Backing into the future: Maryland ditches parallel parking from driving test

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/22/maryland-ditches-parallel-parking-driving-test

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People hoping to become licensed drivers in Maryland will no longer have to prove their ability to parallel park.

More than a dozen states have dropped the requirement from their driving tests and Maryland joined such ranks on Tuesday, inspiring criticism that such a cost-cutting move would lead to poorly trained drivers taking to the roads.

“Our nation is doomed,” proclaimed a headline in the Washington Post.

Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA), however, said the skills required for parallel parking were tested during other parts of the examination.

Spokesman Buel Young told NPR the MVA was doing away with the parallel parking requirement because it was “somewhat redundant”, and said the same skills were tested during a “reverse two-point turnaround maneuver”, in which drivers must back into a parking spot.

The Maryland test starts on a closed course, where that maneuver must be accomplished before the applicant moves on to the open road. To take the test, drivers must take a course that includes a parallel parking lesson.

Some have suggested that the Maryland decision was made to cut down the waiting time for tests and make the process more efficient, but Young has said he does not know whether removing parallel parking will actually cut waiting times.

Maryland is one of about 15 states to not require the test, according to USA Today. It has not been required for several years in states including Illinois, California and North Carolina. In states that do require the test, it is not always a statewide requirement.