Safe driving tips for teens, parents, and all drivers

Parallel Parking

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Driving:

crashes

Learning how to parallel park is one of the hardest skills for new drivers to learn. From experience, I know that this is true. I hope this page will help. If you have any tips of your own, please send them in. --Ryan Buckholtz

Dave from the Freedom Driving School suggests the following:

The S method

1. Signal and pull up approx. 3 feet away from the car you want to

park behind, aligning your rear tires with the other car's rear bumper.

2. Put car into REVERSE, and turn wheels ALL THE WAY to the

RIGHT.

3. Slowly back-up until you are at a 45 degree angle. STOP.

4. Turn the wheels ALL THE WAY to the LEFT. (Walter from a driver's school in Canada from yd.com recommends that you roll very slowly while you turn the wheels to avoid putting damaging stress on the tire sidewalls and steering components.)

5. Slowly back-up until you are parallel with the curb.

If done correctly you should be less then 12 inches from the curb.

Practice will improve your judgment.

The Drive Right book offers these tips:

1. Select a space that is at least six feet longer than your car.

2. Flash your brake lights and put on your turn signal before you pull in.

3. Always look back to check traffic.

4. Take it slow and ease into the spot.

Exiting a parallel parking space

1. Back-up straight as far as you can go without touching the car behind.

2. Turn your wheels all the way to the left (in the U.S.) Then make sure that you put your car in drive. (When I took the driver's test, the person before me parallel parked their car fine, but forgot this important step when pulling out of the space--and failed their test.)

3. Put on your turn signal.

4. Check traffic, including your blind spot.

5. Make sure your right fender has enough room to clear the car in front of you.

6. Turn wheels slowly to the right when you are half-way out of the parking space.

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A great new DVD that provides driving lessons and sample test questions.

Here are some of Ryan's tips for parallel parking

Be careful when backing up to make sure cars are not trying to pass you (also take caution when passing cars that are parallel parking)

Practice with cones or large boxes

When parallel parking on the left side of a one way street (or behind a car doing the same), take extra care, as most people are unfamiliar with this process

If you are uncomfortable with your angle of approach, pull back out and start over; do not force it.

When parking, try and leave the car in front of you space to get out of the spot.

If riding with a passenger, it's not a bad idea to have them direct you as it is often difficult to tell how much room you have behind you to another car.

When parallel parking upwards on a hill, turn your front wheels to the left and apply the emergency brake.

When parallel parking downwards on a hill, turn your front wheels to the right and apply the emergency brake.

Sometimes it easier to look for a spot you can pull straight into then try and get your car into a small parallel spot.

Your foot should always be on or right near the brake pedal, the gas is not needed.

If you are behind a car that is signaling to parallel park, either pass right away or give them plenty of room to operate. - Ryan