# Are You Proficient at Parallel Parking? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424 "2016-07-08T19:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/41 "2016-07-09T12:50:05Z")
I don’t do it all that often. On occasion, I have managed it beautifully on the first try. Other times, I’ve sawn back and forth to attempt to fit into the parking space and either finally tucked in at a less-than-perfect but acceptable angle (i.e., no bumpers out in traffic) or else given up and tried to find a space with more space. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/42 "2016-07-09T12:59:24Z")
I grew up and learned to drive in Montreal. I can parallel park in reverse, going up a hill, in the snow, at the end of a night out drinking. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/43 "2016-07-09T13:12:32Z")
When I was 16 and still new to driving, I got completely flummoxed one time, and after a lot of bumbling around, wound up with my front end in place and my rear sticking out. Finally, the three friends riding with me got out, lifted the car by the back bumper, and eased it into place. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/44 "2016-07-09T14:57:28Z")
Parallel parking in San Francisco is fun! 🙂 I don’t live in The City any more and parallel park only a few times a month. I can do it pretty well, but at times I’ve needed some do-overs. I normally back into my parking spaces, so I can pull out when I leave, so I get plenty of practice backing up. I always back into my driveway. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/45 "2016-07-09T15:32:41Z")
I failed the parallel parking portion of my driver’s test. I still managed to walk out of there with my license, though. But now, I’m quite proficient. Practice does wonders. Still, sometimes I’d rather not bother with the hassle, especially if I’m tired. There have been a couple of times I’ve passed on some choice spots just because I don’t feel like going through the motions. ---
**Author:** ![Zuzu\_s\_Petals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@Zuzu\_s\_Petals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zuzu_s_Petals)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/46 "2016-07-09T15:34:17Z")
If you can’t parallel park on my street, you won’t get a parking space. So after twenty years, I am now AWESOME at it. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/47 "2016-07-09T16:17:33Z")
I was very good at parallel parking , sometime a guy would watch me park and I guess he was waiting to some jokes about women drivers instead the guy looked impress with my parking. I was in a bad accident and hit on my right temple really bad in 1995 my head still hurt today and I now trouble parallel parking . Damn! A woman once was watching me park my car and she was also impress. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/48 "2016-07-09T16:23:07Z")
As far as I am concerned, a space that requires parallel parking is not a space; it’s a hole too small to accommodate my car. I’ll continue to look for a _space._ Luckily I live in a town which enables me to do this. If I lived elsewhere, I would be able to parallel park OK. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/49 "2016-07-09T16:57:45Z")
Good enough that I was recently complimented by a stranger that was standing there & watching me nail it in one reverse & one forward (to even out). Interestingly I’m in a rental car this week. No backup camera & as I’m not used to it, I don’t ‘know’ it yet. Also afraid of pulling too far back & the possibility of a scratch so I was thinking how tough it was this week. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/50 "2016-07-09T19:38:01Z")
I grew up in the Baltimore suburbs - our house was on the corner - the end row house! I not only had to parallel park from the very beginning, I had to learn to parallel park on the curve. And my grandparents lived on a one-way street, so I could to it on the left or the right. At least until I left home in 1973. In '75 and in '78-79, I lived in places where I had to parallel park, but since then, I’ve always had driveways and/or a garage. When we go to a local cafe, sometimes we have to parallel park on the left, but I can usually find a spot where I can pull in. While I’m no linger as proficient as I was, I can still do it in a reasonable amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/51 "2016-07-09T19:42:12Z")
I’m superb although I don’t get much occasion to do it. True story, although you will have difficulty believing it (I have trouble believing it): once I was with a friend in his rental car. We really, really needed to find a parking place. We found one that looked like it might just fit. He wouldn’t try, so I offerred. He and both our wives got out and watched. I backed and filled, backed and filled, just nudging the cars in front and behind each time, gaining space from our suspensions. I finally got in and not far from the curb either. Both bumpers were actually touching those of the adjacent cars! ---
**Author:** ![pidgeon92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@pidgeon92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pidgeon92)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/52 "2016-07-09T20:08:18Z")
> [@mind\_the\_gap](#): > > I was born, raised and learned to drive in Chicago. Parallel parking was the rule. I moved to California when I was 24, and have been regularly stunning the locals with my parallel parking mad skilz. I try to tell them the secrets but they can’t get it. Me too. My dad took me to the parking lot on Montrose at Lake Michigan. It had those old, big round trash cans. He’d move two so they were a car length apart, and we practiced over and over again until I got it right. My car is mostly in my garage, but when I do have to parallel park, I can do it in the smallest space the car will fit in. I have a MINI, and I can park it a lot of spots that larger cars can’t get into. It’s the perfect city vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/53 "2016-07-09T21:07:25Z")
I can get into the teeniest NYC spot, either side of the street, no problem. But getting my car approximately straight and reasonably centered in a regular spot in a regular suburban parking lot - forget it. > [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > It requires typically male spatial relations plus an awareness of how they change over time. For that reason, I suspect it’s not typically well taught. “Real” men don’t see a need to explain the subtleties. Male spatial relations? What are those? ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/54 "2016-07-09T23:34:42Z")
Another vote for a backup camera. Luckily I don’t have to parallel park too often, but when I do the camera makes it a LOT easier. I drive a Chevy HHR, which has lousy visibility out of all 6 windows. One has no idea of where the various outside parts of the car are currently located relative to the outside world. The camera makes it almost easier to parallel park than to pull-in park. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/55 "2016-07-10T01:47:54Z")
Piss poor. I think the problem is that I don’t like backing my car. I will only parallel park if I can pull directly into the spot without all of the forwarding/backing that is necessary. Often, I’ll go around the block (or several blocks) until I find an appropriate space. Bob ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2016, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/56 "2016-07-10T03:30:07Z")
I don’t do it very often but yes I am good at it because as a teen I had a driving instructor who taught me a trick that works and I will teach it to you. 1. You pull along the spot until the end of the front car is lined up with the area of your car between your two side windows. 2. Turn your wheel all the way to the right and then let the car tilt to 45 degrees. 3. Turn the wheel all the way to the left and you should just slide right into the spot. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2016, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/57 "2016-07-10T04:58:27Z")
While I can do it, one of the things at which the C1 is worse than the Yaris is parallel parking. Those Yaris hatchbacks have 5 black holes: one in each corner (allowing you to park in apparently-impossible spots) and one in the middle (it’s amazing how much stuff you can put inside one). What I should learn and never have (and the C1’s bad rear views don’t make it easy) is park backwards. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/58 "2016-07-11T01:00:36Z")
I have to do it maybe 5-10 times per year, and I can do it just fine, no problems, unless it’s a particularly tight spot. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/59 "2016-07-11T01:14:11Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I’m superb although I don’t get much occasion to do it. > > True story, although you will have difficulty believing it (I have trouble believing it): once I was with a friend in his rental car. We really, really needed to find a parking place. We found one that looked like it might just fit. He wouldn’t try, so I offerred. He and both our wives got out and watched. I backed and filled, backed and filled, just nudging the cars in front and behind each time, gaining space from our suspensions. I finally got in and not far from the curb either. Both bumpers were actually touching those of the adjacent cars! I was parked into a situation like this once and was quite proud of my 48 1/2 point turn escape from the space. I learned to be fairly competent at parallel parking the years I lived in Philadelphia. One dark and damp weekend night (no parking restrictions, so much harder for residents to find spots), I returned to my neighborhood and got a spot about two blocks from my house. I turned back to look at my car and realized that I had squeezed into a space with perhaps 6 inches of clearance on either end. Maybe less. First try. For that one night, I was a Parking Ninja. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424/60 "2016-07-11T01:22:19Z")
I learned how to with a three-ton grain truck. parallel parking a mere car is a breeze. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-at-parallel-parking/759424.md?page=4)