Markus: Okay now that you practiced making some turns, let's work on the different types of parking. The safest kind is probably curb parking. Let's try it right up here. Remember you want to keep your wheels parallel to the curb and park within 18 inches of the curb, the closer the better.
Oh, I think that's a little too close.
Molly: I'm sorry dad.
Male Speaker: Oh don't be sorry molly, this isn't easy. It takes a lot of practice and experience to get a good sense of where the curb is?
Molly: Can I give it another try?
Male Speaker: Absolutely and when you do park like this, remember to leave enough room between your car and the car in front of you, so it will be easy for you to pull out.
Molly: How does it look dad?
Male Speaker: You're definitely within 18 inches of the curb, although you could be closer, you did much better this time. We'll practice to this more later, now let's head for a parking lot so we can practice angle and perpendicular parking.
Female Speaker: Parking lots can be stressful for all drivers, especially new drivers. Annoying fender-benders happen all the time in parking lots because drivers just don't pay enough attention. So be cautious and defensive when driving through a parking lot. Molly is attempting angle parking, in order to do so she must leave at least 5-6 feet between her car and the other parked cars. Once she finds a space, she must signal and drive forward until she sees the center of the parking space.
Once she comes to a stop; she should straighten her wheels to make sure she begins backing out straight when she exits the space. Now let's watch as Molly attempts to park in a perpendicular parking space.
Male Speaker: This is the most common type of space found in parking lot, so you need to get used to it and as you will approach the space keep at least 8 feet between your car and the cars in the row that you're going to parking. After you signal position the car so that the front bumper is just beyond the tail lights of the car immediately before the space.
Now turn the wheel sharply and slowly enter the space. Always pull ahead far enough so that your rear bumper isn't sticking out of the space and into the parking lot traffic; you want to be as centered as possible within the space and remember to straighten your wheels, good job.
Female Speaker: Mark is setting up orange cones which can only mean one thing, parallel parking; parallel parking is the most difficult type of parking to master. It often involves parking between two cars on a busy street and can be extremely stressful to any driver, especially new drivers. It takes time and patience to master parallel parking so you should practice this in an empty parking lot between two large cones or other parking aids.
Molly is probably going to have a lot of trouble with parallel parking at first, and so may you. So instead of watching her make a lot of mistakes, let's head outside so I can show you how parallel parking should be done.
I brought you out here to give you a bird's eye view of proper parallel parking technique. When parallel parking, try to find a space that's at least 5 feet longer than your car, otherwise you might not be able to successfully park in that space.
Now, as you approach a parallel parking space; you need to signal to warn other drivers behind you, then pull up next to the car ahead of the space, keeping the back of your front seat, lined up with the back of the other car's front seat. The seats should be aligned just like this; you should also leave two to three feet between your car and the car next to you.
After shifting into reverse; look over your right shoulder before slowly backing up, as soon as the car starts to move, begin turning your wheel all the way to the right, continue backing up into the back of front door as lined up with the rear bumper of the car next to you. When you reach this point begin turning the wheel away from the curb as you continue backing into the space.
Once entered the space, straighten the wheels as necessary and pull forward or backward to center yourself between the other cars. Ideally you should be parked about six to eight inches away from the curb, not too bad. Now let's recap parallel parking as one smooth maneuver, only this time, we'll look at it graphically.
Signal as you approach the parking space and pull up next to the car ahead of the space, keeping the back of your front seat, lined up with the back of the other car's front seat, leave two to three feet between your car and the car next to you, backup slowly, turning your wheel all the way to the right, continue backing up until the back of the front door is lined up with the rear bumper of the car next to you. Then turn the wheel away from the curb and continue to back into the space, straighten the wheels and center yourself between the other cars.
If you're taking a driver's test then must park between cones, treat the front cone like the rear bumper of a car and handle that as you would when parking on the street. Begin backing into the space as you normally would. The key is to begin turning your wheel away from the curb whenever the back of your front door aligns up with the front cone, then finish backing into the space and straighten out your car.
Remember, parallel parking is difficult and stressful but you have to learn how to do it? This video or any other video of our book can't replace the hours of practice required to master the parallel parking. Parents, take time to practice this with your students. You can't expect them to be experts just by watching us and students this is going to take a lot of practice but don't let that frustrate you; it happens to everyone.
Molly: I wish we could have practiced parallel parking a little more, I know I can do it.
Markus: I know you can do, but we need a little break from driving, pull over to the curb that ahead, we'll take a walk and get something to eat. Before you are turning the car off; it's a good time to think about which way you should set your wheels when you're park facing downhill like this.
Molly: Okay, I had this memorized. Let's see downhill with the curb, so I should turn my wheels toward the curb.
Markus: Okay memorizing this just fine, but its easy to figure out; just by thinking about what would happen to the car if the brakes fail.
Molly: If the brakes failed the car would go forward.
Markus: Right, so which way would you turn the wheels to avoid having the car rolling to the street?
Molly: Toward the curb.
Markus: Exactly, now set your wheels and set your parking brake.
Molly: Okay dad I got it. Let's go get something to eat.
Female Speaker: Mark raised a very good point by giving molly a break. It's extremely important to give your student breaks, every hour or as often as necessary to keep them alert. There was also a good lesson about parking downhill with the curb, if your brakes fail while parked the car will coast in the direction your wheels are turned, in this case the car will coast into the curb and stop rather than into another car or out in to traffic.
If you park downhill without a curb, park as close to shoulder as possible and turn your wheel sharply toward the shoulder, should your brakes fail, your vehicle will head on to shoulder. If you park uphill with the curb; turn your wheels away from the curb. If your brakes fail, the back of your front tire will roll backwards and hit the curb as long as you're parked close enough. This will prevent your car from backing into traffic.
When parking uphill without a curb, turn your wheels all the way to the right. This will ensure that your vehicle rolls backwards away from the road if your brakes fail. Little things like this go a long way towards ensuring your safety and the safety of other drivers.
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