Europe: One in Three Can’t Parallel Park at the First Attempt

A Ford Motor Company-commissioned poll across Europe confirmed that parallel parking ranks right up there with some of life’s most stressful moments to many motorists.

The study revealed that nearly one third of European drivers (32 per cent) said they needed more than one attempt at parallel parking, with the figure rising to 41 per cent for women.

According to the same study, Russian drivers are the words at parking, with 40 per cent saying they needed more than one try whereas 39 per cent of UK drivers admitted they needed another go.

In Germany, the situation is a little bit greener – just 26 per cent admitting to multiple parking attempts.
In Italy new drivers find parallel parking as stressful as a visit to the dentist and more stressful than Christmas shopping and a visit from the in-laws.

In addition, when it comes to parking, some perceptions about the sexes persist – 56 per cent of European drivers think men are better at parallel parking than women, while just 12 per cent said women are better parkers; only 4 per cent of men thought women were better while 41 per cent of women thought men were superior.