According to Ford, one in three Europeans can't park on the first try

Ford has carried out a curious study whose conclusion was that 1 in 3 European citizens are unable to park on the first attempt. “Parking phobia”, as it has been dubbed at Ford, is a more common phenomenon than one might think, and the most common cause is the nerves that surface when parking, the impatience of drivers waiting for the manoeuvre to finish, and thecuriosity of pedestrians who watch it.

The survey has revealed some, to say the least, interesting results:

• 32% of European drivers admit they need more than one attempt to park parallel. The figure rises to 41% among women.
• Russian drivers rate themselves as the worst, as 44% of them said they needed more than one attempt, while 39 per cent of UK drivers admitted needing one extra attempt.

• Spanish drivers sit below the average and only 30% of respondents (24% of men and 37% of women) need more than one attempt. The best are the Germans. Only 26% of them admitted making multiple attempts when parking.
• When it comes to parking, some perceptions about gender differences persist, with 56% of European drivers believing men are better at parking than women, while only 12% said women park better. Only 4% of men think women are better at this, while 41% of women say men are superior in this area.
• In Spain, this perception is even more entrenched, as 62% of male drivers consider themselves better at parking, while only 4% think women park better. Among female drivers there is more balance: 29% think men park better and 30 per cent back women.
• Young drivers across Europe find parking as stressful as Christmas shopping, and twice as stressful as a visit from the in-laws or driving on a motorway.
• In Spain, young drivers feel as stressed by the parking manoeuvre as by a visit from the in-laws, and more than by driving on the motorway.

With these results, Ford did not hesitate to promote the Active Park Assist system available on the new Focus, the C-MAX and the Grand C-MAX, which eliminates at a stroke all the tension of parking, thereby increasing the pleasure of driving.

Source | Ford