SW17LS

Thought this might make for an interesting discussion. Maryland passed a bill today that removes parallel parking from the state's driving test.

I think this is ridiculous. As it is all you have to do is drive across a parking lot, back up 20 feet, do a 3 point turn, parallel park and then drive back across the parking lot. The state requires no road driving to pass the test.

Its not like our state is all rural. We border Washington, DC. Baltimore. I parallel park every day. I was on the eastern shore last week in Cambridge and St Michaels and parallel parked both places.

What is so wrong with wanting kids to demonstrate they can drive a car to get a license?!?

RXSF

Parallel parking is not part of the test in California, or at least in San Francisco. They make you pull into a diagonal spot at the end of the exam but that's it. I have always criticized this as it is a simple thing that everyone should know how to do. It is already way too easy to get a license and there are tons of people on the street that dont know how to drive -- i am referring to the slow pokes out there who drive like grandma

mmarshall

Getting my Virginia Driver's License, my U.S. Government Driver's License, and my FAA Private-Pilot's License (which I earned not far from your place, at Montgomery County Airpark) were some of the biggest secular events of my life. But, regardless of the license-requirements, a lot of kids today just don't seem to be all that interested in driving at all. They are so busy texting, playing video games, on Smart-Phones, downloading music, and using other electronic toys that many of them would just as soon get around by riding around in (no offense, since I know you just bought one) ...... Mom's minivan.

It wasn't that way when I was growing up in the 1960s, when it seemed like the whole world revolved around cars, especially during that classic age of American muscle machines (which, unfortunately, were quite dangerous in the hands of immature or unskilled drivers). Back then, once you became a Junior or Senior in High School, of driving age, if you continued to ride the school bus each day or were driven to and from school by a parent, that was most definitely un-cool.


I don't know this for a fact, but, just on a guess, I suspect it might (?) be because of the state's (and particularly in Montgomery County) enormous population of both legal and undocumented immigrants that come from cultures where driving a car (when cars are available at all) is much simpler and less-regulated. They are an enormously powerful voting-bloc in the state, and most Maryland politicians in the D.C.-Baltimore-Annapolis region of the state probably don't want to p*** them off. We have some of the same issues, to a lesser extent, right across the river here in Northern Virginia.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

I'm sorry but parallel parking is still an important maneuver to know. What the heck Maryland??

I had to parallel park for my drivers test in the East Bay

pman6

too many people were probably failing parallel parking, so they removed it.

California used to have parallel park when I took the test.

Now we have to wait for idiots blocking the road trying to squeeze into a spot. Thank you government.

mmarshall

What is your definition of "slowpoke", and "like Grandma"? Usually, on a driving test, the Examining Officer (or other DMV representative) will want you to drive fast enough to keep up with at least the majority of traffic, but not fast enough that you are substantially busting the posted speed limits.

SW17LS

Totally absurd...with all the distractions today, training and testing needs to get harder, not easier.

rogerh00

Sorry to hear this.. Entitlement is the name of the game now. Why bother giving a road test at all? Might as well just put a sticker on their cell phones so their good to go.

Individual

iTrader: (7)

It is in an important and efficient maneuver to learn, and I use it every day at work. It's pretty bad how some people are at attempting to park into a parallel spot without parallel parking.

I can see it being taken away from the state if the drivers won't be driving out of state, but won't these drivers be travelling out of state eventually for vacation, errands, etc. and will need to learn the proper way to parallel park?

Lexmex

Although I don't use it a heck of a lot in Florida, I do remember practicing it over and over so that I could pass their license test as a teen.

FrankReynoldsCPA

I rarely parallel park, but i remember it being part of my driving test in rural Utah....we actually had to go search for a place to demonstrate it on the test.

JDR76

Seems crazy to me. Maryland is definitely not alone, according to this article:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...ests/27671165/

Who knew? (I did not)

T0ked

iTrader: (2)

The problem is that in the US, driving is considered a right and not a privilege. Driving tests should be getting more difficult and not easier. There are enough idiots out there who don't know how to drive as it is. From not being able to parallel Park to not know when/how to use a damn turn signal.

jimbosr1

every time i used to drive downtown baltimore there was always somebody double parking anyway.

mmarshall

Legally, in all 50 states, it is a privilege, not a right, but, it is usually treated as a right, unless you screw up to the point where your license is suspended or revoked.

It's sometimes hard to make driving tests more difficult when cars themselves, today, do so many things for you electronically........yes, even parallel-park themselves in some cases. That feature can be found on models as small and inexpensive as the Ford Focus.


They know full well how to use a turn signal....most of the time, when they don't, it's either just laziness or distractions from other things in the car. My brain, for example, was programmed from my very first lessons behind the wheel, and I've always used the signals instinctively when turning or lane-changing, without even having to think about it.