A lost art.

[buttless_wonder]

When I was a kid getting my learners permit in 1977 I was required to take a Drivers Education course and one of the skills I had to demonstrate was the ability to parallel park. Once explained by the instructor it was an easy skill to master.

It now seems there is no need for people to know how to do this and I have no understanding at all. My thoughts, and I could be wrong, suggest if you are unable to pilot your vehicle into a parking space at under 1mph you have no right what-so-ever piloting the same vehicle down the highway at 65+mph.

Just yesterday I saw some guy attempt to parallel park his little Smart Car into a space large enough to accomodate a Ford Excursion and it took him five tries and he still ended up about 6 feet from the curb. When he got out I was laughing and he wanted to know why. My answer was quite simple:
“That’s not parked, it’s abandoned”. As you can imagine the dumbass called me an asshole.

To make matters worse automobile manufacturers are equipping their vehicles with an automatic parking feature.

[Patt]

When I was getting my learner's permit and taking Driver's Ed, circa 1976, we too had to parallel park. There was a specific place in town where the big orange cones were left out during that part of the year where this was on the docket. Great thing about the town I lived in then, there were picnic tables nearby. Standard fare in the fall - go watch the idiots try to parallel park. Made for a hoot and a half on most days. But you had to curb yourself, cuz you just knew - one day, that's me. ACK !!

http://www.driversedguru.com/wp-content/gallery/jamie-gallery/parallel-parking-cones.jpg

[sunny]

BW... I laugh at this, as I am remembering watching an old guy go back and forth in a parking spot, trying to park... as he went forward, he hit the car in front of him... as he went backwards, he hit the car behind him... this momentum continued until he was finally parked. All three vehichles were mercedes....

things that make you want to scream!

There were several of us that stood there and watched this guy... he cursed everytime he hit a car... never did see the other car owners appear... though we did wait for quite awhile..

[eyeonyou]

What I remember the most about getting my license is that I was pissed my birthday came on a day they weren't open, Arrgghhhh..... The other thing was the three point turn. The Trooper told me to execute one and I asked him if he was ready? He popped off, yes. I did a perfect three point turn and was headed the other way in about 3 seconds. LOL, he cussed. He said, "Damn, a little fast wasn't it?" I said yes, but I did it correctly and I am NOT going to mess around in the middle of the road. :D

He called me a smart ass, I laughed. He docked me a point because I laughed...... I laughed the rest of the time........Hell I could already drive the wheels off of anything at 16.

I never killed anyone either......What? LOL

Good thing we weren't on dirt or it wouldn't have required reverse at all. :)

[sunny]

EYE..... why does that not surprise me one bit???

good grief.... reminder to all... when you are with EYE... do not let the man drive... he will scare you to death... on purpose! ...... and be giggling away!

[eyeonyou]

EYE..... why does that not surprise me one bit???

good grief.... reminder to all... when you are with EYE... do not let the man drive... he will scare you to death... on purpose! ...... and be giggling away!

But I am very good at it. I have always been lucky too, especially back in the day. I am so glad I never hurt anyone when I was the (thinking) fastest, best, quickest from point A to point B, took curves faster than anyone in any car, eh, just use which ever one as all fit. Yeah I was LUCKY!!!!!!!!!

And only 3 speeding tickets in excess of 100 MPH. :D One of them in Forsyth, Ga. for 45 minutes and still made it to Atlanta in 6:45. :) 500 miles in under 6 hours driving time.

Don't try that today. But this fool pulled it off. LOL

[hitekredneck]

hell, i never had the benefit of "driver ed" in school...my step-dad, after they started getting tough on drunk driving, started me off in a nearly destroyed mack dump truck....no box, the boom was chained to the frame, no glass, had to sit on a peach crate, and it had a browning 5/4 tranny....i was 12...he sat me on that crate, pointed out the throttle, brakes, clutch, showed me how to shift then left me alone the rest of the day....and eye, when i moved from lancaster ca back to grand junction co, damned near 800 miles in just over 9 hours....including stopping for gas, and driving thru a snowstorm...lol...had an olds delta 98 with a 403 out of a trans am that had been slightly modified....we won't even discuss the speeds i hit when stationed in germany...hehehe