So we approach our chosen parking
bay in a dead straight line. That way we end up about an open-door width away
from the car that's parked in front of our bay. As we come up we check our mirror, we indicate
towards the kerb and we apply the brakes. By the time the front of our car reaches the back of
the other car, we should be doing walking pace only – and that will allow us to be precise
about where we stop. You should stop when the back of your car lines up with the back of the car
that's parked in front of your chosen parking bay. What that means is that when the backs of
the cars line up, generally speaking the external mirrors will also line up- but
if you park next to a much smaller car or a much bigger car, you just need to make a
slight adjustment so that the backs do line up. Once we've stopped completely we need to put
the car into reverse and turn the indicator off. Now in some jurisdictions you may need to leave
your indicator on.
In Western Australia you turn the indicator off – but you must check your own
local jurisdiction! Now the next step is optional, but it does give you some orientation in terms of
what a 45 degree angle looks like. So what we do is we look out the driver's window and we pick an
object that lines up with our external mirror and that should give us an accurate 45 degree angle.
Now exactly where on your mirror you should line up will depend upon your seated position so if
you have the seat way forward it's going to be the edge of the mirror that's closest to the car.
If you have the seat way back it's probably going to be the edge that's away from the car, but
most people will be somewhere around about the middle of your mirror.
But again it does depend on
your car – some mirrors are positioned in slightly different places on different models of cars. Once
you've done that preparation and you're ready to move you must check all around. So you must check
over your right shoulder, in your central mirror and, if you've got a camera, glance there at the
same time and over your left shoulder. You also need to look straight ahead to see if any cars
are coming towards you because you cannot commence your manoeuvre if there are cars coming towards
you.
You must wait for them to pass because the nose of your car will potentially swing into
their path and may cause them to have to stop. Now we're just about to move – what you have to
remember in some jurisdictions is that you're not allowed to turn the steering wheel more
than half a turn if the car's not moving. This is all to do with vehicle management
and tyre wear and all that sort of stuff. In a lot of jurisdictions you are allowed to steer
the car when it's not moving and that simplifies the manoeuvre because you can get into the position
where you need to turn from, stop the car and then turn fully. In Western Australia the car must
be moving at any time in the manoeuvre when you're steering. You can stop from time to time
during the manoeuvre but you cannot steer more than half a turn while the car is stationary.
If
you do, you'll lose a point on your driving test under the category of Vehicle Management and if
you're in the habit of doing static steering or dry steering all the way through your test, that
could be enough to cause you to fail. As I said it's only applicable in certain jurisdictions
so you must check your local rules. So once we get moving we keep on looking all
around and we get the car to 45 degrees. You'll be at 45 degrees when you're looking
straight out across your steering wheel at the object that you nominated as being the 45
degree point. If you haven't used that step, then you can just "wing it" and work out when you think
you're at 45 degrees.
Once you get to 45 degrees with the car still moving just a little bit you
straighten your wheels up completely – that will normally be about one and a half turns of the
steering wheel. You continue back in a straight line on that 45 degree angle until your rear wheel
reaches the edge of the parking space. Now this is the rear wheel that's away from the kerb. Now the
alternative way of working it out is to just get your passenger side mirror adjacent to the rear
corner of the car that's parked in front of you. That's not as precise but sometimes that's the
only way you can do it if you don't have things to help you such as stick-on 'blind spot' mirrors
that show you where your back tyre is on the road. Once you get to that designated point you
turn the wheel away from the kerb fully and the nose of the car will swing into the bay.
You continue into the bay until the car
is completely straight, and at that point you straighten your front wheels up by turning
the steering wheel about one and a half turns. All the way through this manoeuvre you'll be
having regular checks over your right shoulder, left shoulder, in your central mirror,
in your camera, in your side mirrors, and just generally looking around. When
you're far enough back in the bay, you stop. Now when you're trying to determine
whether you're central in the bay or not while you're still in reverse, you can
have a quick glance at your camera, and just just look around, and you'll be able to work
out whether you need to move forwards a bit. So here's the manoeuvre again at normal
speed. So here comes the car down the road in a dead straight line –
slowing down, indicator on, and stopping when the mirrors line up
– and coincidentally the backs line up. Into reverse, indicator off, moving
into the bay, looking around regularly, getting the back wheel to the edge of the bay and then swinging the nose of the car in.
It
doesn't take long – it's just a series of steps that you have to tie together. Just going
back into the bay there – far enough back. Sometimes there will be a car behind you.
Just stopping and coming forward. Pretty easy! And here's the ground level shot. Here comes the
car – dead straight down the road, indicator on, pulling up next to the car in front, put it into
reverse, turn the indicator off, the reversing lights come on and looking around, swinging
the car into the bay. Getting to 45 degrees, straightening up the front wheels, continuing on
that angle until the rear wheel reaches the edge of the bay, and then turning the steering wheel
away from the curb fully to swing the car in. Normally there would be a car behind
you.
That's the very reason you'd be doing the reverse parallel park
– so you've got to watch for the car behind. Make sure you don't get too
close – just stop there and centralise..