Tech no help: Amdavadis fail parallel parking test

Parallel parking has become the single biggest hurdle at driving licence tests in Gujarat, tripping up three out of every four candidates who fail, even when their cars come fitted with parking sensors and reverse cameras.

The struggle is so real that some applicants are now arriving with vehicles equipped with 360-degree cameras just to get past it.While the overall failure rate for light motor vehicle (LMV) driving tests has dropped to 45% from nearly 55% over the past two years, nearly 80% of the candidates who fail stumble at the parallel parking stage. And this, despite about 90% of vehicles brought for the test being fitted with parking sensors or reverse cameras.In one particular case at a Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Saurashtra-Kutch, a driver failed the parallel parking test three times in a row, only to return with a car equipped with a 360-degree camera and clear it on the very next attempt. With the 360-degree systems, the wide-angle lenses around the car stitch together a real-time bird’s-eye view, eliminating blind spots and making tight reversing easier.Applicants get 90 seconds to complete the parallel parking manoeuvre.

Many either run out of time or touch a boundary marker, both of which result in failure.“Of the 45% who fail, about 80% fail the first step itself, which is parallel parking. And this is despite the presence of sensors and, in many vehicles, even reverse cameras,” an RTO inspector said.“Many applicants struggle with judging the distance from the kerb, aligning the vehicle within the marked space, and coordinating steering inputs while reversing within the time limit.

Even minor contact with a marker counts as a failure,” he added.RTO officials say the overall improvement in pass rates is largely due to better familiarity with the automated testing tracks, particularly among first-time applicants aged 18-25, who tend to clear the tests more easily than those in their 30s and above.“The shift to automatic vehicles has also helped, since drivers no longer have to worry about the car rolling back during the gradient test,” the officer said.

The reverse ‘S’ test, once a stumbling block, has also become easier to crack due to camera-equipped vehicles.Candidates in their mid-30s and older struggle more across multiple components, and officials note that many applicants over 60 who fail the permanent licence test simply keep renewing their learner’s licence rather than taking a retest.“Most of them never appeared for the current automated testing track earlier, and adapting to the new system becomes difficult,” an official said.