Comments on: How to Parallel Park…Like a Man!

By: Hans Verhoog

Hans Verhoog — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:11:57 +0000

I just read this one and it made me smile. I know many Americans who can’t parallel park simply because they never have to do it!

In The Netherlands our town are much more compressed due to their medieval origins, when a small circular town was easier to defend and thus we have lots of parallel parking going on. It’s never easy but my advice would be:
Don’t lose your cool, turn of the music and focus on the task at hand. Suggest your company to leave the car while you park, maybe they can help or redirect other traffic.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 01:43:25 +0000

I love how the picture is of a bug, I own a 67 bug and they are the easiest to park in any situation. Small and turns like magic, most times you don’t even have to parallel park like shown. Granted if I won’t hold up traffic I’ll brush up my skills!

By: Simon J Stuart

Simon J Stuart — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:40:44 +0000

I live in the UK (England, specifically) where parallel parking is a universal requirement for passing licensing tests for any vehicle with a reverse gear (I say this because I also hold a motorcycle license, on which parallel parking is done in the “Flintstone” gear and so isn’t a test requirement)… I digress…

I just wanted to say that this step-by-step breakdown and the accompanying diagram constitute the single best explaination I’ve come accross on the subject of parallel parking (and worlds better than my instructors’ attempts at explaining it)

You kept it simple… like a MAN!

By: Fred

Fred — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:37:32 +0000

The best post was Kurt’s.
I say that not because the other techniques don’t work but rather because if you follow the steps it requires no adjustment regardless of the vehicle. I have one addition:
0) Pull up next to the vehicle in front as close as you feel comfortable.
(usually not less then 1ft)
The closer you can get the more slack the process will give you.

As an added note in particularly tight spaces the time you drive straight #3 may be zero, getting closer to the vehicle in front will tend to make step #3 longer.
Thanks Kurt for step #3, I have always kind of squashed 3&4 together.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 01:02:26 +0000

When I was learning, my driving teacher told me to start by pulling up alongside the front car “steering wheel to steering wheel” to make sure we were perfectly even. Great start, but hard to guesstimate from inside my car. Recently I discovered that “side mirror to side mirror” is much easier.

By: Tato

Tato — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 03:33:55 +0000

In Mexico we parallel park everyday, just a few places have private perpendicular parking so most people park parallel in the street.
I’ll say I’m pretty good at it but sometimes I park pretty badly if I’m in a rush.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 03:14:18 +0000

I have to admit, Parallel parking is one of the few things I’m pretty good at. Why? Well I pretty much learned to drive in Massachusetts, so parallel parking in tight spots is a vital skill.

On that note, I learned no-nonsense driving in Mass. I’m frustrated with hick Midwestern/Western drivers who go slow and don’t know how to pass, or just love to cruise in blind-spots. Toughen up people! Don’t drive 10 under the speed limit please!

By: fatih uzgur

fatih uzgur — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:12:56 +0000

no need to read the article if you live in Turkey. In our country you can’t be a real driver if you can’t parallel park..

By: Johnnie

Johnnie — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 01:16:52 +0000

I used to drive a truck OTR. One boring weekend waiting to deliver in San Fransico not long after I started driving, another driver taught me to parallel park a tractor with a 48′ trailer. I’ve always been proud of that ability.

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:35:54 +0000

I am in fact a master parallel parker. It is amazing how impressed both men and women can be for managing what should be a universal skill in one attempt. I did have to do a parallel park for my driver’s ed course. The two most valuable things I learned in that class where how to parallel park and how to MERGE. The inability to merge is one of my pet peeves but that is neither here nor there. My grandfather is a true man’s man and I think the day I became a man in his eyes is when I parallel parked his car on a busy street first try. He boasted to the rest of the family about how good of a driver I was, he was probably so proud because everyone says I am just like him.