my pet peeves as they relate to traffic "rules" here in Spain.

Parking is a major problem, as much in smaller towns as it is in the large cities. This is due mostly to the fact that you either have to pay for parking in a large downtown lot or you have to find a place on the street, which is almost impossible. (We have one public parking lot here in L'Ametlla that's free, but it only has about 20 spaces and most of them are taken up by employees rather than customers!) Businesses generally don't have their own parking lots, except the larger grocery stores. So double parking here is the norm, rather than the exception. And the law allows it, as long as you can see your car from where you are. So you can imagine driving on narrow streets where several cars are double-parked. You either learn patience or go a little crazy. I'm trying to practice more of the former.

Pedestrians here take very seriously their right of way. They will step off the curb right in front of a car, which really does drive me crazy. Not long ago, an elderly woman here in town stepped right in front of my car. Fortunately I was going uphill and not very fast so I was able to stop, but she shook her finger at me like it was my fault. I'm afraid I didn't practice very much patience that time.

Stop signs - you'd think by their name that people would know what they are for. But Spaniards usually treat them like Yield signs and roll right on through. So if you are used to stopping at every stop sign, you'd better keep an eye on your rear view mirror to make sure you don't get rear ended. There have been more than a few times that I have rolled through a stop sign because I knew the car behind me wasn't going to stop.

Hope you enjoyed that little glimpse into life "in the fast lane."