Monday October 29, 2001
They are now designing the Self Parking Car, which might be fine in some countries, but probably not in France, or at least in Paris. While walking the streets of Paris I wondered at how they managed to parallel park with hardly any space between the cars. It was during lunch at a sidewalk Bistro that I finally observed the secret method. First off you have to realize that probably 99% of all cars are standard transmission, which may provide for a little more "play" when they are parked. Parisians performing parallel parking push the bordering cars with a gentle bumper nudge, providing an additional six inches or so of room to maneuver. Visualize elbowing your way through a dense crowd and you should get the idea.