Who's better at parallel parking?

Rotorua's Aroha Cooper reckons she is better at parking a car than her husband but it's a different story when it comes to trailers or larger vehicles.

When it comes to rating themselves out of 10, Aroha scores herself a "good 8" while husband Dave Crowe says he is a smidgen better with 8.5 out of 10, although he confesses that his Rotorua Fire Service colleagues may beg to differ.

The couple's parallel parking skills were put to the test this week by The Daily Post to find out which gender was better after the mayor of a German town sparked controversy by introducing special "easy" parking spots for women.

Mayor Gallus Strobel, from the Black Forest town of Triberg, told Germany's Spiegel magazine he introduced the spots because men were better at parking than women. The women's spaces, which are marked by female symbols, are reportedly better lit and wider, while the men-only spots have concrete pillars to negotiate and can only be reversed into.

Triberg is not the first place to introduce women's parking zones. A car park in the Chinese city of Tianjin recently introduced a women-only parking zone.

The area is marked with a pink paint scheme and includes wider spots, brighter lighting and additional guide rails.

Ms Cooper and Mr Crowe think Mr Strobel's idea is silly and say they hope nothing like that would be introduced in New Zealand.

They were each timed as they did a parallel park. Mr Crowe was faster - he completed the manoeuvre in 53.16 seconds while Ms Cooper parallel parked in 58.28 seconds. In terms of accuracy, they both managed to complete the park although Mr Crowe touched the kerb and Ms Cooper started off in reverse and said she couldn't see the back of her car.

"I don't think I did as well as I do normally," Ms Cooper said.

She said she learnt to parallel park as a teenager when she was taught by a driving instructor.

She believed she was better at parallel parking a car than Mr Crowe.

"Dave would beat me hands down for parking a trailer and backing a trailer."

Mr Crowe said he believed his parking was reasonable and he was quite happy to parallel park as long as the space was not too tight.

He said his pet hate when it came to parking was drivers not lining up their cars with lines of an angle park.

Rotorua driving instructor Allan Koller of Allan's/Big Alz Driving School said from what he had seen both genders were hesitant when it came to parallel parking. However, females generally approached a parallel park more carefully while males reversed too fast.

He thought Mr Strobel's plan to have designated parking for females and males was absolute rubbish as females were generally better at parking than males.

Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters assured Rotorua residents he would not be following in Mr Strobel's footsteps and introduce gender-specific car parks.

"Goodness gracious no ... I think it's bizarre. I think it's a hoot ... I think we have got far more important things to worry about."

 

-APN