Driving Tips > Safety Columns
Practice makes parking perfect
Parking may seem a secondary driving skill but doing it poorly causes a lot of headaches. A little practice parallel and perpendicular parking can avoid expensive parking lot scrapes and collisions.
Avoid sudden stops
Don’t surprise the driver behind you with a sudden stop. Check your mirrors before preparing to park. If you see a parking place ahead, tap the brakes three times to indicate you intend to park.
Know your space needs
Make sure that a parallel parking spot is at least one and a half times the length of your vehicle. For perpendicular parking, make sure that your space is wide enough for you to fit and open your doors.
Is it a legal spot?
Watch for “no parking” signs and make sure you’ve found a legal parking spot. You can’t park beside a fire hydrant, across a driveway or back lane, or within nine metres of a stop sign, or other traffic sign or signal.
| Follow the parallel parking steps | |||
| Step 1 | - | Pull up beside the vehicle ahead of your spot, with about one metre between the vehicles. Stop when your rear bumper is aligned with the rear bumper of the other vehicle. |  |
| Step 2 | - | After checking mirrors and blind spots, back up while turning sharply to the right (into the spot) so you’re at a 45-degree angle to the curb. |
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| Step 3 | - | Straighten the wheels and continue backing. Stop when the right corner of your front bumper is in line with the left corner of the other car's rear bumper. |
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| Step 4 | - | Turn your steering wheel to the left and continue backing slowly. Your rear wheel should be close to the curb. Stop the car. |
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| Step 5 | - | Drive forward and steer to the right to straighten your vehicle. Stop when you are centred in the parking spot, no more than 45 centimetres (18 inches) from the curb. |
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For more information, watch The 60-Second Driver on CTV, or view the following driving tips in this section on our website:
- Parallel Parking in Driving Tips
- Parking Woes in Driving Tips
- Backing Your Vehicle into a Parking Spot in Driving Tips
- You can access the 60-Second Driver video on Parallel Parking directly
