Why do drivers park on the edge of a frozen lake?

[Brian Elfert]

I see this all the time and it baffles me. I live across the street from a lake that freezes in the winter. Drivers will park their vehicle on the ice, but at the very edge of the lake. Why even bother to park on the edge of the ice when most of these cars are 20 to 50 feet from a paved parking lot? If they are worried about going through the ice why park on it all?

I can understand driving out on the lake to go ice fishing or whatever. That makes sense.

[Myk Rian]

They park there because the ice is thinner, and they don't like the vehicle. Hoping for it to go through. :confused:
I don't get it either.

[Jay Jolliffe]

It will be easier to get it out when it goes through the ice :D

[Brian Kent]

And I thought Southern California had all of the nut-jobs. Looks like we don't have exclusive rights. :rolleyes:

[ray hampton]

maybe that some drivers hate to walk any farther than they had to, how steep are the hill that they park on, as in get stuck

[John Coloccia]

You park on the ice because if you park in deep snow, you may very well find yourself stuck after a couple of hours. You don't park in the parking lot because you're lazy, I guess. :)

[Bill Cunningham]

I live on the west side of Lake Simcoe, One of the most popular ice fishing lakes in Ontario. Many non locals park on the ice, because the parking is free. If you park on one of our parking lots, and you don't have a 'resident' tag or sticker, you get a ticket. Most of the lake access areas are all no parking zones (cash grab) so if your not local, you have no choice but to pay to park in private lots/areas/etc. or park for free on the ice..Many times your also hauling a ATV or snowmobile, so you have to find a place for your trailer as well.. The ice, in most cases is your only choice..

[Brian Elfert]

In the case I'm describing the parking is free and people aren't parking on the ice because the lot is full. The vast majority have no trailers. I assume these folks don't want to drive out onto the ice for fear of falling in, but why park on the very edge instead of the parking lot? I guess I'll never understand it.

[Chris Damm]

I saw a news story last week where a sheriff deputy was putting up a "Thin Ice "sign and his cruiser went through the ice!

[ray hampton]

In the case I'm describing the parking is free and people aren't parking on the ice because the lot is full. The vast majority have no trailers. I assume these folks don't want to drive out onto the ice for fear of falling in, but why park on the very edge instead of the parking lot? I guess I'll never understand it.

for some reason people tend to think that the ice will be the thickest at the shore line

[Brian Elfert]

Even if folks think the ice is thickest at the edge I don't understand why they don't use a parking lot at that point. It isn't like folks are fishing at the very edge. They might have to haul their equipment another 20 to 30 feet from the parking lot.

[Bill Bukovec]

When there is a snow emergency, Minneapolis likes to tow cars.

If you are on the lake, no chance of being towed.

[Matt Marsh]

This is a pic of the BSU student parking on Lake Bemidji. Close to classes, free, and always enough room.

254585

[Jeff Monson]

I do that quite often when ice fishing. I don't venture across the lake in my vehicle as there are pressure ridges and who knows what. I don't mind parking slightly off shore, but that is my limit.

Oh, BTW, if you park a little off shore it is much easier to find your car in shallow water after it falls through.

[Brian Elfert]

These are not vehicles parked a ways out onto the ice like the picture in Bemidji. They are parked quite literally at the edge of the lake. In some cases one set of tires is up on shore.

I'll take a photo if I remember one of these days. The ice fishing season is over before long as the ice will start to melt soon.

[Matt Marsh]

Brian, i can't think of any reason that they'd do that, other than being paranoid about going through, and not knowing any better. Must be a bunch of them warmer climate sissies ;-)

[Jim Matthews]

Conventions may be hard to explain, particularly if the originator is only a memory.

In my family, we always cut the short end off the Christmas ham - only to find out
Gramma did it because her oven was small...

[Matt Marsh]

Conventions may be hard to explain, particularly if the originator is only a memory.

In my family, we always cut the short end off the Christmas ham - only to find out
Gramma did it because her oven was small...

LOL! So everyone follows like sheep. :p

[Bill Cunningham]

We had a situation here a few years ago.. There were 20 or thirty cars parked on the ice about 50 feet from shore. A 'Citiot' showed up, and parked his car with the rest, and figured he better test his ice auger before going way out to fish. he drilled a 8" hole in the ice, right in the middle of the 'car pack'. It was just like drilling a hole in the bottom of a boat. ALL the cars that were sitting on the ice were actually sitting on the ice that was really floating. There was no way to stop the flooding, and as the ice sunk under all the weight. Many of the cars went down as well. When the ice finally sagged enough, then broke under the weight, the rest went down. This moron faced all kinds of charges, both civil, municipal, provincial, and federal. He's probably in debt for the rest of his life! Out on the ice, none of the cars would have been insured.

[Dan Hintz]

Conventions may be hard to explain, particularly if the originator is only a memory.

In my family, we always cut the short end off the Christmas ham - only to find out
Gramma did it because her oven was small...

I'm always catching SWMBO doing something in the kitchen that either makes no sense or can be done more easily / efficiently, but she always refuses to listen to my suggestions. Invariably the reason she does it that way is "because that's how my mom taught me to do it." If I had a dollar for every time...