Scott Doyon has talked extensively in the past about the popsicle test as a measure of great places: the ability of an 8 year old to safely get somewhere to buy a popsicle, then make it home before it melts. Is the inability of finding a place where to teach your teenager how to drive a similar measure?
"One measure of a good place is the absence of infrastructure suitable to new driver education. Or, perhaps, an inverse relationship. As suitable locations go down, value (by multiple measures) goes up."
"No good spots might be an indicator that your town has reasonable parking requirements. Or, it might demonstrate that the parking you do have is shared in ways that keep it near full at all times. Or, it could show that your town prioritizes human habitat over just the raw mechanics of car storage."
"It could even be all of these things. But the one thing it’s not is an indicator of productive land wasted. And that’s a good start towards making a place worth inhabiting."
