Parallel parking tips for women
MY aunt refuses to parallel park, or to reverse park for that matter. If parallel parking is the only option available, she would rather go back home; and if she has to reverse park, especially between two vehicles, she would rather drive around the entire parking lot looking for a “better” space.
It’s something many women drivers fear — after all, parallel parking demands a certain type of mathematics brain that may become fuddled as we age. Plus, add the stress of getting into a spot while other drivers are probably beeping at you and you’d understand why many women either refuse to do it, or get out of the car and ask someone else to do it for them.
But general automotive mechanic Sean Robertson says it’s not hard at all, once you’ve got the method down right.
“To parallel park, you have to pull up parallel to the vehicle in front of the parking space, and slowly back up into the parking space,” Robertson said.
Here he gives some tips for women on how to execute parallel parking flawlessly.
Position the car
Drive your car up so that it is parallel to the car parked in front of the empty space you’re trying to enter. Your car should be about three feet from the side of the parked car.
Shift into reverse
Put your car into reverse and back up slowly, along the side of the same parked car. Begin to turn your steering wheel in the direction of the parking space, allowing the back of the car to enter the space. Straighten the wheel as your car moves into the spot as you continue to move backwards towards the other parked car at the other end of the parking space.
Check your mirrors
You should always be checking your mirrors as you manoeuvre your vehicle to ensure that you’re not hitting, or are not too close to hitting either of the cars, and that there’s no oncoming traffic.
Straighten up
Once the front of your vehicle has passed the back bumper of the vehicle in the parking spot in front of you, begin to turn your steering wheel in the opposite direction to how you started. Then, while you continue to check how close you are to the car at the back, continue to reverse while beginning to straighten your steering wheel. Once you have your vehicle straight and are as close to the kerb as possible, shift forward until you are comfortable with the spacing at the front and rear of your vehicle.
“Once you get it right, it will be like clockwork the next time you do it,” Robertson promised.
He also advises that you can play around with a game like Parking Perfection, which will help you simulate the experience.
