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Are there more cars on the road than ever before?

3 min read

I am constantly amazed at how many people are on the highway and how much traffic there is everywhere you go nowadays.

I see car dealership lots packed with row after row of new vehicles and I wonder who is buying all of them and what happens to all of the old cars they are replacing. In 2018, there were more than 272 million vehicles operating on roads throughout the United States. Worldwide, there are more than one billion cars on the road. According to one research company, the number of cars registered to American drivers hit a record last year, rising more than six million from the year before.

The sheer volume of cars owned by Americans may be one reason behind the growing practice of people parking on both sides of the street. It happens everywhere. A quick internet search proves that it’s not my imagination and it’s not just a local occurrence. If you have a wide, sprawling street then you may not see an issue with this. However, many streets are not very wide and they’re not made for cars to be parked on one side, let alone both sides. As I drive around my town and other towns and even downtown Pittsburgh, it just amazes me how and why this happens. In Pittsburgh, it boggles my mind that on one hand they don’t allow parking on several streets during morning and evening rush hours but it’s OK to park there during the middle of the day. If the goal is to free up more space during rush hour, someone should let the powers that be know that city streets are jammed at every hour, not just 6 to 8 a.m. But those same powers that be then allow people to park along main arteries all day, narrowing them to one lane each way. This is truly a joy when you get stuck behind a Port Authority bus that stops every 100 yards.

As for parking on both sides of the street, I just don’t get it. Many street parkers have driveways that sit empty while their cars sit on the street. Others can’t fit their cars in their garages because said garages are filled with other stuff. That still doesn’t explain not using the driveway. Do families these days have too many cars to fit on their property? If a family of four has four cars, I really don’t know where you put them.

The issue I have with parking on both sides of the street is that it makes it hard to back out of your driveway without hitting something or someone. I also wonder what firefighters and EMTs think about this when they’re trying to squeeze a fire engine or ambulance through some narrow streets clogged with SUVs on both sides. It’s not illegal, but it certainly makes for a tight squeeze.

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.

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