Car Parking Techniques - A Beginner's Guide!

Posted on: Jan 27, 2022 | | Written by:

Car Parking Techniques - A Beginner's Guide!

Published on January 27, 2022. EST READ TIME: 3 minutes

Buying your dream car must have been an exciting experience! But it comes with a lot of responsibility too. For instance, parking your car properly is a super important aspect of car ownership and driving. No matter where you drive, it is important to know how to park your car correctly. In case of improper parking, you may end up getting involved in an accident because someone can drive off scraping your car or causing very serious damage to it. While you will get accidental repair cover when you do car insurance renewal online, you ideally want to avoid that situation. Hence, it is important to learn how to park your car properly. Here are some of the basic parking rules that you must keep in mind.

• Parallel Parking

This is the parking format where you park your vehicle parallel to the road and the flow of traffic. This is the common mode of parking where space is a premium and the stoppage time for vehicles is not very long. The objective is to maximise whatever space is available, so parking needs to be done as close to the kerb as possible. This is not an easy parking style to master since you need to accurately guess the coordination of your reverse steering angle and vehicle movement while ensuring that the vehicle remains close to the kerb without bumping into it.

• Perpendicular parking

This is a comparatively simpler mode of parking your vehicle and is also followed on roadsides. The concept here is that you park your vehicle at a right angle to the road and flow of traffic. This is generally followed on roads that have dedicated parking markers. While you can just drive into the parking spot of a perpendicular parking setup, making things simpler, it is highly recommended that you reverse into the parking spot instead of driving into it. This is because it makes hasty exit from the spot much simpler if there is an emergency.

• Angle parking

This is a slightly complicated form of parking setup and is generally followed in places where you can get support from a parking attendant. The concept is that you park your vehicle at an angle, generally 45 degrees to the road and towards the flow of the traffic. This approach makes it very safe and easy to quickly merge with the flow of traffic. This is why you will see that emergency service vehicles like police cars, ambulance and even fire tenders are generally parked at an angle facing the road. The true benefit of this parking method can only be realised if you reverse into your spot.

• Double parking

Double parking can be done by a combination of any of these modes of parking where the kerbside parked vehicle can use either of the three parking styles but the vehicle that is near to the median of the road will then do a parallel park. The chief problem with double parking is that the kerbside vehicles get boxed in. This method is generally followed in places with extreme shortage of parking spots that are also being actively manned.by a parking attendant. In absence of a parking attendant, the median side vehicles are expected to be in neutral, so they can be moved forward or backward to release any car that may have been boxed in.

Tips and consideration related to parking:

When you are parking your vehicle on a road, or even in a proper parking area, do follow these tips and considerations to ensure the safety of your as well as other cars:

• Respect No Parking zones: This is obvious since parking in a ‘No Parking’ zone is a sure shot way to get your car impounded.

• Avoid double parking if you can: It is better to walk a few more steps and park your car a bit further than doing double parking if you can avoid it.

• Ensure push mobility of your car in case of double parking: If you absolutely need to double park, remember to keep your vehicle in neutral with e-brake disengaged, if you have parked on the median side. This way, inner cars will not get stuck.

• Do not park in a disabled person spot: Unless you have a permit to do so, parking in a spot reserved for people with disability is inconsiderate and can invite challans too.

• Do not block emergency vehicles: These vehicles are there to support people in emergencies. Blocking them is inconsiderate and also illegal.

• Keep a spare copy of car papers in the car when you park it: It is easy to get spare copies of car papers which can be keep in it for emergencies. For example, when doing car insurance renewal online, print a spare copy and keep it in the car at all times.

Finally, it is also a good practice to print your mobile number on a page and place it in the car so that other people can see and contact you in case of any issues with your parked vehicle.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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