Topic: Wider parking spaces for the fairer sex :)

[21Rouge]

A shopping centre in the northern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang has built a car park with extra-wide spaces to accommodate female drivers.


for the rest of the article see here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/6904526/Chinese-car-park-has-wider-spaces-for-women-drivers.html

[dr_spock]

I think wider spaces for everyone would be better.  I'm getting tired of door dings from narrow parking spaces.  Seems like cars are getting wider and parking spaces narrower every time the lines are repainted over the years at the local shopping mall.

[21Rouge]

I think wider spaces for everyone would be better. 

Agreed. Except in this Chinese mall lot there is a section labelled "Women Parking" 

Anyways closer to home I do like Costco parking with the double line on both sides of each space.

[rrocket]

I use the pink "Courtesy Parking for Expectant Mothers" spots whenever there is an open one.  Mostly because I'm discourteous. 

[overtakeyouintheleftlane]

"The driver, who was named only as Miss Zhang, said: "Female drivers just are not as good as male drivers, technically."

Oh how I so agree.

[overtakeyouintheleftlane]

My GF also uses the Expectant Mothers Parking as well. She figures she's "Expecting to be a mother one day" and "they can't tell if she's pregnant" (how I joke with her on that sometimes ) and it's "just for these SUV mommymobiles with their SUV strollers who stay home and don't work, let them walk".

Why not... I guess... I'm not the one doing the parking at the time. So who am I to tell her where to park, as long as it's not in the disabled parking.

[safristi]

   Miss Zhang onists......................

[Brigitte]

Agreed. Except in this Chinese mall lot there is a section labelled "Women Parking" 

Wouldn't be the first example of massive stupidity to come out of China.

[G35X]

“ …Miss Zhang, said: Female drivers just are not as good as male drivers, technically… " – overtakeyouintheleftlane

Senior drivers in a big Buick or Cadillac are just as bad.  Come to West Van where seniors are all over the place and you will find parking stalls are wider than those in North Van.

[rrocket]

Here's a picture of the women's parking lot.......

[jamie1]

Kind of shows just how backwards China is.  I ,too like 21rouge like the costco double line parking stalls. I will never park in a disabled stall,but will park in a stall labeled "moms with little ones" all day long.

[overtakeyouintheleftlane]

Want bad parking or poor driving in a parking lot? Try Pacific Mall/Market Village in Markham, can't even stay on the proper side of the road... let alone park. What is it with the beige Corolla's???

[mmret]

There are SUV-specific (i.e.: big) spaces right? Because SUV's need more space.

So why not have spaces specifically for women? After all, as the Journals of Gerontology says:

http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/64B/3/348

The aims of this study were to determine whether perceived sense of direction was associated with the driving space of older drivers and whether the association was different between genders. Participants (1,425 drivers aged 67–87 years) underwent a battery of visual and cognitive tests and completed various questionnaires. Sense of direction was assessed using the Santa Barbara Sense of Direction (SBSOD) scale. Driving space was assessed by both the driving space component of the Driving Habits Questionnaire and log maximum area driven. Analyses were performed using generalized linear models. The SBSOD score was lower in women than in men and significantly associated with log driving area in women but not in men. The SBSOD score also showed a significant association with women’s self-reported driving restriction. The findings emphasize the need to explore the role of psychological factors, and include gender, in driving studies and models.

So, as the mall manager says, there is a scientific basis for this. We help myopic kids with glasses, because they can't see as well. We help handicapped kids with wheelchairs, because they can't move as well. We help crappy drivers with Lane Departure Warning, because they're bad. Why not help women with their distance/spatial recognition issues? Does it somehow offend your sensibilities and because you think its "prejudiced?" Come on. I'm not saying its their fault. It's just statistics.

Now, on the other hand, comments such as

Kind of shows just how backwards China is.

Wouldn't be the first example of massive stupidity to come out of China.

actually is prejudice, or just gross generalization. Die in a fire please, both of you.

[Brigitte]

Wouldn't be the first example of massive stupidity to come out of China.

actually is prejudice, or just gross generalization. Die in a fire please, both of you.

Die like the kids with kidney stones during the milk debacle in China?  Or like the people who took contaminated Chinese-made heparin in 2008?  Or like the thousands of pets who died from Chinese melamine-laced pet food in 2007?  Please, take your pick.  I stand by my original statement.

[Brigitte]

And for the record... I am the LEAST prejudiced person you will ever meet.  Ask anyone who knows me, or any idiot who's made a bigoted statement in my presence.

[Winklovic]

Die like the kids with kidney stones during the milk debacle in China?  Or like the people who took contaminated Chinese-made heparin in 2008?  Or like the thousands of pets who died from Chinese melamine-laced pet food in 2007?  Please, take your pick.  I stand by my original statement.

+1000

[overtakeyouintheleftlane]

"Made in China" - Does that term actually inspire confidence in the quality and/or safety of their products with their track record?

[tenpenny]

"Made in China" - Does that term actually inspire confidence in the quality and/or safety of their products with their track record?

That depends on who 'they' are; there are several people in China, it's not a single entity.

[Marko]

If they had this in Canada, this wouldn't have happened:

[dr_spock]

"Made in China" - Does that term actually inspire confidence in the quality and/or safety of their products with their track record?

You can be confident that heads of the heads of corporations do roll in China. 

Their CEOs have no problems killing themselves for failures:

http://www.nowpublic.com/chinese-ceo-kills-self-after-toy-recall

If they won't do it themselves, the state will do it for them:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/24/china.milk.execution/index.html