The mystery of perfect parallel parking is solved (by a woman)

Perfect parallel parking is easy – provided you use a formula from a female mathematician.

The fact that poor reversing causes £151m of damage every year, according to insurance estimates, was the spur for Rebecca Hoyle, a doctor of mathematics at the University of Surrey, to devise the formula.

It allows for the main variables – the width of the car, its turning circle, the optimal distance from the kerb, and the starting distance between the axles and the kerb. Then, to perform the perfect S-shaped parallel reverse park, the formula says drivers should:

• choose space at least half as long again as car
• start parallel to car ahead
• turn wheel to left-lock while reversing
• when car reaches 45 degrees to space, turn wheel to full right-lock
• as car approaches kerb, straighten up.

If this sounds familiar, be grateful it wasn't Dr Hoyle's full version. "[The problem] can be expressed as a motion-control problem using shape change," she says.

"But in practice this formula should be supplemented with some pure common sense – such as using any available reflections in cars opposite to judge your position."