PARKING PRECISION
New formula gives drivers a geometrical edge
2009-12-11
Forget roasting a textbook turkey or perfect present-wrapping this month. The real test of Britons’ mettle will come as we try to park in tight spots on busy roads, with 35 million of us heading to the shops over the next few weeks.
Help, however, is at hand, as Professor Simon Blackburn, Prof. in Pure Maths at Royal Holloway, University of London, has collaborated with Vauxhall Motors to create a formula demonstrating how a parallel park is possible in one, smooth movement.
The report on the mathematics of parking was created after research revealed that over half (57%) of Britons lack confidence in their parking ability and a third (32%) would rather drive further from their destination or to a pricier car park, purely to avoid manoeuvring a tricky space.
Prof. Blackburn demonstrates the geometry of a seamless park (Fig. 2), based on a car’s wheel-base, and the minimum length of the space as calculated by the formula (Fig. 1) below. A driver needs use these as follows:
- Input car dimensions into the formula below (Fig. 1)
- Drive your car parallel to the car at HG (Fig. 2)
- Reverse your car until part of it is within the red circle (Fig. 2)
- Apply full lock and reverse until point A of your car crosses the red circle (Fig. 2)
- Once the offside wheels of your car are over the dashed circles, apply full lock to the other side (Fig. 2)
- Reverse until the car is parallel to the curb
Professor Blackburn commented: “Parking the car is something that most of us do on a daily basis – and we all get a little frustrated with it sometimes! This was the perfect opportunity to show how we can apply mathematics to understanding something that we all share.”
Simon Ewart, from Vauxhall Motors, adds: “For most of us, the best part of being behind the wheel is usually the driving! But as we found that half of Britons try more than one spot in their efforts to park, and one in ten of them switch spaces five or more times, there’s no escaping the fact that parking can be challenging for the best of drivers. Hopefully the report proving it’s possible will give people the confidence to try!”
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