Novice drivers suggest that a driving school will teach them all the intricacies of driving a car. But this is far from the case. Training in such organizations is sometimes put on stream. For instructors, it is important to teach the wards only the basic basics of driving, so that they can successfully pass on the right. And already all sorts of nuances and subtleties have to be comprehended independently, from my own experience. It is especially difficult to learn how to park properly. We will provide you with detailed instructions and recommendations on this subject.
Parking forward and reverse
Correctly parking in front of each of the beginners is easy to learn. This is one of the simple maneuvers - you only need to control the decreasing distance in front of the obstacle and brake in time so as not to touch it or hit the object.
But how to park in reverse? This is already much more complicated. Especially if you need to stop between two cars. So that everything goes smoothly, do not forget about the following:
- Check that the mirrors are adjusted. They should have a good view of the area behind, to the right and to the left of your car.
- The inside of the mirror reflects the side wings of the car, and the rest of it is the area of the carriageway behind the car.
- Some car owners lower the right mirror so that it reflects part of the rear tire. Why is this done? If the parking lot has a high curb or other obstacle, this precaution will prevent damage to the bumper or wheel.
Reverse: parking options
How to park in reverse between cars? You can choose one of the methods:
- Parallel parking.
- Perpendicular parking.
How to put this into practice, we will describe in detail below.
Parallel parking
This type of parking is typical for cities. Car owners place their cars in a chain along the curb - one after another. In this case, the side of the machine is adjacent to the fence.
The parallel parking skill will be useful to you if you decide to leave your car in a place where there is no specially equipped parking. To do this, you need to know how to properly park in reverse. Otherwise, you will not be able to freely leave the car in your pocket between two neighboring cars.
Step-by-step instructions for parallel parking
How to park in reverse, here we describe, taking for example the right side of the carriageway:
- Find a suitable parking space for your car - for this you should slowly move along a number of already parked cars. Visually evaluate the distance. Ideally, if there will be at least 50-60 cm between the bumpers of your and neighboring cars. Such a distance will allow you to maneuver without creating interference for other vehicles.
- Found a suitable place? Before stopping the car, stretch about 10 cm to the left - the nose of the car here should be slightly to the left of the back. This is the position to start reversing.
- How to park? Be sure to look in the rearview mirror - there should not be moving cars, people, animals behind you. Only in this case is the maneuver considered safe.
- And in the right side mirror, the rear left side of the neighbor's car should be clearly visible. This will be the main guideline for your movement.
- Turn the steering wheel to the right. Now slowly start reversing. All this time you look through the right mirror at the next car.
- You continue driving with the steering wheel turned to the right until the back of your car goes beyond the rear left corner of the car parked in front. And until the right headlight of the vehicle that is behind you is visible in the left mirror. At this point, you will be diagonally relative to the car neighbors and where you are stopping.
- Now return the steering wheel to its original position - the wheels here should be already level.
- Without looking up from the mirrors, start a slow backward movement. Stop only when the landmark part of the adjacent car is not visible in front of the front right corner of your car.
- Did you do it? Now there is nothing left - unscrew the steering wheel to the left until it stops. Again, slowly move forward until you take the desired position - parallel to the curb.
- If you miscalculated somewhere, then the situation can be corrected by the same movement forward.
That's all there is to it!
Perpendicular parking
They try to learn how to park properly perpendicularly in order to be able to freely leave the car in the parking lot, in the courtyard of a house, on the site in front of the supermarket.
Here the cars park their back to the fence. A stop by the nose is also possible, but it is not entirely safe when leaving.
Step-by-step instruction for perpendicular parking
Telling how to park the car correctly, we chose an example with a left turn of the steering wheel. For the right, you just need to mirror the instruction.
So, let's go:
- Moving slowly between rows, choose a suitable place to stop. Visually, between your car and your neighbors should remain 30-40 cm on each side. With a shorter distance, it will be very difficult to open the doors for both the driver and passengers.
- Drive perpendicular to an already parked vehicle. From the free site you need to drive a bit forward. This is your starting position for maneuvering.
- How to park a novice next? Stop when the back of your car is perpendicular to the trunk of an adjacent parked car at a distance of at least 40-50 cm.
- Now turn the steering wheel to the left extreme position. Looking in the mirrors, make sure that the path for maneuver is clear.
- Your assistant will be the left side mirror. Start moving backwards, not forgetting the landmark - 30-40 cm between you and your car neighbors.
- Stop when your car stands between two other cars parallel to them.
- Now level the wheels by returning the steering wheel to its original position.
- What to do if the distance on one side is greater / less than on the other? You need to drive a little forward slowly and, in the subsequent backward movement, correct it.
The video below will clearly show you how to properly park a beginner in reverse in this case.
Recommendations for a novice driver
We have sorted out only the theory. Even if you study it thoroughly, this does not mean that in practice you will be able to park the car between the other two on the first try. Therefore, you need to conduct real workouts more than once. And those where there will be no ideal conditions.
To do this, you need to choose a remote site where no one will bother you - neither transport, nor people. It is advisable that you have an experienced car owner with you - in order to get practical advice from him during the action and work on the mistakes.
We create images of neighboring cars in our "parking lot" with cardboard boxes, plastic cones, wooden crates - objects that will not damage your car if you allow negligence.
Try your best at every such lesson. If here you will manage with a knocked-down box and chewing by the teacher, then in reality you can pay a considerable amount for the repair of both your car and damaged neighbors. And even the deprivation of a driver’s license.
In general, we advise you to think about the possibility of parallel or perpendicular parking in the parking lot only after you cope with the tasks at the training "training ground" for a solid five.
About control
When driving in a traffic stream, as you remember from lessons in a driving school, the driver keeps several factors under control at once:
- The situation around his car.
- The behavior of other road users.
- Driving your car.
- Compliance with the rules of the road.
With the reverse parking described by us, it is also necessary to provide such complete control.
Notes at the end
As you will notice, in reality it’s hard to wait for a situation where no one and nothing will stop you from slowly making a maneuver. Cars will move around, people will pass. Therefore, you need to park quickly, but accurately. Delay will threaten obvious dissatisfaction on the part of other motorists, and even a traffic jam on your fault.
You will not please people around you by occupying a part of the second parking space, failing to park in a different way. Therefore, if the matter does not work out at all, it is better to look for another site where the maneuver will be much easier to accomplish.
People should also be aware that you are going to reverse. Any technically sound machine will be equipped for this with a special white signal. It turns on independently, automatically when reverse gear is activated on the gearbox. But for beginners, we advise to additionally light emergency lights when maneuvering. So others will definitely pay attention to you and in case of an unforeseen situation they will have time to react to it in time.
If it doesn’t come out ...
If you can’t park in any way, the most undesirable thing will be to start to panic. It is better to stop, get out of the car, visually assess the environment. So you will quickly notice your mistake and be able to fix it.
Overconfidence will also be undesirable. Remember that even an experienced driver may have difficulty parking. This is one of those difficult maneuvers when a significant part of the car is hidden from your view. Wrong size assessment - and you have already hooked a neighbor. Therefore, it will be useful to get out of the car and see with your own eyes how much you are moving correctly.
So we have figured out the basics of the rules for how to park between cars for beginners. But theory is just the tip of the iceberg. In this matter, constant training and practice are important. Only in this way can you devote yourself to all the nuances and subtleties of driving a vehicle.