Two questions: 1) What do they expect in order to pass?, and 2) Any ideas on how to learn to do it?
I’ve been teaching my son how to drive and he’s got everything down perfectly…with the exception of parallel parking. So the first thing I’m wondering is: What do they expect of a driver in order to pass? Six inches from the curb in ten seconds or less? Or can you go back and forth all day until you’re close enough? Or something in between?
Also I was thinking that practice, practice, practice would be enough to get good at this. Unfortunately not this time. Or maybe we should say practice, practice practice gets you to Carnegie Hall but it won’t get you into a parking space once you get there. So are there any tips on how to do it to pass along?
I don’t know where you live, but I didn’t have to parallel park to get my license. I’ve only done it once in my life (less than a year ago, in fact) and it was the most perfect parallel parking job EVER, seriously. It was crazy good.
I know for a fact that I did not complete parallel parking. I may have attempted it first and then gave up, or I may have given up outright, but I know I didn’t actually do it. I think if he scores high enough everywhere else, maybe it won’t matter.
Oh, I was going to suggest you call the test center and ask them what they expect. I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t tell you.
Do you live in a city or a rural area? I find that if you live in a rural area, they often as not don’t make you do it.
I myself didn’t really master it until I was 25. I practiced a lot before I got my license and learned it just well enough to pass the test - they had me do it in a spot where there were several empty space behind me, so I had a lot of room to maneuver.
Then a couple of years after college I moved into an apartment in a big city where I had to park on the street. I nicked a few bumpers at first, but eventually I got pretty good at it and actually came to enjoy the challenge of squeezing into some really cramped spaces.
When I got my license parallel parking had been removed from the curriculum (circa 2001). It’s too bad, since I had to figure out how to do it on my own.
Another didn’t actually have to do it for my driving test. That was when I was living in a fairly populous city as well. If is he is not getting it with practice there is something wrong with his technique. I am sure a google search will yield you a webpage that has detailed instructions to check this.
This is how I was taught to do it by my husband, because Young Drivers didn’t spend any time on it when I was taught to drive ~~
Pull up beside the car in front of the spot you want, with two feet between the vehicles side-to-side and with the back ends even. Turn the steering wheel fully to the right and reverse until your car is at a 30-degree angle. Turn the steering wheel until you are backing up straight, and back in. When your front end clears the back bumper of the car in front, turn the steering wheel completely to the left and back up until you are parallel to the curb. You can maneuver a little bit from here if necessary, but you should be close.
When I took the test (Ack! 24 years ago!), there were no other cars, but the “road” at the Ministry of Transportation testing site widened and then narrowed again, and you had to back into that widened area.
It's sad, but I can parallel park on the left better than the right, because I spent many years living in a townhome complex and if I didn't find a spot on the complex "road" closer to home, I turned around and resignedly took the one I saw on the way in...
I’m guessing they expect a legal parallel park… as in parallel to the curb, and the proscribed distance away from it … not on it (they hate that). And probably safe… turn signal, checking for blind spots before starting and during, looking out the rear window… waiting for oncoming traffic to pass if you’re going in steeply.
The problem people tend to have is in visualizing the movement of the car… the whole motion is basically about pivoting the car around the outside rear wheel. Normally you expect the non-steering wheels to move relatively straight. In a parallel park… you’re trying to move that outside rear first to it’s proper place, and then turn the rest of the car around it to end up parallel to the curb.
It seriously just requires practice; get some cardboard boxes to practice on… much less expensive than training between actual cars. And remember, beating never hurt anyone… well, apart from the person being beaten… who deserves it by not learning fast enough.
Most people don’t know this: (i) start out about a foot and a half away from the car that’s going to be in front of you; and (ii) after you start backing in the spot (when the bumpers are aligned), STOP about a foot from the curb, TURN THE WHEEL the other way, and THEN CONTINUE IN.
You should be the perfect distance from the curb and should only have to pull forward a bit to balance your position in the space.
It depends on the state. My method (which still works) is what I was taught in driver’s ed.
Pull up to the car so your steering wheel is even with the other cars.
Turn the wheel to the right. Turn it all the way (as my instructor would say, “Bend that steering wheel.” – most people are afraid to turn the wheel all the way, which makes for poor maneuvering).
When your steering wheel is even with the back bumper of the other car, straighten out the wheel.
When you clear the other car’s back bumper, turn the wheel hard to the right. This will get you in behind the other car.
Ok, this will get him to pass the test, though it likely won’t teach him how to parallel park in everyday situations in any kind of car. (I was taught this by my driving instructor, so it’s not entirely completely cheating, I hope).
You need 2 tall poles (or 4 if you can’t practice near a curb), one at each corner of the parking space on the street side (and the curb, if you don’t have one). In my state that’s 6 ft wide and 25 ft long.
So, 2 poles, with the vertical | being the street, not the curb:
(1)--------[curb]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(2)--------[curb]
There are basically 4 reference points:
starting point, with the car positioned relative to pole 1, at which point you turn the steering wheel hard to the right (be sure he also memorizes what it looks like to be a certain distance from the pole horizontally)
backing up in that hard turn until the car is a position relative to pole 2
backing straight back until the car is in a position relative to pole 2
turning wheel hard to the left until the car is in a position relative to poles 1 and 2
then perhaps pulling forward to straighten
Have him practice parallel parking in the car he will be taking the test in and memorize where the relevant pole is in which window of the car at each point. Then when he parallel parks, all he has to do is match that pole-for-pole. Unless in your state the test isn’t marked by poles, but I imagine it would be. You already know this, but just as a reminder: make sure he ends up within 12 inches (in my state, anyway) of the curb before memorizing his poles.
(Yes, I’ve learned parallel parking recently for my driving test - my license expired. Never again!)
When I took my test I had to do it - in Manhattan. My kids didn’t have to do this for their California license.
Besides the above, I’d start him practicing with the boxes reasonable far apart, and then move them closer. I had to do it for mine on the actual street, and you never know how close the cars are going to be.
In my area (Upstate NY), you have to parallel park with one car in front of you (not between cars). You’ve got to be close to the curb when you are done my examiner had a tape measure, but i don’t know what ideal distance is. You need to check mirrors and direct visual inspection of blindspots, and your head needs to be pointed in the direction of travel while the car is in motion. Also, don’t forget to signal. You can go slow as you like during the park, but too much in and out adjustment and they will deduct points or fail you.
A side note, a lot of people fail their drivers exam the first time through (enough that it’s an urban legend in these parts that unless you are perfect they fail you), be sure to listen to any pointers the examiner may have after the exam.
Not to be snarky or threadshit, but my best advice to you would be to get your son into at least a couple of one-on-one lessons with an accredited instructor. Unless you’re a very unique individual, teaching your son to drive just like you is teaching him all your bad habits and leaving large gaps in his knowledge of how to drive safely.
Plus, they’ll teach him methods to parallel park that he’ll use for life (if his instructor is anything like mine).
The expectations depend on the state. In Maryland, you have to parallel park between two sets of cones/poles and get within 8" of the curb or something like that (maybe it was 6). They start a stopwatch and you have 3 minutes to do all the maneuvering you like. They assess your performance when you put the car in Park. Tapping the curb is OK, jumping it is an automatic fail, as is bumping the cones.
Maryland’s test is on a course. Anyone under 18 was required to take driver’s ed with 6 hours of professional in-car training. They taught me how to do the parking. I nailed it on the test, 3" from the curb, was praised by the tester, and haven’t done it since.
You need to find out more about your state’s requirements. Has your son done any driver’s ed? They’re generally geared principally toward kids passing the road test.
Actually, it’s less than 12 inches from the curb and in many places in Maryland (all of them by this fall, if I remember correctly) there is now an on-road portion of the test as well as on a closed course.
Although Minnesota still requires parallel parking (at least a decent attempt at it), they’ve started focusing on a 90-degree backup into a 10-foot wide space (like a driveway).
This backup manuever has caused more failures than parallel parking. Does any other state require a backup test?
To practice: Set up a fake spot. Park the car on a flat surface. Put a 2X4 on the side of the car to simulate the curb. Put two buckets about 2" away from each bumper at the corner of the car farthest from the 2X4.
Tips:
Imagine that you can see the curb through the car door. That’s how you estimate how far away you are from it.
As you are initially reversing, the wheels are straight for most of the time. My problem was turning them too early or late.
Aim the right rear corner of your car for the spot on the curb that’s halfway between the cars you’re trying to park between.
As mentioned by others, SLOW CAR/FAST WHEEL. This means going from full right lock of the steering wheel to full left lock with the car moving less than one foot, for example. TURN THE FLIPPING WHEEL ALL – YES, ALL – THE WAY WITHOUT TRAVERSING HALF THE BLOCK TO DO IT!
