Women ARE better at driving than men!

[Kelly @kelly Participant]

Occasionally I get to take the work van out. Mwb transit size. I’m in my 40s, and I have had a full license since 17 having learnt to drive in parents 8 seat people carrier.

I drove 17 seater minibuses regularly since I was 21 and have trained and passed assessments for lwb minibus at University, Scouts and various local authorities when I was teaching. As a Scout leader I also occasionally took a boat trailer as well.

Yet every time a middle aged man sees me in a car park they feel the need to take time out of their busy schedule to stare at me, and then to make helpful and unnecessary suggestions on parking or reversing.

Yesterday 2 of them at the same time.

I know they are trying to be helpful and it doesn’t come from a bad place, so I don’t wish to be rude, but it is getting a little tedious.

Some of my male colleagues are far far less confident/experienced drivers than me, and will avoid tricky parking or reversing that im fine with but no one ever seems to “help” them…

(My definition of middle age obviously means people a lot older than me 🙂 )

[silly @silly Participant]

I always think im a better driver than my male friends. A friend who now does garden landscaping for a business was about to reverse his pickup with a trailer on our narrow lane. I was about to offer my help, then remembered he’d run a business with a 60ft low loader latterly delivering equipment for railway track maintenance to remote spots down narrow country lanes. I decided if he needed any help he’d ask!

[Jack @jack Participant]

I’m a middle aged man. I drove company vans around London in my younger days and took pride in my ability to park in tiny spaces without any assistance from people or gadgets. Never bashed one parking.
I’ve just spent a lot of money on a LWB VW campervan. The very first time I took it out of my driveway I backed into my wheelie bin and broke a rear light. I could really have done with a middle aged woman to help me reverse, but she was out at work.

Hope that makes you feel better ;D

[Sammy @sammy Participant]

I work as paramedic and my male colleague decided I needed to be watched back in my ambulance (admittedly it is trust policy but rarely adhered to, and this particular person was just condescending and hard work in general). I watched with great amusement via the rear view camera as they walked backwards into a massive deep puddle….how I laughed.

[Dave J @dave-j Participant]

I’m a middle-aged man, I’m shit at parking but do sometimes help people as a pedestrian if I see they’re struggling. I don’t think I do it based on gender though.

[Baron Weasel @baron-weasel Participant]

They are probably staring because they’ve seen Mrs Weasel driving a van (she got banned from driving the works mini-bus and now refuses to drive our lwb Transit)…

Don’t take it personally 😉

[mrs lopez @mrs-lopez Participant]

@kelly You go girl! Unfortunately not all us girls are so good at driving.
I recently hired a van to help my daughter move house in Macclesfield. She moved from a flat to a house, probably about a mile and a bit away. Three journeys to and fro, probably clocked up about 10 miles in total.

All went well until the last six feet of the journey. Crashed the van into the door of the depot as I was dropping it off. Trashed the side of the van. Lost my £250 deposit. Including the £30 rental. Worked out about £28 per mile.

[mrs lopez @mrs-lopez Participant]

Maybe they’re just worried you won’t be able to see past the chip on your shoulder? 😉

[Emma @emma Participant]

Actually big vans and even 3 ton box trucks are easier to park than cars because they have good mirrors and you can gauge your distance between the box corner and an object accurately. As long as you understand how the front of a vehicle moves when you steer, reversing vans and small trucks is easy. I used to have to reverse a 3 tonner into a warehouse then make an immediate turn down the side of the building and I can understand how artic drivers can reverse with such accuracy.

Sorry to burst your bubble ;(

[soccerballz @soccerballz Participant]

Last time I drove a van, people tried to help me reverse park it too.

It might not be a fair comparison, though, I really am shit at parking HEHE!

[sophie @sophie Participant]

I agree us women are so much better at driving than men give us credit for (Not man hating just blame the media for this). But having said that everything is easier in a van. My current one has 150k on the clock all done by me.
During that length of time you get to know exactly how long, wide and the turning circle. Also vans have mirrors that actually work rather than be a design consideration and sitting higher gives a commanding field of view.

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