{"id":15545,"date":"2014-05-06T21:29:43","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T20:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=15545"},"modified":"2022-10-25T02:50:44","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T01:50:44","slug":"parallel-parking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=15545","title":{"rendered":"Parallel Parking"},"content":{"rendered":"

I get a lot of hits from people asking about parallel parking, so I\u2019m going to write a How To\u2026 article<\/a> on the subject to go along with the others. This article isn\u2019t it \u2013 it\u2019s just a bit of a discussion.\"An<\/p>\n

In my own experience, I\u2019ve found that the manoeuvre pupils seem to have the most trouble with is reversing around a corner<\/a>. I suspect that this is down to the fact that, unlike the others, you have to remain in control with precise adjustments throughout. However, before they\u2019ve actually had a go, most pupils will identify parking – parallel parking, in particular \u2013 as the \u201cmost difficult\u201d. I love to watch the look on their faces the first time I tell them that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do today, but the look once they see how easy it is even better.<\/p>\n

Parallel parking amounts to the same thing whatever method you use \u2013 the driver has to reverse into a space following a sort of backwards \u201cS\u201d shaped path. Any subsequent farting about comes as a result of not following that path properly, and that\u2019s usually because the method they used isn\u2019t very good.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a true story. Earlier this year one of my serial failers got the parallel park manoeuvre on three of her four tests (including the one she eventually passed on). It was the source of a serious fault on two of them, and the reason for that was that she had absolutely insisted on using the method her previous instructor had taught her, even though it only worked about 50% of the time. Her method involved estimating the position of the kerb (which could easily vary by \u00bd a metre or more), and some other nonsense about putting on one turn of the wheel, \u201clining up with the rear lights\u201d on the target car, and then turning one turn the other way (this went tits up on one test because the target car was facing the other way and she couldn\u2019t see its lights). After her last fail \u2013 amidst the tears \u2013 I put my foot down and told her she was learning MY method or nothing. As I say, she got the same manoeuvre the next time, and passed.<\/p>\n

Whenever I pick up a new pupil who has covered the parallel park elsewhere I give them a chance to show me how they do it. If they can remember how to do it at all \u2013 and many can\u2019t – they usually end up either too far back or too far away from the kerb. Having said that, if any of them can achieve a satisfactory result using their own method, I\u2019ll let them carry on using it \u2013 but I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that\u2019s happened. As long as I live, I will never understand why someone would teach pupils to reverse beyond the end of the target car, but only to apply partial lock (it\u2019s usually \u201cone turn\u201d) and expect to finish within the requisite two car lengths. I\u2019ll also never understand why someone would teach a method to a beginner which depends on how well the target car is parked, and which involves guessing where the kerb is. And don\u2019t get me started on the problems that arise when the target vehicle is a lorry or stretch limo \u2013 try lining up diagonally with the lights and see how good the method is then!<\/p>\n

You see, the problem stems from the fact that people who have been driving for years \u2013 and this includes a lot of instructors – have something that learners don\u2019t. It\u2019s called \u201cexperience\u201d. Experience means many things, but one aspect of it is that \u201cguessing\u201d where the kerb is becomes slightly easier for more experienced drivers, whereas a beginner won\u2019t have a clue \u2013 and nor will many of them be likely to acquire one by taking a couple of hours of driving lessons a week. However, let\u2019s not deceive ourselves here. I said slightly<\/em> easier, and if watching \u201cexperienced\u201d people trying to park outside the local shops is anything to go by, this just means that there\u2019s a marginally reduced risk of them flattening a passer-by or altering their bumper trim against street furniture. It certainly doesn\u2019t make them parking experts.<\/p>\n

Something else to consider is that an \u201cexperienced\u201d driver can arse about for as long as they want until they eventually manage to park, or their conscience kicks in and they drive off to find somewhere else. It doesn\u2019t matter if they hit the kerb or finish on it, take up two spaces, or end up diagonally with their back end sticking a metre into the road (well, not unless the council\u2019s traffic Gestapo have been told to crack down on it at the time). In most cases, they will have the social conscience of a dog on a croquet lawn, and they won\u2019t give a toss about how much inconvenience they are causing for everyone else (that\u2019s another aspect of \u201cexperience\u201d). A learner, on the other hand, is typically 17 years old, shy, nervous, has an examiner sitting next to them, and has basically got one shot at doing it perfectly in order to gain the shiny new driving licence on which their future depends. The two situations are not even in the same ball park.<\/p>\n

For this reason, a learner needs a method that is as fool proof as possible, and not some Zen-like nonsense that fails as often as it succeeds.<\/p>\n

The driving test is only the first step in learning to drive. Passing it means you are deemed safe to go out and gain more experience by practicing and consolidating what you learnt on your lessons. The first time you go out on your own it will be a new experience, but the second time it won\u2019t be. The more you go out, the more confident you will become. Exactly the same thing applies to something like parallel park, where the first time you try it for real you\u2019ll be nervous, but you will learn from it and begin to develop your own system. That\u2019s how it has always been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I get a lot of hits from people asking about parallel parking, so I\u2019m going to write a How To\u2026 article on the subject to go along with the others. This article isn\u2019t it \u2013 it\u2019s just a bit of a discussion. In my own experience, I\u2019ve found that the manoeuvre pupils seem to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,81,102,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adi-related","category-driving-test-related","category-general-related","category-training"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}