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Study suggests women don't park as well as men do(+Chinese Woman-Only Parking spaces

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Old 12-27-09, 09:44 AM
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STIG
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Default Study suggests women don't park as well as men do(+Chinese Woman-Only Parking spaces

I really can't believe this. zOMG!

Link: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/27/u...s-well-as-men/

We've heard this before: men are better at parking than women. It sounds like a bunch of macho male ego BS that's been perpetuated since the days of Leave it to Beaver (happy 94th birthday, Barbra Billingsley!) and Father Knows Best, but the U.K.'s Telegraph reports that a study shows that this myth may not be far from reality.

Dr Claudia Wolf from Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany lead a study of 65 men and women, testing different parking maneuvers of both sexes. The vehicle of choice was an Audi A6, and test subjects were timed during head-on, reverse and parallel parking. Parking accuracy was also measured. The end result? Men parked their vehicles an average of 20 seconds faster than women while also managing to park the Audi closer to the center of the spot. Dr. Wolf says the study demonstrates that men have better spatial awareness than women, but the good doctor was sure to keep men's egos in check by adding, "it is not as if there was a massive failing by women. It is just about parking – not the triumph of men over women."

We're not sure that a study of 65 random test subjects is a big enough sample to definitively say that men are better parkers than women, but the test does give guys a small feather to stick in their caps nonetheless. We'd suggest not bragging about it to your wives and girlfriends, though, because that could lead to... unpleasantness.
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Old 12-27-09, 10:21 AM
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Once again, money wasted on a STUPID study. Go look at youtube, there's all the test subjects you need for proof.
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Old 12-27-09, 11:00 AM
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tuan92129
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Originally Posted by Jewcano
Once again, money wasted on a STUPID study. Go look at youtube, there's all the test subjects you need for proof.
^^ +1

Maybe because men drive more than women -> more experience.
With that small sample size, driving experience (age distribution of the sample) could differ from the actual population of men/women drivers.
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Old 12-27-09, 11:42 AM
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I8ABMR
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men are more aware of their surrounding imo. I think its hilarious that someone funded a study for this
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Old 12-27-09, 12:31 PM
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I can't believe they needed a study to prove this.

Originally Posted by I8ABMR
men are more aware of their surrounding imo.
I think this is true too. Nothing against a woman's abilities, but it seems that senses do vary from men and women. To be fair, some senses may be stronger for women.

Men definitely seem to have a greater spacial sense. Whether it's driving or whether it's calculating/estimating/judging the size or distance of something. Men just seem to have an edge. Same concept applies to sports and is partly why men advance in sports more (aside from the strength issue).
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Old 12-27-09, 01:01 PM
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a woman researcher says men are better parker than women. so now men have proof when you get into arguments. sample size is a bit small but not too bad.

women are better at things than men and men are better at other things. cause the world don't move to the beat of just one drum, what might be right for you may not be right for some.
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Old 12-27-09, 01:26 PM
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What matters is not necessarily the results of one study, where the conditions (and the vehicle choices) are carefully controlled. Lab tests don't show you everything. In the real world of everyday parking in lots, curbs, side streets, driveways, etc.....women often (but not always) have more things on their mind than men and have to deal with more things at once, including kids, car seats, shopping, packages, schedules, etc.....

So, in other words, with women, it's sometimes more of a matter of just get the vehicle parked, get the kids out, and get going, more so than men. Under those conditions, one is naturally going to be less likely of doing a perfect job centering the vehicle between the lines or close to the curb.
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Old 12-27-09, 03:46 PM
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All you need to do is review all of the vid's out there of women drivers (there is alot) and you will see what you are looking for. Estimated time, mabey a few days, you dont need to conduct a further study especially when you know what the outcome will be.
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Old 12-27-09, 04:30 PM
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Entertaining article and study.
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Old 12-27-09, 04:39 PM
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I can't believe the things people do studies on ...
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Old 12-27-09, 04:43 PM
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They also just completed another study saying that the Sun is hotter than the Earth.
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Old 12-27-09, 06:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Faymester
I can't believe the things people do studies on ...
Believe it. That's the way government agencies often operate. They are given X number of public, taxpayer dollars every year. If they don't spend all of the money on daily operations, they will just LOOK for things at the end of the fiscal year to blow it on, rather than turn some of it back in.......turning it back in is considered a strict no-no.

To show how silly this can sometimes get, my agency had some extra dollars left over one year......and bought new carpeting for the office, even though it was not needed. Another year, everybody got new office chairs, even though the old ones were still perfectly good.

Now, of course, this particular study (apparantly) occurred at a university, in Germany.....not a Government agency. But universities often conduct tests/studies with government-grant money, and the effect is still the same.
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Old 12-27-09, 06:59 PM
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Originally Posted by theanimala
They also just completed another study saying that the Sun is hotter than the Earth.
link please? ;p

lmao im kinda pissed someone would fund a study like this
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Old 12-27-09, 07:06 PM
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I will say I know a few women that can't back up straight and they blame the road but when you actually see them, they turn the wheel causing them to back up not straight. LOL In some cases I can completely believe this, but in some, I have seen some good driving females.
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Old 12-27-09, 07:43 PM
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A study wasn't really needed for this.

But honestly, I don't know if there's as huge a discrepancy between male and female drivers as some would think. I've seen some really, really, really, really, really bad male drivers. Including ones driving subcompact vehicles that take over a minute to back out of a parking space.

That said, as someone who's always been clumsy, horrible at sports and anything to do with catching or throwing a ball, I might have to add myself to that list. It's not that it takes me long to back out--rather I do it too quickly, misjudge, and wind up with small dings and scrapes on my car.

Some people are just better at judging space/size than others.
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