Are women really better at parking than men?

Round here a lot of people drive big vehicles and fill the spaces in the supermarket car park. They can park them alright, but it makes it jolly tricky getting out of a standard parking space if you come back and find one on each side of your car, so going in backwards makes a lot of sense. Reverse or paralell parking on a busy road is the thing to avoid so I always look for an off-road space if I can and think the price worth paying.

….and I ALWAYS wear my wifes clothes whenever I go out in the car – just to confound the census takers.

Parking in supermarket car parks would be much simpler if we adopted chevron parking, as used in America and in Europe. You drive straight in to a space and can reverse straight out. No having to maneouvre large cars in and out at peculiar angles. Simples!

Totally agree with sylvia re chevron parking. B&Q have a superstore in my area, lots of parking and usually pretty busy. They changed to chevron making it much easier and safer to access and exit. It also helps if you need the boot.

My experiences of parking over many years of driving has been mixed like many have commented. I think there is a gender difference, probobly based on spacial awareness and the fact that men generally are meant to have more of it. They also have more impatience and less consideration which I guess accounts for faster and less precise parking.
One topic that hasn’t been raised so far is the difference wearing glasses makes. I used to wear contact lenses and my reverse parking was pretty good, first time in and lined up well. I now wear glasses and when I get out of the car I wonder who parked it! When reversing half turned in the seat I am looking out of the edge of my glasses rather than the middle and as you know if you wear them the edges are thicker and naturally distort the view.
I find I am parking nose in more often these days even with the awkward space issue to get in evenly betweeen two parked cars.
So I think its a mix of gender, glasses, patience and consideration.

I was mostly taught to drive by my Father who, in over 40 years of motoring, never had an accident. I took my test after 3 weeks and 6 professional hour long lessons, and passed first time. I new I didn’t know it all, and could be better, but I was shocked to find just how bad car and van drivers are (incl. myself) when I moved on to take HGV (now LGV). I passed my C+E first time after 4 days instruction. Although, unlike my Father, I’ve been involved in 5 accidents, none were my fault and all would have been particularly difficult to avoid. (1) Lorry dropped a very large concrete lintel right infront of my car which flipped over onto its roof (2) a skip lorry dropped a lump of concrete right in front of me as it overtook me, and (3, 4, and 5) I’ve had three cars run into the back of me while waiting at traffic lights. I think the standard of driving, particularly amongst young males is too low. I’d like to see new car drivers limited to vehicles that can’t exceed 50mph for a year, then 60mph for their second year (both years being years that they own and insure a car), and have these periods extended if they get driving related points. I’d also like to see all cars showing coloured squares that indicate the driving record (years no claims discount) Black=0, Brown=1, Red=2, …, Silver=10, Gold=15.
As for parking, people should reverse in to parking bays, house drives etc. and it should be made legally binding As for ‘Steve’, if you can’t see properly with those glasses, you shouldn’t be driving, and why do you need to half turn round, you could reverse using your wing mirrors – how do you think articulated lorry drivers reverse?
I get really annoyed by car drivers that can’t drive or park their cars, yet leave enough room for a bicycle and expect an articulated lorry to squeeze through. An example of this. Confronted by a collection of cars parked on both sides of a narrow road, I pulled up to allow cars from the opposite direction to negotiate the hazard. The last car, a Ford Ka, suddenly pulled up such that its back end was stuck out into the middle of the road. The driver flashed her lights, but it was obvious that I wasn’t going to fit through, so I flashed mine back. She again flashed hers. So I got out of my Army recovery truck towing a trailer with another lorry on it, and walked over to talk to the driver. It turned out to be a blond in her 20’s. I said that she needed to go first. She replied that she didn’t think there was enough room. I pointed out that several other cars all larger than hers had already gone through. This puzzled her. She again stated that I should go first as she was sure she wouldn’t fit through. I tried another tack. If your tiny Ford Ka won’t fit through, what makes you think that very large lorry will fit through. In an extreme but oh so typical attitude of car drivers, she stated that my lorry might be longer, but surely it was the same width as her car.
I eventually persuaded her to drive through slowly with me directing, and I thought she was going to have a panick attack. Nearly a minute later she had ‘squeezed’ between two cars parked opposite to each other while trying to sit on the handbrake (so she could see better) – she explained why she was sure she was going to hit the car on her nearside was because she couldn’t see all of that car.
A truly frighteningly scatty female with zero spacial awareness that in my opinion should never have managed to pass her driving test.
And that’s just one reason why everyone needs to retake their driving test every few years.

I think the whole business of reversing into parking spaces is total tosh most bumps in car parks are not caused by people reversing out of spaces but by inconsiderate, impatient and mostly male drivers who see someone reversing out of a space and then proceed to insist on driving past rather than waiting patiently and considerately for you to finish your manouevre. Most of the problems raised by everyone who has posted could be solved by just a little more patience and consideration for other road users not by making reverse parking compulsory!