The Los Angeles Times reports that an online Harris Interactive poll, commissioned by Ford, determined that 22% of men and 35% of women avoid parallel parking “whenever possible.” Other interesting statistics derived from the study are that about 43% of female drivers rate their parallel parking skills as “poor” or “fair,” compared with 21% of male drivers. Of course, 63% of male drivers surveyed rated women as “poor” or ”fair” parallel parkers, while only 25% of women gave men equivalent low marks. Another interesting statistic was 35% of West Coast drivers rated themselves as lousy parallel parkers, while 74% of Northeasterners rated their parking skills as “good” or “excellent,” the highest of any region.
While Ford and other automakers may use these statistics to market sales of their parking assist systems, we think they provide a strategy to preserve a nice car - parallel park on the street in front of lingerie stores, womens' clinics, beauty salons, dress shops, day spas, obstetricians and gynecologists since there is a greater chance a woman will not parallel park in front or back of you (but if she does there is also a greater chance she might hit you).
