When it comes to driving, there are a variety of techniques that people use to get around, ranging from reversing to making an emergency stop. Some are more difficult than others and a recent poll commissioned by the Accident Advice Helpline has revealed the top ten trickiest driving manoeuvres. Carried out by 2000 drivers, the poll found that parallel parking is the manoeuvre that people dread the most, with many choosing to drive up to a hundred metres further to find a better place to park.
According to David Carter, a representative of Accident Advice Helpline “parallel parking has been a thorn in drivers’ sides since the invention of the motor car. We’ve all felt the pressure of getting into a tight parking space on a busy street when there are others watching. So it’s no surprise that twice as many people said they dread parallel parking as the next most difficult manoeuvre.”
The survey revealed that nearly half of drivers admit to trying to parallel park, only to give up halfway through. A quarter of motorists have exited a car and allowed someone else to finish for them. In order to make parallel parking easier, drivers said that a reversing camera would be the best solution.
Other movements that people found tricky were reversing into a parking bay, navigating a roundabout and parking close to a kerb. Parking proved to be the most common problem across the survey, with it accounting for almost half of the top ten list.
Here is the full list of most difficult driving techniques:
- Parallel parking
- Reversing into a parking bay
- Reversing around a corner
- Three point turn
- Driving forward into a parking bay
- Reversing in a straight line
- Parking close to the kerb
- Navigating a roundabout
- Emergency stop
- Pulling up on the right side of the road
A quarter of men said they felt confident with attempting difficult techniques, while more than double the amount of women said the same thing. Carter “accidents can happen to anyone at any time, while a low speed bump when parking might not cause serious harm, accidents at roundabouts or when reversing around corners can be more dangerous.”
