Well, what were they expecting?

New/expecting mothers parking stalls are excessive

By Jacey Gibb, Editor-in-chief

A parking lot can be a battlefield. Roaming cars warring against each other over vacant parking spots, engines salivating as they hover around for someone to leave; loose shopping carts lay dormant until a breeze comes along and sends them crashing into a parked vehicle. Such a horrible environment, it’s no wonder there are stalls legally reserved for individuals with handicap passes. What grinds my gears though is the rise of expecting mother/family stalls.

They’re impossible to miss. They’re usually located near the entrance of buildings, right there beside the handicap parking stalls—which I understand, by the way. Let me hone my criticism in on the expecting mother/family stalls specifically.

Parking is just one of those things that sucks for everyone. Places like Metrotown are notorious for being a cesspool of villainy, especially around the weekend. But just because you’re expecting doesn’t mean you should expect special treatment. Since the introduction of vehicular transportation, pregnant women have managed to somehow make their way across a parking lot; did something change in recent years to inhibit this?

Being male, I understand that I will never know the feeling of being pregnant and having to internally carry around a junior human. It’s a plight I’m happy to avoid, but it just seems absurd that there’s a semi-official system in place to try and accommodate this.

Will this be a slippery slope on who should have parking stalls set aside for them? If there are family stalls, then why aren’t there stalls specifically for the elderly who don’t have handicap permits but also have difficulty walking? Maybe there should be stalls for people who’re sick and don’t feel entirely up to the challenge of having to cross the parking lot to get medicine from the stores?

It’s difficult trying to write this article without coming off like an arrogant young person who’s insensitive to the miracle of life, but this whole idea of sectioning off a stall simply because someone has kids or is expecting just seems ridiculous. I can understand why someone might think they were a good idea, but it just comes across as excessive.