Parallel parking is a lost art

[Deschodt]

Having lunch outside a café with work friends today... We see a 20-something girl attempt to parallel park her Mitsu Lancer, nose first...

I kid you not, she did *at least *15 maneuvers over nearly 5 minutes, each more or less a repeat of the previous attempt (pretty hard to parallel park nose first, unless you're willing to climb a sidewalk). Eventually, she visibly gives up, rolls down her window, boresights on me and calls for help !! Seriously, she asked me from across the street if I could park her car ;-) She may have noticed I was observing and counting the moves, not flagrantly mocking mind you, but smiling a little...

She left her car there, purse and all, and let me have at it. I must look trustworthy ! One move to get out of the bind, one to reverse in. Done... My work buddies stood up and applauded. Quite the scene on the street... Everyone (a few spectators, too) had a pretty good sense of humor about it, though... I took a few seconds revealing the huge secret (reverse into it)... Kudos to the girl for having the nuts to ask for help, but what do they teach in driver ed these days ???

Funny... I've given jumps, pushes, helped with flats, but never had to park for someone before ;-)

[KevinP73]

Careful!! Admitting you know how to parallel park is revealing your age. Thats a trick they just don't teach anymore.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by KevinP73

Careful!! Admitting you know how to parallel park is revealing your age. Thats a trick they just don't teach anymore.

Yikes.. How old does that make me then? ballpark ? ;-)
More hints: I can change a tire too, but I can't text very fast, and not at all while driving...

[Christien]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

Yikes.. How old does that make me then? ballpark ? ;-)
More hints: I can change a tire too, but I can't text very fast, and not at all while driving...

Yer old. I can text and change a tire at the same time...while driving!

Parallel parking was always the most dreaded part of the driving test when I was 16. I can't imagine they don't teach it anymore. Unless you never drive anywhere near an urban centre, guaranteed you're going to need to know how to do it.

[GH85Carrera]

I am one of the geezers I guess. I remember going to get my driver’s license when I was 16. The guy asked me to park between two cones. I pulled up just far enough, cut the wheel and backed in dead on the spot. Before I could pull foreword to center up on the spot he said “that’s OK you nailed it, just pull on out”

I was driving a manual transmission and he noticed my shifts were smooth. He asked “how long I have you been driving son” and I answered over two years but it was all off road in a dune buggy!

I passed with a perfect score.

I sent 7 text messages over the last 6 months!

[Rick Lee]

I never found it that hard. I had a utility van in college with no windows in the rear, so it was side mirrors only. I became a parallel parking expert in that one.

[vash]

i'm not that old..and i can parallel park with the best of them..i love it when a storefront windows provide the "mirror" for me to see the other bumpers..

i would have taken the passenger seat, and gave the young lady a lesson.."give a man i fish..feed him for a day..teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime"

[Zeke]

Nose first will never get it. She obviously was never told, "Aim your taillight at the headlight on car behind and back in."

[UconnTim97]

I learned when I took drivers' ed when I was 16 up in CT and never had to do it until 11 years ago when I moved to Philly. I had to get it down to one maneuver real quick as Philly drivers are not that forgiving to slow parallel parkers. I can get my 944 into the tiniest of spaces now.

[wdfifteen]

I thought the title of the thread was a bad pun.

[steve911]

LOL.

Parallel parking is not taught for , nor is it required to pass, the CA driving test. My now-19 year old daughter is just now beginning to parallel park.
She spent her junior and senior years in HS getting to school early in order to get a spot in the lot, so as to not have to park on the street and face parallel parking. She'd come home and tell me that such and such was late for class since they couldn't parallel park.

She still has some friends that can't parallel park. We live outside San Francisco and driving into SF and not being able to parallel park is a big problem...

[A930Rocket]

No pictures of the 20-something girl? You're slipping...

[stomachmonkey]

She had a daddy complex and was hitting on you.

So sad you missed the clues.

[widgeon13]

Nose first entry is cute, must be a girl thing.

[Rikao4]

should have taken off...










around the block of course..
then park..

Rika

[Deschodt]

No pictures, no clues missed. It would have been rude, I was busy parking it, and she was a 6 out of 10. I have standards ;-)

I thought about going around the block, but it's a big block and she might have freaked out ;-) Come on, I was just being nice, if a little bemused ! If it was raining, a parking brake 180/Park would have been cool ;-)

[The Gaijin]

If you ask my dad - it is a lost art since the invention of power steering.

[kach22i]

I saw a young lady pop the bumper off a car parallel parking, it popped back on as soon as she went forward.

Her excuse/explanation was lame, something like she had not driven in weeks.

I parallel park for my wife all the time, in a year that adds up to hours of saved time.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by milt

Nose first will never get it.

[David]

I almost failed my driver's test parallel parking. I was in a '76 Monte Carlo, there was a large and small car parking slot at the DPS office and the Trooper wanted me to put it in the small spot. I got halfway in and looked at the guy with a, "Really?" look on my face.

He said, "OK, pull out. " He took points off for not parking, but I didn't hit the flag so it wasn't a "crash" and it wasn't enough points off to fail me.

Since then I've mastered it