Parallel parking how to#

Flip on your right turn signal (if the spot is on the right side of the street) to let the cars behind you know that you're about to park. Your vehicle's front bumper should be about even with the bumper of the car to your side. Stop your car next to the vehicle you'll be parking behind.

Do you think your vehicle can fit in it? If so, it's time for the next step. If you come upon an open spot, slow down gently you don't want to jam on your brakes at the last second and risk getting hit from behind. Size Up the SpotĪs you cruise the area you'd like to perpendicular park in, scan as far ahead as you can for likely spots, and be aware of traffic behind you. For your first few tries, see if you can find a street with little or no traffic, so you'll have fewer distractions and less pressure to deal with. You'll find that, yes, parallel parking was hard before it became easy. Follow the steps outlined here, watch these video clips several times, and give yourself a few tries at it.

Parallel parking how to#

As the great German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe famously observed nearly two centuries ago, 'Everything is hard before it is easy.' He must have been thinking of how to parallel park. But don't be dismayed you can learn to do it. You often have to do it quickly, with traffic backed up behind you waiting impatiently to get by. It's one of the toughest maneuvers in all of driving to pull off smoothly and consistently. If you think that parallel parking your vehicle in a tight spot next to the curb on a narrow city street is difficult, you're right.