Driving in a parking lot

I learned to drive on a farm. The good thing about learning to drive on a farm is that you have to know where your wheels are, because they have to fit in the tracks. The bad thing -- for me at least -- is that for economy reasons my father wouldn't tolerate any unecessary driving in lower gears. I had to learn to drive in top gear whenever possible, which means I learned to drive fast on those dirt roads. It also meant first gear was used only for pulling away, after which second was imediately engaged.

Fast forward a couple of years. I bought my own car shortly after I started working, and the habit of not driving in a lower gear unless absolutely necessary was still alive and well. What this meant for me, is that I'd rather drive in second gear at low engine speed than drive in first gear. This means I'd drive arround parking lots in second, doing between 15 and 20 km/h. My girlfriend (now my wife) kept complaining that I'm driving too fast and said I'd hit someone if they suddenly stepped out from behind a vehicle. I dismissed it, naturally.

Then I did the math. If you're doing 15 to 20km/h, it means you're moving between 4 and 5 meters per second. Average response time is about a second (it sounds slow, but that's the reality). That means if someone stepped in front of me less than 6 meters away, there would be NO WAY to avoid hitting him.

I therefore had to admit that my girlfriend was right, and learn to drive arround in first gear when roaming a parking lot, looking for that elusive parking spot.