Seats Parking Pass

Seats Parking Pass

Seats Parking Pass

5 Simple Steps To Learn How To Parallel Park

Learning to drive can be a scary process at times, and one of the most feared parts of your lesson is most likely to be the parallel park. Few people realize that this fear is often highly over rated, and parallel parking is actually a lot simpler than you may have first thought. Parallel parking is not something to be afraid of, it's true it's not the easiest of maneuvers, but it's very easy once you get the hang of it and you'll be surprised how often it will come in handy in the future once you've passed.

There are a few things you can do in order to make parallel parking easier for yourself, but first; you should know a few things before getting behind the wheel. A lot of people have a fear over this maneuver because they're terrified of hitting anything, but there really is nothing to be afraid of, you should be in the car with a qualified instructor or someone with a lot of driving knowledge and they will be able to tell you if you're coming to close to anything before you actually do, giving you enough time to stop should you need to. You also need to take a deep breath in order to relax yourself, if you're scared you will be tense and you won't be able to maneuver easily. And finally, take everything very, very slowly, this will give you enough time to check your surroundings and act if you think you're doing something wrong, you have plenty of time to parallel park faster, for now just take your time and do it right, it will certainly pay off when it comes to your test.

First, find your parking spot, ideally you will want one with plenty of room, especially if this is your first attempt, you will be grateful of the extra space. Once you've found your space you need to position yourself next to the car in front of the space you will be reversing into, ideally so that the back of the seat you are sitting in is in line with the front seat of the car you are next to.

Put your car into reverse but do not go anywhere, this is just to let other drivers know you're reversing, then go through the normal steps you would take before moving off, so check your mirrors and your blind spots to check everything going on around you, if a car is coming then let them pass.

Once you have done this and the roads are clear, very slowly start to back up, look over your right shoulder and as you are doing this, turn your steering wheel hard towards the direction of the curb. Keep checking all around you as you're doing this to see if the situation has changed around you. Don't be afraid to go back to your start position if you don't think its going as well as you'd like it too. Remember, it's better to start over and try again then to hit the curb, or worse, another car.

When the back of your front door is roughly lined up with the bumper of the car next to you, slow down, stop if you need to, and turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction, think of it as an S shape. When you're doing this, you'll want to be straightening your car into the space.

Continue to move backwards until you are close to, but not touching, the car behind you. At this point, you can turn your steering wheel back into its normal position and slowly pull forward to center yourself in the space. You may need to turn your steering wheel slightly towards the curb if you don't think you're quite straight. You need to be ideally between 6 and 8 inches from the curb, but its okay if you're a little bit further, most states allow up to 12 inches.

It may take you a few attempts to get perfect, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be amazed at how easy it is. The most important thing to remember is that learning how to parallel park is only a very small part of learning how to drive, so don't worry if you don't get it right away, you soon will.

About the Author

The National Safety Commission can be found online at http://www.NationalSafetyCommission.com. TNSC works to increase awareness of important safety issues, particularly those that deal with highway and traffic safety information. Our mission is to make consumers more vigilant and understand that "safety is no accident," through education, quality traffic school online courses and outreach programs. Through our traffic safety blogs we promote defensive driving techniques, driver training and safety.