The Safe Driver

Oops!

Have you ever made a mistake and got so embarrassed that you just wanted to walk away and pretend that it never happened? Maybe you’re the person who drove this car! Wouldn’t you realize that you had half the car on the sidewalk? What possesses someone to just leave their car like this?

I remember when I was a teen and a friend got her driver’s license. She was doing quite well with her turns, lane changes and stops, but when it came time to park the car, it wasn’t pretty. No one really showed her how to park. Her road test only had a little bit of parking to it, so even though she screwed up her parking, she still got her license because she didn’t hit anything and drove within the law. That doesn’t solve the problem of parking though.

When I’m teaching students how to drive, I give them a visual reference to know when their vehicle is close enough to the curb to park. They should always find a straight section of the road to park on and avoid parking on a curve. Parking on a curve can make it a little more difficult to leave it parallel to the curb.

After realizing your vehicle is close enough to the curb; about 12 inches or 30 centimetres, you need to look ahead to get the vehicle parallel to the curb and to keep it parallel. Looking down at the curb will keep you driving closer to the curb. Looking ahead allows you to use your peripheral vision to let you know when you’re parallel to the curb.

Backing toward the curve while trying to park can lead to a disaster, and I think that’s what happened here. If you realized that you bumped the curb, stop and straighten out your vehicle. It can save some embarrassment. I just wish the driver moved their car off the sidewalk so we could walk past them.