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"Parallel Parking"

Had a driving lesson today, and spent about a month doing parallel parking.

I'm fine on reversing round a corner and turning in the road, no problem.

But parallel parking doesn't work.

The method we used first was:
i) Pull up alongside the other car
ii) Reverse until the wing mirror is level with the middle of the other car, then lock the steering wheel left
iii) When the front-most corner of the car is level with the line of the other car's bumper, lock the sterring wheel the other way, and roll into position by the pavement.

The main problem is stage iii), you need to be fairly accurate judging the point where you turn the wheel right, as that determines how far you finish from the pavement, and there isn't much room for error.

Maybe because I'm unfamiliar with the instructor's car, maybe because I just suck, I've struggled with this A LOT.

In the end I've fudged an alternative method - just before I need to turn the wheel back, because of the combined turning of my car and it moving backwards compared to the other car, the other car's back wheel lines up with my wing mirror and sort of holds position for a second.
Then I turn.

That works better, but still not great.

So I thought I'd ask you drivers:
How do you judge it when you parallel park, and can you please (please please please) give me some help!

invariably you only get it wrong if you have a passenger and they distract you a bit, then you go horribly wrong as you try ant sort it out with out looking a complete gimp! lol

I get it right about 19 times out of 20 but I only usually get it wrong if I'm in a hurry.

Been driving for 14 years now ...

ha i have mastered some kind of weird diaganol paralel parking which involves a near diagonal approach from the start, doesn't work in all situations especially on busy roads but does it better in some select situations. can do it the normal way i was crap at first but now i can parallel park in pretty small gaps.

Excellent :) I'm coming up for nearly 3 years driving.

Belldandy wrote:
> I just don't parallel park, if the space isn't big enough to drive
> into, then I go elsewhere :) Plus I usually use multistoreys as
> everywhere I go has them.

same here. Tried it not too long ago and just decided to go and park in a car park :) Lord knows how hard it is in a big car...

I've been driving for over two years now as well...

It's just one of those things that takes practice. I just do it without thinking but then hey i'm a woman and us girls are masters of the road!

It's just one of those things that takes practice. I just do it without thinking but then hey i'm a woman and us girls are masters of the road!

I've had about 23 hours and not done this yet. I find the other manouvers easy though.

Try the technique I was taught.

Pull up next to a car and put your car in reverse. Wait until the back of your car is about half a metre past the back of the car you’re parking near. Turn the wheel one and a half times, look through the back windscreen and as soon as the curb goes out of sight put full lock on the other way. Look forward and as you are straitening up, straighten up the wheel as Necessary.


That’s how I did it, and I got pretty good at it, apparently.

I just don't parallel park, if the space isn't big enough to drive into, then I go elsewhere :) Plus I usually use multistoreys as everywhere I go has them.