Reversing down a long driveway can be difficult, as most of the time when you’re reversing, you’re not going perfectly straight. This slight angle can be the source of a good deal of frustration, since by the time you get to the end you might be quite a bit off-centre. Many people have found themselves...

If you live in a block of flats or have shared parking at the office, then things can get pretty rough. To start with, many parking spots are a little too narrow, or they’re angled weirdly, and designers don’t always account for the angles of entrances and obstacles. I’ve seen apartment parking where it’s nearly...

If you’re visiting another city, it’s worth keeping in mind that they might not have the same expectations for parking spots there as they do where you’re from. Paid parking might be much more common, free parking time-limits might be shorter, and even the average size and spacing of parking spots can change. Certain locales...

Sometimes, you have to make a lot of little stops. Maybe you’re carpooling, or going to a bunch of things that you’ve stuffed into a very tight schedule. Regardless of the situation, sometimes you lose more time finding a parking spot than you do stuck in traffic. And that can get really frustrating – after...

When you share a communal car park, or when you’re trying to fit into a space in a large car park like at a shopping centre or in the city, things can be pretty tight. This is especially the case if the cars next to you are badly parked or just plain oversized – or...

Everyone knows that the sun can be blinding when it gets in your eyes, whether you’re looking at it directly or just as reflected sunlight. When you’re driving and parking, the sun can be a major hazard. It forces you to squint or look away, and can prevent you from getting an accurate sense of...

You know what one of my pet peeves is? Having to factor in time for parking whenever I’m driving somewhere. It makes everything take just a little bit longer, and when you’re already running behind schedule, it can be really frustrating. Particularly if I don’t have much time left or I’m running late, it might...

There are dozens of tricks to parallel parking successfully. And like with anything that there are dozens of tricks to – how to stop hiccupping, for instance – none of them are 100% reliable. Roads and streets have all sorts of different curves and curbs, and there’s such a variety in types of vehicles and...

Moving and maneuvering is difficult, and it’s no surprise that humans have evolved all sorts of specific mechanisms to help with our movement, navigation, and orientation. We have a finely developed proprioception – the sense that lets you know where different parts of your body are in relation to each other. It helps you stay...

Even though the solstice is past, we’re still well in the middle of winter, and the nights are far longer than the days. That means that it’s difficult to gauge distances and judge the environment around your vehicle using purely conventional means like rear view mirrors and wing mirrors. On top of this, rain, fog...