Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/02/27/how-to-parallel-park-perfectly.html
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How to parallel park perfectly “every time”
Simple, push the button:
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I prefer to rely on the kindness of strangers to guide me.
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I like to be closer to the curb than the overhead view shows, especially in the city where you really don’t want to be sticking out in the traffic lane. And it’s nicer to cyclists too.
Sometimes I do the “park by touch” with the tires against the curb, especially the front. Yeah, sometimes I scrape the wheel covers, but it’s a city car, they should look like crap. (They’re more protected on my current car, but previous cars I owned had the license plates molded to the bumper from others (okay maybe me too) parking “by touch.”)
Also it’s a bit challenging when the cars you’re parking between are poorly parked. So, in the case of this video, he’s just equally poorly parked far from the curb. But I prefer to be a bit better. I really hate when after parallel parking, getting perfectly lined up between the cars, only to get out and see they’re both far from the curb.
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Wow, I thought I was bad for ending up too far from the curb most of the time. I stand corrected.
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hahaha. Since I got a car with a good turning radius, I find myself diving in head-first most of the time, then trying to align.
It’s a bit more of a struggle but I hate pulling ahead, then going in reverse with a blinker on if there’s anyone behind me.
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“Parking by Braille” was the term of art I’d learned as a youth, but lining up one’s steering wheel with the car in front was an easy trick to learn.
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Same as my F350
When they redid sections of highway with the ridges along the shoulder, my friends and I would often 'drive by braille."
we were young and stupid and lucky.
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Are people seriously taught to park by touch?! I’m astounded.
Also, isn’t it generally a bad idea to turn the front wheels while stationary?
It used to be almost impossible in the days before power steering. Unless you are spending many happy hours just turning your wheels while parked, I don’t think you’re gonna wear the trad unevenly or anything…
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No. Any wear is negligible compared to wear induced by cornering at speed. Also, power steering makes it easier and quicker to turn the wheels with minimal scuffing.
When I was in high school, on the road test in my state, any contact with the curb while parallel parking was an automatic failure at the level of ‘stop the test and the examiner drives the car back.’
And I thought I was bad.
Actually, I was bad. Tried to parallel park my Dodge Caravan into a perfectly adequate space. Totally cocked it up, managed to get my back wheel up on the curb, etc. Got in on the 3rd try.
But worst was I was doing this in front of a frat house having an afternoon party. I could hear the roars of laughter midway through the 2nd attempt. When I finally made it, I got out to tremendous jeering, so I did all that I could think of. Bowed to the crowd, then turned and walked away.
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Always a good response! 
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