The ability to pull into a space and fit between two other vehicles while nestled up next to a curb is probably the type of parking that’s bewitched more of us than any other part of driving on the roadways. There are rules to how you should perform this maneuver and for many driving tests you need to know how to do this in order to pass the test. That seriously puts the pressure on you when you have to parallel park while your instructor is watching ready to give you a passing or failing score and deny or grant your license.
There are actually some rules you should follow when you’re ready to perform this maneuver. If you follow these rules this can be one of the simplest ways to park for you instead of the most daunting you deal with. To start with you need to pull up next to the car ahead of the space you’re going to park in. Put your rear axle next to the bumper of that car and turn your wheel all the way toward the curb so that you can begin your entry.
Once you’ve done this, back up until the center of your inside rear tire is aligned with the street side edge of the car in front of the space. At this point you need to straighten your wheels and continue to back up into the space. Once the outside tire aligns with the same part of the car you can turn your wheel completely in the opposite direction. Once you’ve completed this maneuver you can get out and see how you did, this is as simple as it gets when it comes to parallel parking. There’s no need for the back and forth action that many people seem to think they need to make in order to get into the space desired.
Of course, there are other ways to handle the parking you need to make when you need to parallel park in a space of your desire. One way is to yank on the hand brake and let the vehicle perform a J-turn into the spot. Unless you’re a professional driver that performs stunts for a living, this isn’t the desired way to park your car. If you want to see this maneuver performed perfectly, check out the video below and see two brothers make their way into the space that’s barely larger than the car they were driving.
In today’s modern cars you can even cheat at times. It’s easy to park by simply pressing a button and allowing the vehicle to park itself. You do need to align the vehicle correctly, but you can then push the park button and watch the vehicle perform perfectly for you. Of course, you need to choose a spot that will be easy enough for you to maneuver out of when you’re ready to leave, some of these automated systems are advanced enough that they put your vehicle in spots that are too tight for you to exit easily.
No matter how you learn to parallel park this can be an easy maneuver to master with some practice, but many of us avoid it in an effort to only have to park our vehicles using spots we can easily pull into. Go ahead and take the instructions and see if you can master this maneuver for yourself to make it easier to find a spot when you’re in the city. Make sure you check out this video, but please don’t duplicate what these brothers did, unless you are able in which case you need to send me a video of the parking job you performed.
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