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roxsolid

Parallelophobia

2 hours ago
last modified: 1 hour ago

Today I learned that Portland has a parallel parking competition! What the……?

That got me thinking about how often I need to parallel park. I parallel park about twice a month. I have no issues with doing it. How about you?

eta Just talking to my husband, and he laughed at me saying twice a month. It’s more like twice a year. 🤷‍♀️

https://www.oregonlive.com/living/2026/08/hundreds-pack-portland-street-to-watch-people-parallel-park.html





Comments (17)

  • 2 hours ago

    I'm terrible at it. I failed that part of my driving exam. Thank heavens I rarely need to parallel park.

    roxsolid thanked Fun2BHere
  • 2 hours ago

    When my older kid was taking driver’s ed and asked me about parallel parking, I said my method was to avoid it altogether! But through driving with him, I can finally parallel park, on either side of the street! (one way streets might call for parking on the left) Oh Oh, and I now have my mirrors set properly, no blind spots.

    roxsolid thanked bpath
  • 2 hours ago
    last modified: 2 hours ago

    I failed parallel parking on my first driver's license test when I was 16 because I failed to center the car between the cones. I haven't needed to PP for many, many years that I can recall.

    There was a Filipino girl that I worked with that was terrible at PPing. We would watch her try thru the office windows and laugh. It would take her several tries every day before she got it right. Eventually she broke down and paid to park in a parking garage.

    roxsolid thanked LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
  • 1 hour ago

    Like others I will go way out of my way to avoid it. What is also dreaded is getting out when the other cars front and back have left me mere millimeters to do so. grrrr.


    roxsolid thanked hobbitmom
  • 1 hour ago

    I can only PP when there are two open spots so I can drive into it. PP wasn’t on my driving test. My husband has always been able to put the largest vehicles into the smallest spaces with ease. I think it must be a talent some are born with.

    roxsolid thanked KW PNW Z8
  • 1 hour ago

    I don't do it enough to be very good at it - thankfully, I don't have to do it very much 😄

    I was taught how in Driver Ed, and I have a backup camera on my car now, but still...

    roxsolid thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
  • 1 hour ago

    In my youth I lived in the city so PP was second nature. Today I live in the country with off street parking so it's rare for me to PP unless I need to go.........back into the city ;-)

    roxsolid thanked vgkg Z-7 Va
  • 1 hour ago

    “My husband has always been able to put the largest vehicles into the smallest spaces with ease. I think it must be a talent some are born with.”

    KW, my husband is like that! And backing up a trailer into a tight spot! In fact, I think he shows off a bit. 😄

  • 1 hour ago

    When we covered three-point turns in class, I just didn’t get it. Then I saw a car chase on Mannix (remember Mannix?), Joe Mannix had to turn to go the other way, boom! Three-point turn! Thanks, Joe!

    roxsolid thanked bpath
  • 1 hour ago
    last modified: 1 hour ago

    “In my youth I lived in the city so PP was second nature. Today I live in the country with off street parking so it's rare for me to PP unless I need to go.........back into the city ;-)”

    Same here. The car that I drove the most before I was married and still living in a city was a 1966 Olds Delta. It was a boat, but I never had trouble parking it.

  • 1 hour ago

    Never learned, too late now. I'm far happier parking on a side street or public lot in our small town and walking a block or two. No need to tie up traffic with my attempts.

    roxsolid thanked aok27502
  • 1 hour ago
    last modified: 1 hour ago

    bpath, a lot of people here do a version of three-point turns in the winter whether they like it or not. It’s a very fast move..

  • 1 hour ago

    In my younger days in DC where parking was tough, my friend lived on a one way street. I learned to parallel park driver's side to the curb. It was an odd kind of challenge.

    roxsolid thanked sealavender
  • 48 minutes ago

    I'm okay at it - not challenged, I don't avoid one when that's what's available but I'm not ready to enter a competition. It's easiest to do just by rote, and something that's perhaps likely to be difficult if someone overthinks that task.

    Many cars have a feature to parallel park the car on its own, with no driver intervention. As a self-guided, robotic task. A car I sold a just a few years ago had it. I mostly used it as something to play with, something to show people in the car. Usually to their amazement. On one occasion, it was of great value. We went to a favorite restaurant in a quasi-industrial district. Parking is always tight. I dropped off the riders and went looking for a spot. I found one, on a dark, unlit street. It seemed large enough but barely so. I decided to engage the self-parking feature. It expertly wiggled the car into the space better than I ever could have done.

    The same car had another feature that was useful more often - when the car was put into Reverse, the right side mirror was angled down, to offer a view of the curb, the rear wheel, and distance from the curb. I do that manually whenever I parallel park. It makes the task much easier.

    roxsolid thanked Elmer J Fudd
  • 10 minutes ago

    Roxsolid, here, too!

    I don’t get teaching parallel parking with cones. I mean, you can’t really feel when you hit them!

    Elmer, those features are cool. I suppose it would take some tensing up the first time one engages them! Then one would become accustomed.

  • 4 minutes ago

    Yes. When I got the car, I used it a number of times when it didn't matter, and when there was plenty of space, to develop some confidence in using it.

    The car could parallel park on either side, you directed which by selecting the appropriate turn signal side. It did left side parking equally well as right (I tested it by driving up to a spot while I was facing the wrong way, on the wrong side of a residential street)

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