A 3-minute lesson from the Alaska course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Parallel parking is a skill you'll be tested on, and parking on a hill means turning your wheels so the car can't roll into traffic. When you pull out, the burden of avoiding a crash is on you.
Parallel parking, steps 1-4
Parallel parking:
Signal and stop even with the front vehicle, about a foot and a half out, rear bumpers even
Back slowly, turning the wheel sharply right until you're at about a 45-degree angle
Quickly straighten the front wheels and keep backing slowly
When your front bumper is even with its back bumper, turn sharply left as far as possible
Back slowly to the car behind without touching it
Turn the wheel sharply right, pull forward toward the curb, and center the car
You're parked facing uphill on a street with a curb. Turn your front wheels away from the curb, so if the car rolls back the tire stops against it. Facing downhill, you'd turn them toward the curb.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
When parallel parking, how close to the curb must your wheels be?
Within 24 inches
Within 6 inches
Within 12 inches
Within 36 inches
Answer: Within 12 inches
Parallel-parked wheels must be within 12 inches of the curb.
