The Art of the Parallel Park

Younger daughter is determined to get her driver’s license before the end of her fairly-long winter break on February 5th so she scheduled her driving test before she returns to school. She is fairly confident that she will pass. There are a few things we still need to work on:

1. Slow down when heading into a turn. When I admonished her about this little gaffe she replied….”Mom, you’re the only person I know who slows down when heading into a turn!” Really?! Once I set Trixie straight, she is now making very nice turns and I have peeled myself away from the passenger window.

2. Better judge distance on your right. There are some bushes in Wallingford that wishes she mastered this lesson sooner. She only slightly brushed them but embellishment makes for a better story.

3. Parallel Parking. The bane of a new driver’s existence. I did the typical parent thing and put two metal trash cans simulating a parking space in the street for her to park between….perhaps I should have used plastic cans. Regardless, this lesson is going swimmingly and to help illustrate the experience, I staged a little demonstration with these toy cars (notice the Mini):


Wait, what?

I am in the space!

This space ain't big enough for the three of us....

This is, of course, an exaggeration at the expense of my good-natured daughter. In the unlikely event that any PennDot driving testers or insurance company representatives follow this blog, please know that she is an excellent and responsible driver and her minor blunders are part of the learning experience.

My trash cans were dented already anyway.

Thank you to Champion Driving School for the excellent and professional driving instruction.


© KOPO