Parking & Reversing In & Out of Angled Spaces

November 23, 2022 at 10:37 PM

Parking in an Angled Carpark on the Right

When approaching a suitable carpark on the right, the first thing we should do is check our rear vision mirror. We will do this well before turning into our carpark, so we know what’s behind us. After that, we look ahead and anticipate what’s happening ahead.

While we are doing that, we indicate to the right and slow down to the walking pace, so we have plenty of time to anticipate the situation ahead. As we are about to start turning, we check our right outer side mirror and blind spot on the right side, to make sure we are aware of a vehicle behind us that might overtake us as we are about to turn into the parking space. If it’s safe, we turn our steering wheel quickly full lock to the right.

Make sure to look where you want the car to go and go slow, so we can stop if we are going to hit another vehicle. If we are going to hit another car, we might need to go backwards & forwards to straighten up. While moving forward slowly, we keep the left front corner of the car close to the car on the left. Just before we get to the end of the parking space, we turn the wheel fully to the right to straighten the car up. As soon as the car is fully straight, we straighten up the wheels. Once we have stopped, we put the car in park and pull the handbrake up.

 

Reversing Out of an Angled Parking Space on the Right

When reversing out of a parking space from an angled carpark on the right, the first thing we do is put the car in reverse and release the hand brake. It is not compulsory to indicate when reversing out of a parking space, but it may make other people more aware of us.

We slowly start to move backwards turning our steering wheel slightly towards the right, so the left front corner of our car moves close alongside the car on our left. This way we create our angle to come out nice and early. We look all around us, left, right and physically behind us. We can also use our mirrors and if our car had a reversing camera, we could use that too. It is important to go very slowly, so we have plenty of time to check for pedestrians and traffic around us.

As soon as we clear the vehicle on our left, we lock the steering wheel fully to the right. We continue to reverse slowly while looking all around us. We keep reversing until the car is fully straight and on our side of the road so to speak. Once straight, we straighten up the wheel and stop. We select Drive. We do a 360 check all around us and if it is safe, we move off slowly. Once rolling we can check the rear vision mirror to see what’s behind us.  

 

Parking in an Angled Carpark on the Left

Parking on the left is a lot more difficult because we have less room to turn the car in, so the preferred option is always to park on our right. When approaching a suitable carpark on the left, the first thing we should do is check our rear vision mirror. We will do this well before turning into our carpark, so we know what’s behind us. After that, we look ahead and anticipate what’s happening ahead. While we are doing that, we indicate to the left and slow down to a walking pace, so we have plenty of time to anticipate the situation ahead. As we are about to start turning, we check our left outer side mirror and blind spot on the left side, to make sure we are aware of anyone besides us as we are about to turn into the parking space. If it’s safe, we turn our steering wheel quickly full lock to the left. Make sure to look where you want the car to go and go slow, so we can stop if we are going to hit another vehicle. If we are going to hit another car, we might need to go backwards & forwards to straighten up. While moving forward slowly, we keep the right front corner of the car close to the car on the right. Just before we get to the end of the parking space, we turn the wheel fully to the left to straighten the car up. As soon as the car is fully straight, we straighten up the wheels. Once we have stopped, we put the car in park and pull the handbrake up.

 

Reversing Out of an Angled Parking Space on the Left

When reversing out of a parking space from an angled carpark on the left, the first thing we do is put the car in reverse and release the hand brake. It is not compulsory to indicate when reversing out of a parking space, but it may make other people more aware of us. We slowly start to move backwards, turning our steering wheel slightly towards the left, so the right front corner of our car moves close alongside the car on our right. This way we create our angle to come out nice and early. We look all around us, left, right and physically behind us. If our car had a reversing camera, we could use that too.

It is really important to go very slowly, so we have plenty of time to check for pedestrians and traffic all around us. As soon as we clear the vehicle on our right, we lock the steering wheel fully to the left. We continue to reverse slowly looking all around us. We reverse until we have enough room to go forward and get past the vehicles in front of us. We select Drive. We do a 360 check all around us and if it is safe, we move off slowly. Once rolling we can check the rear vision mirror to see what’s behind us.