Who, what, why: How do you parallel park? - BBC News

Who, what, why: How do you parallel park? - BBC News:

Who, what, why: How do you parallel park? BBC News A video of a driver spending 30 minutes repeatedly failing to reverse into a generous parking space has become an internet hit. But how do you parallel park successfully? As an instructional video on how not to do something it's masterful. Over the course of half an hour a hapless but determined driver tries and spectacularly fails to parallel park between two cars a good distance apart. The duration and infamy of the episode aside, it's an experience that many people can relate to. Sometimes everything just falls into place - you turn the wheel and the car slips elegantly backwards into a space that barely accommodates its length. At other times - usually with a queue of traffic building up - a wheel mounts the kerb, a hubcap is scraped, the bumper of a neighbouring car is nudged, or the car is left stranded several feet from the pavement. The woman took about half an hour to park her car There are many other failed attempts to complete the manoeuvre on YouTube to underline the fact that this is a common problem. Among the offerings are a bid to park a Mini in a space simply not mini enough for it, a man using a space so small that he has to turn his wheel a dozen times and jolts the neighbouring cars with every movement, and a car reversing heavily into the one behind it - repeatedly. So, how are drivers supposed to parallel park? "We as human beings are not genetically programmed to go backwards, so reversing in general is really quite difficult when you're learning to drive," says Kevin Delaney, head of road safety at the Institute of Advanced Motorists. "If you're driving forwards you turn the wheel quite a way and you get a gentle turn of the car. Going backwards it doesn't work like that - you get a really sharp turn with little use of the wheel. "Parallel parking complicates the issue further - you're aiming for a defined space." So, some pointers are needed to ensure success. Delaney, who admits that he "still has to concentrate" when parallel parking uses the method below and credits it with getting his daughter through her driving test when she was 18. It assumes that you are parking on the left, so reverse the turns of the wheel if parking on the right.