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Women More Likely to Ask Someone to Park Their Car

“Parking stress” takes its toll on women when they’re behind the wheel

Sep 23, 2009 20:31 GMT  ·  By
Women succumb to “parking stress,” ask strangers to park their car, survey shows
   Women succumb to “parking stress,” ask strangers to park their car, survey shows

It has often been said that women are up to no good when they get behind the wheel for reasons ranging from their inability to focus on one thing alone (driving, that is) to not being as endowed as men when it comes to spatial orientation. A recent study comes to show that women also suffer from what is known as “parking stress,” which makes them twice more likely to ask someone else to park their car, the Telegraph informs.

The survey included 4,200 drivers, 1,428 men and 2,772 women, and was conducted by insurer Elephant in the UK. The results indicate that, when it comes to parking, women find themselves at a loss, with three quarters of them saying they are discouraged about having to back into a space even when they have enough room to maneuver. About 22 percent of female respondents also admit to giving up without even trying, regardless of whether they have enough room or not.

Parallel parking is even more tricky for women, most of them coming clean about their aversion towards it. When they know someone is watching, the so-called “parking stress” kicks in and women are twice more likely to get out of the car and go ask a stranger to park their vehicle for them. Men, on the other hand, are at the opposite pole, with just nine percent admitting to not being able to parallel-park their car. This difference comes to emphasize the old theory of women having a “blind spot” when it comes to parking.

“There is a definite difference between genders and their attitude to parking. Some people claim that generally women are not so spatially aware as men. This would certainly play a part in being able to park comfortably. The women we questioned were far more willing to admit they have trouble doing it. Nearly three times as many women say they’ve been unable to park.” Elephant Managing Director Brian Martin says of the findings of the survey to the Telegraph.

As regards the “parking stress,” figures speak louder than words: 81 percent of women become intimidated when another driver stops to wait for them to park their car (which means they are also watching), while only 56 percent of men see it this way. Because of this, approximately one in three women (amounting to 28 percent) ask another driver to help her out with parking her car. The percentage in men who do so drops to just 12%.