For some, the dreaded parallel park — squeezing into a 19- by 9-foot parking space with traffic waiting behind you — can make you sweat bullets. But now, you’ll need that skill to pass the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles’ road skills test.

The District’s DMV gave its first parallel parking test in more than a decade on May 18. The agency says it brought the test back because of how important it is to know the skill in D.C.

“Parallel parking is a necessary driving skill and is essential to protecting pedestrians, cyclists, and property,” the DMV wrote in its latest newsletter.

The city’s DMV cut parallel parking from the road test in 2009. A spokesperson for the department didn’t immediately provide a reason for the decision to DCist/WAMU, but one reason is that the department lacked space to conduct the test.

In February, they opened a new skills test office at the Deanwood Center, 1421 Kenilworth Ave. NE, which gave them much more room to offer driving tests. Those services were previously offered at the Rhode Island Avenue location, which had no parking lot. Drivers were only taken on local roads to assess their skills.

Only new drivers or those whose licenses have been expired more than a year and a half need to take the skills test.

In Maryland and Virginia, drivers aren’t required to demonstrate parallel parking. Maryland dropped the requirement in 2015 because they say other skills like backing and reverse turning were sufficient enough to demonstrate drivers knew how to operate the vehicle.

In D.C., you have up to six shots at passing the test within a 12-month period, but the DMV has a new video to help drivers learn to master the skill.