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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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 ;-)

“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. 😄

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!

“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.

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.

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..

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.

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, 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.

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)

I sat through two light changes waiting on the person in front of me to parallel park between two cars. They finally gave up and drove on when the light turned green for the third time. And no, no one honked or yelled at that driver. But if it had gone on much longer……………..

"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. "

My first two vehicles in the city were a 63' Ford Galaxy 500 and a Dodge Voyager Van, I had to learn how to do it right and tight.

I never had a problem parallel parking when I was young but I haven't had to in years. As far as backing a trailer into a tight spot, about 15 years ago after my mom passed DD and I were driving home to NE from FL with a 26 foot cab-over moving van towing Mom's car. behind. Every time we anticipated congested highways, having to park or gassing up I'd have her drive, since she handles trailers and all like a pro.

@roxsolid I forgot to tell you this about your post - Portland, OR city motto is this ”Keep Portland Weird”. There is signage around town about it. I found this on a quick lookup ”“Keep Portland Weird” is the unofficial slogan of Portland, Oregon, created to promote and support local, independent small businesses”

I'm proud to brag that I'm an excellent parallel parker 😆 I took driver's ed and practiced in my dad's huge Chrysler Newport. He made sure I learned how to parallel park. We practiced over and over.

Today I drive a mid size SUV and can parallel park it into any spot.

Thanks Dad 😁

i do ok with it but prefer not to have to PP.

i was, however, a force to be reconned with whenever i had to put my truck and horse trailer (bumper pull as opposed to gooseneck) into spots without a lot of wiggle room. i was the envy of many cowboys at trail rides although they would never have admitted it. i can remember a few times when i was backing into a prime parking spot (a nicely shaded area close to the convenient water source) when a few men stood around watchhing and i'm sure, waiting for me to fail. always got my truck/3-horse trailer positioned perfectly on the first try.