How close to the corner do you park?
When I’m teaching new students and licensed drivers at Young Drivers of Canada, I also have to teach them parking skills. Part of that skill of parking also means where they should park; not just how to park. Do you always park in safe places?
In most jurisdictions, you must park at least 20 feet or 6 metres from the corner; but more space is better. This will allow enough room for drivers to make turns and for drivers to position themselves to share the road with you. The other part of this is that it can protect your vehicle from possible damage.
A national company sends their incident reports involving vehicles to me and I analyze what they should have done differently. Roughly 20% of those incidents are from parking errors and some of those are because the driver parked too close to the intersection.
The photo here is of a driver who parked a bit too close to the corner and a bus came around the corner and hit the corner of the SUV causing enough damage to send the vehicle off to the repair shop. Was the driver of the parked SUV just thinking that they could park close the house they wanted to go to, or were they thinking at all about the safety of their position? A better position would have been further up the road.
The next time you have to park your vehicle on the street, think about how close you should park to the corner, not just because of laws, but for the safety of your vehicle.
There is another reason to keep the corner clear of parked cars. It allows drivers and Pedestrian to see each other when pedestrians want to cross the street at the corner, as thatr is where pedestrians are encouraged to cross.
People who park too close to an ontersection are also putting pedestrians at risk, not just their own cars, and that’s RUDE behaviour.
Well said. Thanks for the comment.
Completely agree with above comment, people need to stop being lazy and thinking only for themselves, in a vehicle, others are always affected, so think things through and prevent creating dangerous situations. My wife really hates corner parkers because they are too hard to see around, and you cannot always see traffic coming as a result. Since my wife doesn’t enjoy driving, the lack of vision really annoys her, and she is worried about her safety going around these people.
Ha! Just got me a couple of motorcycles!
There is a van parked on my corner an i have a school bus that brings my son hone from school an cant turn to come down my street what can I do
Ask the owner nicely if they can move up to the next house. It can also save their vehicle from possible damage from someone coming around the corner. Treat it like you’re helping them protect their vehicle.
If you hit a vehicle that is parked right on a t-junction even being in a dangerous position you will be at fault
Agreed
I would like to know how you determine where the corner is, when it is very rounded. Is it an extention of the straight sides, or do you measure from where it is straight
Very helpful article. Thanks for sharing. Keep up the good work.
Parking properly is really a must. Thanks for teaching & sharing the blog.