These are the driving moves British Columbians find the most difficult, according to an ICBC survey

A man drives a car in this file photo. (Tobi / Pexels)

If parallel parking is the bane of your existence, most British Columbians feel your pain, according to a new survey.

An Ipsos survey commissioned by ICBC asked drivers to rank six commonly hated driving maneuvers by which were most difficult to learn. The survey also asked respondents which moves they try to avoid to this day.

The survey found that parallel parking is by far B.C. drivers’ least favourite maneuver, with 63 per cent of respondents ranking it as the first or second most difficult thing to learn. And 41 per cent said they avoid parallel parking when possible.

Keeping with the parking theme, backing into a stall was voted the second most difficult maneuver to learn, with 46 per cent ranking it first or second and 20 per cent still avoiding doing it.

Merging onto a highway was the third maneuver most commonly ranked as difficult to learn, but only six per cent said they avoided doing so, likely because it’s pretty unavoidable.

When it comes to rating their own skills, 68 per cent of respondents said their driving was “excellent,” but only 20 per cent said the same for others on the road. Thirty-three per cent ranked other drivers’ skills as “poor.”

Drivers were also asked to rank what other road users need to improve on the most. Leaving adequate distance when driving behind another vehicle was the top pick, followed by giving space to other drivers wanting to merge onto the highway and coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.

“For some of us, it may be decades since we learned to drive and our road test is a distant memory in the rear-view mirror,” said Jerry Boal with ICBC in a news release accompanying the survey Tuesday.

“We’re here to offer a refresher and share tips to help drivers feel more confident with certain maneuvers such as parallel parking and reversing into a parking stall. These are important skills for drivers to have and it’s never too late to improve.”

ICBC’s tips for mastering the difficult maneuvers as well as the full survey results can be found here. 

The Ipsos survey collected data online between May 9 and 14 and had 801 total respondents, 692 of whom completed the survey. Those who said they did not have a B.C. driver’s licence were screened out. It says the data is weighted using B.C. census data to “reflect the overall population of B.C. residents.”

In a random survey with this sample size, the margin of error would be approximately +/- four percentage points, 19 times out of 20