Why women avoid tricky manoeuvres

It has long been a point of discussion and disagreement among drivers about who is better at parking – men or women? As with everything, there are sure to be exceptions to the rule but is often asserted amongst male drivers that they are by far the superior parker! Unfortunately for us women folk, it seems that science may be against us.

Studies have shown that women are slower and less accurate at parking than men. Female drivers take, on average, 20 seconds longer to park their car than men and are still less likely to position their vars in the middle of the bay.

The test involved 65 drivers who were asked to park an Audi A6 family saloon in a standard sized parking space. Different manoeuvres were carried out including head on, parallel and reverse. The manoeuvres were timed and judged on accuracy and how far the vehicle was kept away from the edges of the space. It was expected that the slower female approach might lead to tidier results but alas this was not the case. It seems safe to conclude therefore that women have less spatial awareness and co-ordination than their male counterparts.

This is not a sexist or anti-feminist result, it just backs up the previously thought differences between men and women’s spatial awareness and how their brains work. There is no major failing here, it’s just about parking at the end of the day. Why not make life easier for yourself with a Vehicle Camera. For more information, visit http://www.backwatch.co.uk/.

The Driving Standards Agency has revealed that ladies are twice as likely as men to fail their driving test for shoddy reversing skills. A grand total of 40,863 ladies failed in 2011 for not controlling the car while reverse parking. There were 942,000 serious or dangerous errors from the girls compared to 718,000 from the boys. Living up to their own stereotype however, more males failed from speeding than females.

Some believe women suffer a lack of confidence when confronted with tasks involving spatial ability and that their performance improves when they are given a few words of encouragement. Other women have blamed their breasts as a reason why they find it hard to look around when reversing!

It seems that this stereotype is not just a British thing either. South Korea’s capital Seoul has introduced larger parking spaces, specifically for women! Whether you like it or not, the spaces are edged with pink painted lines complete with mini-skirted logo. The aim is not to stigmatise but to make the city more female friendly. The city has also gone so far as installing stiletto friendly flooring near the spaces.

Germany has got in on the act too with many parking lots equipped with women only parking spaces. In some regions, the law actually forces parking lot owners to designate 30% of their spaces to women only drivers. Some women will welcome this but others will feel that they are being told they are somehow not as good at driving so need special measures put in place.