Stopping at the side of the road can be tricky for a new driver, as there are many things
that could go wrong. We must find a safe place, check for danger, tell others what we intend
do do, then steer into a position near to the the kerb before finally stopping the car.
In this video we will show you how to complete these tasks smoothly, so that you can stop
safely whenever you need to on your Driving Test or when driving on your own afterwards.
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Stopping at the side of the road safely is an important skill, as we will often need
to do this when driving our car. If we choose a poor place to park, then we could become
a hazard that could create danger. Also, if we control our car poorly and hit the kerb
we could damage our wheel or tyre. Therefore we must ensure that we use good judgement
and skill when stopping at the side of the road. In addition, on the Driving Test we
will be asked to stop at least 3 times, so it is a skill worth practicing!
Before we start driving, we should take this opportunity to get a reference point for our
position next to the kerb. We are positioned about 15cm away from the kerb, and we can
see from the drivers position that the kerb meets the bottom of the windscreen just to
the right of the wiper arm base. Like any other reference point this will vary in other
cars and for other driving positions, so take the time to find yours if you need to. Next
time we want to stop, all we have to do to regain this parked position is gently steer
to keep the kerb at this reference point at the bottom of the windscreen.
We should always stop in a safe, convenient and legal position, so we must take care when
choosing where to stop. We can’t stop in front of a driveway, on a bus stop, and opposite
parked cars if it would block the road. The Highway Code also tells us many other places
we can’t stop, including within 10 metres of a junction, on double yellow lines, and
on zig-zag lines near pedestrian crossings - so if it’s been a while since you passed
your Theory Test then have another look to ensure your knowledge is up-to date.
So that we know it is definitely safe for us to stop we must follow the MSM (or Mirror,
Signal, Manoeuvre) routine, as used with many other decisions when driving. We have covered
this routine in more detail in a previous video, but let’s have a quick look at how
it will help us when stopping.
We start by checking our mirrors - in this instance we are pulling over to the left side
of the road so we should check our centre mirror and left mirror for any danger. We
are looking for any other vehicles, especially cyclists and motorcyclists who could squeeze
past the left hand side of our car - or another vehicle very close behind us. If we think
we might cause danger by stopping we can delay or abort our intention to stop our car.
Once we know it is safe to stop, we use our left indicator to make it clear to those around
us that we will be moving to the left and stopping our car. We must be careful not to
mislead other drivers, so we can only indicate when there are no other junctions before our
stopping position.
Now that we are ready to stop the car we start braking gently to reduce our speed. Once the
car is down to a lower speed we steer gently towards the kerb, using the reference point
we found earlier. We can stop the car in whatever our current gear is, but we will need to push
the clutch down completely to avoid stalling the engine. Once we are happy with the car’s
position near the kerb we gently bring the car to a stop with the brakes. To avoid a
jerky stop we lift the brake pedal a little as the car comes to a halt. Our parked position
should be no more than 30cm from the kerb to keep the car away from passing traffic.
Once the car has stopped we must make it secure, so it doesn’t stall or roll away! Whilst
our right foot keeps the brakes applied and our left foot keeps the clutch pedal fully
depressed, we apply the handbrake, move the gear into a neutral position, turn off our
indicator and then finally remove our feet from the pedals. Doing it in this order every
time will make sure that the car is always safe and secure.
Let’s take a quick look at how we might need to adjust our technique when stopping
in other situations;
Stopping in a smaller gap is more difficult, especially if it is just after a parked car.
Because we will need to steer very precisely we slow right down, as this will give us more
time to steer into the gap before using the remaining room to straighten the car as much
as possible.
When stopping on a bend it can be difficult to judge how close we are to the kerb, as
our normal reference point is set up for straight roads. To reduce the chance of hitting the
kerb accidentally we steer to the left more gently than normal, keep rolling slowly whilst
we fine-tune our position, and then finally stop the car.
When stopping on an uphill gradient the car will naturally lose speed more quickly when
we push the clutch down. To stop this happening we delay pushing the clutch pedal a little
to keep the car driving slowly forward until we are happy with our position, before finally
pushing the clutch down and stopping as normal.
So, remember to; Find your own reference point to use
Choose a safe and legal space to stop Use the MSM routine, and
Secure the car after stopping
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