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I'm too nervous to go driving as I can't park

Hey guys. I've been driving a while now and I can drive quite well. I feel perfectly fine in busy traffic as well as tight situations. I've also driven for a couple of hours on the motorways on a few occasions now, but I really don't like going out in the car unless I know parking will be easy for me.

Whenever I've had to reverse into a parking space, (Parallel parking or in a car park) my mind turns to jelly. I'm terrible for doing something like turning the wheel in the totally wrong direction and then putting myself into a situation where I'm right up against another car. I've actually brushed up against a few cars because of this and I've been incredibly lucky that neither car has been scratched.

I know that you have to practice to become better at things but I can't even reverse into double sized spots and get the car facing straight against the kerb. I just wish there was a way of practicing on my own without the worry of damaging the car. Its like I need to go into simulator of my car for the weekend until I get better. But obviously I can't do that.

Anyone else feel this way about parking?

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Reply 1
I'm also very worried about reverse parking etc specially as the area i live in is plagued with cars, and no space at all. hence not brought a car yet
(edited 13 years ago)
You're not going to get better without practice. Fact. Get out there and do it.
Reply 3
Book another couple of lessons
Reply 4
For Parallel parking the best thing to do is find somewhere you can go and practice. Ideally a quiet street somewhere with a few scattered parked cars. Then just have a go and see if you can improve.

For car parks. How about driving into the space and then reverse out. I tend to find that easier than trying to reverse into a car park space.

The things I've found that help is to go gently (don't try and rush it) and leave plenty of space (don't go to close to the car you're trying to park behind for parallel parking, don't try and turn into a space when your close to the backs of the cars either side)
Reply 5
I have similar troubles, having learnt in a Fiesta which is a fair bit shorter than my Focus. I can only advise you to keep practicing; as above, find an area with scattered parked cars. If there's just one car to reverse next to then it's less worry on your part.

Personally I've just managed to avoid it since everywhere I've gone in my car I've managed to bay park somewhere, there's been little need for parallel. Suits me since I won't be driving again until after uni.. 3 years away.
Reply 6
You can just go to any patch of waste ground, abandoned car park, industrial estate, whatever, set up a couple of cones, rocks, whatever and try and park between them.
Going forwards into a car park space then backing out is fine. In fact, it's far more useful than backing in when you go to a supermarket, so that you can get to your boot to put the week's shopping in.
Reply 8
i've yet to parrallel park since passing 7 months ago, mainly because i have'nt needed to. When i first passed and for a few months after, i've made a hash of the odd reversing job - trick is to not care. screw anyone waiting, take your time, as long as theres no insurance claims there are no problems.
Reply 9
Original post by Benjamoon
trick is to not care. screw anyone waiting, take your time, as long as theres no insurance claims there are no problems.


This is true in so many ways when driving. Forget the others who are around, go as slowly as you feel comfortable.. no need to rush things.
As I've said before, screw everyone else on the road- look after yourself and those in your car first and foremost.
Original post by Benjamoon
i've yet to parrallel park since passing 7 months ago, mainly because i have'nt needed to. When i first passed and for a few months after, i've made a hash of the odd reversing job - trick is to not care. screw anyone waiting, take your time, as long as theres no insurance claims there are no problems.


in 7 months youve never had to parallel park? parking in your area must be very generous lol :smile:
Reply 11
you know when you're parking, you can stop if its not going well you know. Just press the clutch and the brake.
Reply 12
go out to a carpark at night when theres no one around and practice. thats what im going to do. passed my test nearly 2 weeks ago n ive just been forward parking. dont want to get into the habbit of it though so im going out tonight to suss out this bloody reverse bay park lol!
I can't reverse park either.

Just tried to reverse park where there were 2 empty bays next to each other, was going for the first one, ended up in the middle of both. Then moved forward and ended up in the other bay, but it was alright, my car was in between the lines :biggrin:

But I am also very anxious about going out. I'm always tempted not to go out if I will have to bay park.
For example today, I had about 6 eyes on me in the local corner shop car park whilst parking.
I guess I'm also worrying too much about what others will think, e.g. laughing at me/getting pissed off.

And it'd be even worse if I had 2 reverse park between 2 cars :frown: Any tips. Roughly when should I start locking the wheel?

I have an astra hatchback so the back is more or less flat. So should I just use my back seats as a rough reference point for when to start turning the wheel?
I honestly don't bother with reverse bay parking - I find it a lot easier to reverse out. Basically the longer you drive by yourself the more you will realise what works for you - as long as it's legal and safe it really doesn't matter too much, 'manoeuvres' are basically things which give you the tools to control your car better, they don't have to be the be all/end all.

And as other people have said, screw other drivers - just stay safe and legal and you're fine. I drove from home to Uni at night for the first time recently, roughly a 2-hour drive along busy motorways, and I was shocked by some the stuff people try at 70 mph xD
I used to be like you, but it just got to me that I learnt to drive, and I would never because I was always afraid of parking. So, everytime I went out, I'd try and park a different way before i.e. I'd try reverse bay parking if there were 2 or 3 empty bays in a row (bay parking wasn't classed as a manouvre at my test centre) and now, it's second nature. Just go out when it's less busy and practise, it really helps :smile:. I usually use the rear bumper in my side mirror/by leaning over as a guide when I'm reversing in. If I'm too close to a car or not near the lines, I'll stop and correct it, it's no big deal.
Reply 16
For reverse bay parking and parallel parking, a tip for you is that you dont have to do these like you did in the test....

for example what i do which for me is a million times easier is that instead of being parallel to the other cars (bay parking) or parallel to the space (parallel parking), angle the car so that the bonnet is further away from the space. that way you dont need to turn the wheel as much and less correcting is needed...not a good description i know but its hard to put it in words lol
Reply 17
Original post by robofish999
Hey guys. I've been driving a while now and I can drive quite well. I feel perfectly fine in busy traffic as well as tight situations. I've also driven for a couple of hours on the motorways on a few occasions now, but I really don't like going out in the car unless I know parking will be easy for me.

Whenever I've had to reverse into a parking space, (Parallel parking or in a car park) my mind turns to jelly. I'm terrible for doing something like turning the wheel in the totally wrong direction and then putting myself into a situation where I'm right up against another car. I've actually brushed up against a few cars because of this and I've been incredibly lucky that neither car has been scratched.

I know that you have to practice to become better at things but I can't even reverse into double sized spots and get the car facing straight against the kerb. I just wish there was a way of practicing on my own without the worry of damaging the car. Its like I need to go into simulator of my car for the weekend until I get better. But obviously I can't do that.

Anyone else feel this way about parking?


Go to a quiet car park (like a PC world car park or something) in the evenings, or an industrial estate, and practice!
Original post by 94_confessions
I used to be like you, but it just got to me that I learnt to drive, and I would never because I was always afraid of parking. So, everytime I went out, I'd try and park a different way before i.e. I'd try reverse bay parking if there were 2 or 3 empty bays in a row (bay parking wasn't classed as a manouvre at my test centre) and now, it's second nature. Just go out when it's less busy and practise, it really helps :smile:. I usually use the rear bumper in my side mirror/by leaning over as a guide when I'm reversing in. If I'm too close to a car or not near the lines, I'll stop and correct it, it's no big deal.


how can u see the rear bumper in ur mirror?
Original post by garlicbreadman
how can u see the rear bumper in ur mirror?


Becuase the back of my car is wider than the front, I can see the corner of it in my mirror.

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