Fear of parking -- yes, we’re talking to you
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For those of us who dread parallel parking — I generally resort to the “touch” system, which basically involves backing up until you hit something — take comfort. We are not alone.
Parallel parking remains one of the most dreaded driving situations, with nearly one-third of U.S. drivers avoiding the procedure “as much as possible,” according to a recent online poll by Harris Interactive. Harris found that 22% of men and 35% of women avoid parallel parking “whenever possible.”
The poll was commissioned by Ford, which is flogging the “active park assist” feature offered on certain 2010 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles. (Here’s a video of how Ford’s radar-guided, automated parking system works.)
It’s no surprise that the poll found widespread parking dread — or that these findings happened to coincide with the fact that the company that commissioned the study happens to offer a product to ease that anxiety.
But there were a few gender-based findings that are worth noting.
About 43% of female drivers rated their parallel parking skills as “poor” or “fair,” compared with 21% of male drivers. On the other hand, 63% of male drivers surveyed rated women as “poor” or ”fair” parallel parkers, while only 25% of women gave men equivalent low marks.
Another intriguing statistic: 52% of U.S. drivers admitted to having parked and gotten out of the car, and then got back in to repark after realizing they had totally botched their first attempt. (That reminds me of that great scene in “Annie Hall” when Diane Keaton apologizes for her parking performance and Woody Allen replies: “That’s OK, I can walk to the curb from here.”)
And here’s a stat that may cause anxiety of a different sort for Ford, BMW, Lexus and other automakers that have rolled out park-assist features in recent years. Park-assist options ranked dead last in buyer interest among 19 automotive technologies, according to consumer surveys performed by J.D. Power & Associates. Fear of parking apparently doesn’t trump the price of these systems -- which can cost several hundred dollars. Although in fairness, it should be noted that the Harris survey did find what appears to be a higher level of buyer interest in the systems.
One last geographic nugget from the Harris survey: 35% of West Coast drivers rated themselves as lousy parallel parkers, while 74% of Northeasterners rated their parking skills as “good” or “excellent,” the highest of any region.
The only explanation I can think of for this disparity is that folks in the Northeast think “parallel parking” means knowing which side of a taxi to get out of.
-- Martin Zimmerman