Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test
talking to you today about curb parking.
I had a comment from Sabertoothed and
Treyday 15, both of those smart drivers
were having some challenges with parking
along a curb and getting within six to
nine inches from the curb. Now the first
thing I'm going to tell you is don't
practice curb parking first! Go to a
parking lot and practice slow-speed
maneuvers. Go to your local rental shop and
get some of the 36 inch, 1 meter tall
pylons. And you only need four of them -
they're less than about fifteen dollars to rent for the day. And then come out to the
parking lot and do slow-speed maneuvers.
Now I can understand the difficulty that
you're having because there's huge blind
spots around the vehicle and when I get
to the rest of the video here I'll talk
to you about blind spots around your
vehicle. And the larger the vehicle,
the bigger the blind spot. So do slow-speed
maneuvers - those will improve your
overall driving. The other thing I'm
going to say about the road test is that 7/8 of your road
test is in a forward motion. 1/8 of the
road test is slow-speed maneuvers,
unfortunately it's that 1/8 of the road
test is going to give you the most
difficulty, and proves to be the most challenging. Yet
slow-speed maneuvers, yes they're not
sexy!
It is no fun going to a parking lot and
driving around slow, especially when your
friends are watching. You don't want them
to see you. You have to do it because
it's going to improve your overall
driving and help you park near a curb.
I too had that challenge when I moved to
Australia in early-2000. I had to take my
license test again and I was sitting on
the other side of the vehicle. I had no
concept of how far the other side of the
vehicle--the curb side of the vehicle--was
away from me on my road test/training
because in Australia the driving schools
do the road test. And I did training as
well as a road test. The examiner got me
to park near the curb while I was
sitting on the right side of the vehicle.
I had no idea where that left side of
that vehicle was, and I bet I was at
least five feet away from the curb. So I
understand your challenge and understand how
difficult it is to get close to the curb
when you're parking. But practice slow-
speed maneuvers and those will translate
into your overall driving and help you
to park better. So what we're going to do
today is I'm gonna go to the parking lot and
i'm going to show you how to do slow-
speed maneuvers that will improve
your overall driving, especially curb
parking. So stick around, we'll be right back
with that information.
[MUSIC AND INTRODUCTION]
Hi there smart drivers welcome back. Rick with Smart
Drive Test talking to you today about
how to park along a curb. And the first
thing you need to know about your
vehicle, you need to know about the blind
spots around your vehicle. The blind
spots around your vehicle are fairly
significant. And out the front of the
vehicle your blind spot is more than six
feet to be able to see an 18 inch pylon.
If you move that pylon out to the back
of the vehicle, it is even more significant.
It's more than 20 feet before you can
see that 18-inch pylon out the back of
the vehicle. so there is a significant blind
spot at the back. The second-biggest
blind spot on your vehicle--not really
surprising--is out on the passenger side.
And it's almost eight feet from the
passenger's door out to an 18-inch
pylon that you're able to see it from
the driver's side. If you measure the
inside of the vehicle, and I have a small
SUV (Sport Uitlity Vehicle) it's four feet, so it's 12 feet, more
than three and a half meters out to that
pylon. So there's a fairly significant
blind-spot on the passenger side. And
the smallest blind spot on your vehicle
is out on the driver's side, which is not
surprising because that's where you sit and
are positioned in the vehicle.
It's only about three feet or
approximately one meter out to the
18-inch pylon on the driver's side as
you can see here in the image. You know
that the second-biggest blind spot
around your vehicle is on the passenger
side, therefore to get close to a 4-6-inch
curb is going to be somewhat
challenging. So the first thing you need
to do in order to be successful to park
along a curb, go out and do slow-speed
maneuvers. Get those 36-inch pylons and
practice backing around corners, backing up
on either side of the pylons and driving
along those pylon so you get a good
sense of space management of the vehicle.
And I come back to the slow-speed manoeuvres
again and again.
Yes they are not sexy. They're not sexy
and any stretch of the imagination as I said
in the introduction. You certainly don't
want your friends to see, but if you
want to be an overall better driver
you got to spend time doing the slow-
speed maneuvers. And if you don't want to
drive over the curb when you're parallel
parking,
when you're doing three-point turns, or
you're trying to park along the curb for
the purposes of your road test, you need
to spend time doing the slow-
speed maneuvers. I cannot stress that
enough. If you don't spend the time in
the parking lot doing slow-speed
maneuvers, you're not going to be
successful parallel parking, you're not
going to be successful parking along a
curb, and you're not going to be
successful doing three-point turns.
These are the slow-speed maneuvers. Yes
they are very small part of a road test,
however they are the parts of the road
test that give new drivers the most
grief. So spend the time doing slow-speed
maneuvers and this will translate into
all of your driving and make you a
better driver overall. So do the slow-
speed maneuvers, know where the blind
spots are in your vehicle and know the
challenges that you're up against. So
what we're going to do here hook up the
cameras and go for a drive.
We're going to park along the curve here.
The first thing you want to do when you
park along the curb is you want to try
and park behind another vehicle. That's
going to make it the easiest for you in
terms of parking along the curb because
the other vehicle is already along the
curve and you can determine as you're
coming up whether that vehicle is far
away from the curb or not. So mirror, signal
shoulder check and we drive into the
curb. And this vehicle is a little bit
far from the curb, but we're just going to look at that
vehicle and we're going to pull up behind
that vehicle. And we're going to come to
a stop. And you can see now that we're at a
stop, we put the vehicle into park if you're
driving an automatic, into a forward
gears if you're driving a manual. Apply the parking brake.
Shut the vehicle off and secure the
vehicle. And that's how you part along
the curb.
That's the easiest way. If you can park
behind another vehicle then you have
something to gauge off of and you can
simply park and park well behind the
other vehicle. Because we knew that we
had to be in a little bit farther off
this vehicle because it is a little bit far from the curb. Now
we're gonna leave the parking space, so
we have to back up. Into reverse,
parking brake off,
look behind us before we start moving
when you leave a parking space. You
always have to look behind you before
you start backing up. That's the number
one reason for crashes because people
don't look before they start backing.
Backup, signal, mirror, shoulder check. There is a
vehicle coming... another vehicle and we're
safe here.
Look in the direction we want to go and
we proceed. Now we're going to park on
the right here and you mirror, signal, shoulder
check. And there is no curve here and no
vehicle because it's winter time here, so
we're just going to drive past the
driveway. The parking meter is my
landmark and I want to park so it's off
the front corner. And I want to use that
because I want to be about three feet in
from that parking meter because I
know the parking meters back from the
curve about a foot and I want to be
about three feet away from it. That way I
know that I am going to be close to the
curb. Now I can't see the curb here
because of the wintertime, but you need
to pick your landmarks and look far
ahead. If you look farther down and you
can situate the vehicle along the curb
according to those landmarks, that is
another technique that you need to do.
And it's translates into your overall
driving. Look where you want the vehicle
to go. Find the landmarks that will help
you align the vehicle where you want it
to park. And then line the vehicle up and
move into the parking space. And again,
we're in the parking space, into a
forward gear, into PARK, parking brake on,
turn the vehicle off, secure your
belongings inside the vehicle and you
can leave. Now we're on a road test,
there's no vehicles in front of us. Activate your
signal, mirror, shoulder check - nobody coming. Into
a forward gear, parking brake off, mirror
signal, shoulder checking in the direction you are moving the vehicle because
there was a delay and we proceed.
And we want to park along the curb. We
look far down - signal, mirror, shoulder check,
shoulder check again and we're moving
behind the vehicle and that vehicle is
nice. It is in a good spot away from the curb.
We simply line up ourselves directly on
this one with the taillight and pull up
so we can just see the top of the bumper
on that vehicle. It is a little difficult because
of the glare here.
Cancel your signals here. Put the vehicle into a
forward gear, into PARK,
turn the vehicle off, secure your
belongings, lock the vehicle as you leave.
Now again, we're on a road test. The examiner
has said you can go. Parking brake off,
into reverse,
look behind you and back up three or four
feet. Mirror, signal, shoulder check. Into a
forward gear, mirror, signal, shoulder check.
Nobody coming. Turn the steering wheel all
the way to the left. Back to the right
and we proceed.
Quick review of parking along the curb.
One of the ways you can do it is by going our and buying
yourself really expensive rims. Then that way you're not
not gonna bang into the curb
or drive over it because you're going to
scratch your expensive rims. The other
way you can do it is in the 1950s
they had curb feelers, which you can
mount on the side of your car.
That's another option, but I don't think
they're readily available anymore. And
that scratching noise might scare the
driving examiner - so probably not
recommended either. Anyway, despite
technology and other things that you can
do, you need to know how to pull in
beside the curve for the purposes of a
road test. So again, know where the blind
spots are on your vehicle and practice
those slow-speed manoeuvres. Go to your local
rental shop and and rent those 36 inch--1
meter tall pylons--and practice slow-
speed maneuvers in a parking lot. As I say,
again and again, it will
translate into your overall driving and
make you a better driver overall. So go get some
of those pylons, practice your slow-speed
maneuvers, and after you get comfortable
parking alongside those 36-inch pylons
and you actually have something to see,
then go out and start parking along
the curb. First and foremost, if you can
park behind another vehicle, that's going
to be the easiest because you can
determine how far that car is from the
curb and then simply line yourself up
behind that car. Ff you need to move in a
little bit closer because the car's far
out from the curb,
you can do that too. So it's a lot easier
to park behind another car. If there isn't
another car and you have to park along the
curb, look for your landmarks - parking
meters along the curve, trees along the
curb, and look far down the road. That way
you're going to be able to line your
vehicle up in the parking lane easier.
And that's what you need to do. Not only
to center your vehicle in the lane, but
also to park. Look down the road. Don't be
trying to look at that front corner
because that's not going to work for you.
Because again, as I said in the
introduction and the prologue, the blind
spot on that side of the vehicle is
almost 12 feet. That's a long way from where
you are. So you're not going to be able
to do that. You need to look forward to
be able to park the vehicle along the
curb. That's how you do it successfully
and those are some tips and techniques
that will help you to be able to do that
for the purposes of a road test. Question
from smart drivers: do you have any tips
for new drivers learning how to park
along the curb
that will help them learn how to do that
successfully? Leave a comment down in the
comment section there. All that helps
out the new drivers working towards
getting their license. I'm Rick with Smart
Drive Test. Thanks so much for watching. If
you like what you see here share,
subscribe, leave a comment down in the
comment section. As well, hit that thumbs
up button. Check out all the videos here
on the channel if you're working toward
your license or starting a career as a
truck or bus driver. Great
information here. As well, head over to the Smart Drive Test website,
more great information over there and online
courses that you can purchase. Stick
around to the end of the video, funny
bits and links to the other videos and
to my website. Thanks again for watching.
Good luck in your road test. And remember,
pick the best answer not necessarily the
right answer. Have a great day. Bye now.
This is for Ladonna because she
wanted me to smile more in my videos. And
yes, I have to constantly remind myself
to smile. So, this is for Ladonna and she
wanted me to stick my tongue out too. [STICKING TONGUE OUT]
[MUSIC & OUTRO]