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It's a sidewalk!
Monday was Errand Day. I headed to Walmart with my two little children to pick up some groceries to restock after the weekend away from home. Now, Oldest Child is almost 3 and very independant, and likes to walk beside me rather than ride in the shopping cart (which is now Baby's spot anyway).
Our Walmart's lot has a long, grassy median with a sidewalk between two rows of parking spaces, leading to the grocery side entrance to the store. Near the store, the actual sidewalk + grass becomes pavement like the rest of the lot, but is still technically sidewalk since it's between the handicapped parking spaces. Each parking space has a "Handicapped Parking Only" sign at its head, doubling as a deterrent for pulling through. There are often shopping carts strewn about the pavement sidewalk here as well, as the cart guys gather them there to keep them out of the driving lanes while they line them all up, since there shouldn't be anyone driving through that sidewalk.
You see where this is going, don't you?
Because of Oldest's preference for walking rather than riding in the cart, I try to park along that sidewalk when possible. I got the children out of the car and put Baby's carseat into a nearby shopping cart, and we started walking toward the store. Oldest knows that she's allowed to walk on the sidewalk without holding my hand, so she was a little ahead of me (but she also knows to stop before the actual road because then she has to hold my hand or the stroller/cart).
We got up to where the sidewalk changed to pavement for the handicapped parking. The cart guy was ahead of us and had just deposited some scattered carts into the sidewalk area as he went to collect more.
And then this huge SUV with a little old lady behind the wheel slowly started pulling between the handicapped parking signs and into the sidewalk area. I quickly grabbed Oldest's hand because the driver wasn't paying any attention to us. The lady actually had to stop to move some shopping carts out of her way, giving us time to get ahead of her and across the driving lane to the store entrance. When I looked back, I saw her pulled up between the lamp post and the trash can at the end of the sidewalk, waiting to try to pull out.
Last I checked, you're not supposed to do that. Unfortunately, I had no clue who to tell about this, as by the time I got to an employee, the vehicle in question had managed to pull out and drive away.
Diagram included, in case my description was unhelpful. The green arrows are the way she should have driven, and the orange arrow is the way she actually went.
Monday was Errand Day. I headed to Walmart with my two little children to pick up some groceries to restock after the weekend away from home. Now, Oldest Child is almost 3 and very independant, and likes to walk beside me rather than ride in the shopping cart (which is now Baby's spot anyway).
Our Walmart's lot has a long, grassy median with a sidewalk between two rows of parking spaces, leading to the grocery side entrance to the store. Near the store, the actual sidewalk + grass becomes pavement like the rest of the lot, but is still technically sidewalk since it's between the handicapped parking spaces. Each parking space has a "Handicapped Parking Only" sign at its head, doubling as a deterrent for pulling through. There are often shopping carts strewn about the pavement sidewalk here as well, as the cart guys gather them there to keep them out of the driving lanes while they line them all up, since there shouldn't be anyone driving through that sidewalk.
You see where this is going, don't you?
Because of Oldest's preference for walking rather than riding in the cart, I try to park along that sidewalk when possible. I got the children out of the car and put Baby's carseat into a nearby shopping cart, and we started walking toward the store. Oldest knows that she's allowed to walk on the sidewalk without holding my hand, so she was a little ahead of me (but she also knows to stop before the actual road because then she has to hold my hand or the stroller/cart).
We got up to where the sidewalk changed to pavement for the handicapped parking. The cart guy was ahead of us and had just deposited some scattered carts into the sidewalk area as he went to collect more.
And then this huge SUV with a little old lady behind the wheel slowly started pulling between the handicapped parking signs and into the sidewalk area. I quickly grabbed Oldest's hand because the driver wasn't paying any attention to us. The lady actually had to stop to move some shopping carts out of her way, giving us time to get ahead of her and across the driving lane to the store entrance. When I looked back, I saw her pulled up between the lamp post and the trash can at the end of the sidewalk, waiting to try to pull out.
Last I checked, you're not supposed to do that. Unfortunately, I had no clue who to tell about this, as by the time I got to an employee, the vehicle in question had managed to pull out and drive away.
Diagram included, in case my description was unhelpful. The green arrows are the way she should have driven, and the orange arrow is the way she actually went.
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