Is parallel parking one of your biggest fears? Have you ever gone a great length just to avoid having to do parallel parking? If so, you are among millions of drivers who are suffering from so-called ‘Parallelophobia’.
Being an obsession of many, parallel parking, though, is actually not that difficult to master. It only requires some practice and, most importantly, helpful tricks. In this article, Philkotse.com will reveal 7 easy steps to do this driving skill properly. For better illustration, we have also included some useful parallel parking tutorial videos.
Now, let’s look through our parallel parking tips to get rid of this ‘Parallelophobia’.
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A helpful gif to practice parallel parking
Parallel parking step 1: Position your vehicle
When you find an empty space to park your car, drive slowly towards the car parked in front of that parking spot. Make sure your car is parallel to and 0.6 – 1 m from the side of the parked vehicle. Let’s name this as A car.
Make sure your car is parallel to and 0.6 – 1 m from the side of the parked vehicle
Parallel parking step 2: Check the mirrors for other traffic around you
Always remember to observe the surroundings via your rear-view as well as your left- and right-side mirrors. Once you are sure that there are no obstacles in your blind spot, start steering your car into reverse.
Parallel parking step 3: Reverse your car along the parked vehicle
Now it’s time to start backing up your car along the side of the A car by slowly steering your car to the right.
Reversing your car along the parked vehicle
Parallel parking step 4: Straighten your steering wheel
After completing step 3, you should now drive your car towards the parking space; slowly straighten the steering wheel while keep moving backwards to the car parked at the other end of the empty parking lot. Let’s call this B car.
Drive your car towards the parking space
Don’t forget to pay attention to the surroundings as you steer your car. This is very important since it helps you avoid hitting either A or B car.
Parallel parking step 5: Maneuver your car to the left
As your car front has already passed the rear bumper of the A car, you should start maneuvering your car to the left.
Parallel parking step 6: Check how close your vehicle is to the B car
Remember to continuously check the rear-view mirror to make sure your car is in a reasonable distance with the B car. Keep reversing backwards.
Parallel parking step 7: Adjust your car to a proper position
Now that your car is staying straight and as close to the curb as possible, adjust its position so as to leave a relatively equal distance from your car to the vehicles parking in front of and behind yours.
Congratulations! You are good to go!
Still find this too complicated? Watch a tutorial video for parallel parking:
Learn how to parallel park: The easiest video lesson
But wait, how about exiting a parallel park?
Good news is to leave a parallel park is much easier than to park your car in parallel. You will only have to note down these two things:
1. Drive your car in reverse
Slowly drive your car in reverse towards the B car. While trying to back your car as close as possible to the car behind you, make sure there must be enough space in between.
2. Steer your car to the left
Turn the steering wheel to the left and start driving your car forward. Always observe carefully the surroundings, particularly the back bumper of the A car as well as the traffic in the lane that you are entering. Now you can drive out of the parallel park with ease.
[FUN] A recently-gone viral video of a woman trying to park her car (more enjoyable with sound turned on)
Sounds simple? Yes it might sound simple yet surely requires some effort to master. We hope you have found some useful driving tips in our article. Don’t forget to visit our page at Philkotse.com for more helpful advice for car owners.
