Parallel Parking – Two-Way Street
This type of parking is one of the most important skills to master. It means you park in available spaces on one or both sides of a residential or business street. There are often no clearly marked lanes on the sides of the street. Often, you must deal with traffic, pedestrians, trucks, bicyclists, and other potential hazards.
- Select a space that is at least 5 feet longer than your vehicle.
- As you approach an available space, tap your brake lights and put on your turn signal. Monitor traffic to the front and rear.
- Place your vehicle approximately 3 feet from and alongside the vehicle you plan to park behind. Align your REAR bumper with the other vehicle’s REAR bumper.
- Put the vehicle into REVERSE and turn the wheels all the way to the right.
- Slowly back up until you are at a 45-degree angle using your side view mirror.
- Back up until you can see the HEADLIGHT closest to the curb of the vehicle behind to establish that you are roughly at 45 degrees. Then stop.
- Turn your wheels all the way to the LEFT.
- Slowly back up monitoring the RIGHT front fender until right side of your vehicle is parallel with and within 12 inches of the curb.