Parallel parking

Parallel parking is a method of parking a vehicle in parallel to other parked cars. Cars parked in parallel are in one line, parallel to the curb, with the front bumper of each car facing the back bumper of an adjacent one. Since parallel parking is parallel to the curb of a road, roads that facilitate said parking have an extra lane or a large shoulder for parked cars. It is also employed anytime perpendicular parking facilities are not available or hard to come by—commonly, that's in large metropolitan areas where there is a high density of vehicles and few (or restricted) accomodations such as parking garages.

Parallel parking is one of the hardest skills for new drivers to learn.

Procedure for entering a parking space

These directions assume parking on the right side of the road.

1. Ensure that your desired parking space is about 6 feet longer than your vehicle (although some highly skilled drivers are capable of parking in spaces that are within one foot of their vehicle length)
2. Line up your vehicle beside the vehicle in front of the parking space
3. Signal to the right
4. Turn the steering wheel all the way to the right and put your car in reverse
5. Back up the vehicle so that your rear right bumper is first to enter the parking spot
6. Once the vehicle is at 45° to the parking spot, slow down and turn the steering wheel all the way to the left
7. Continue backing up until the vehicle is parallel with the curb
8. Gradually turn the steering wheel to the left to curve your vehicle into a straight position
9. Brake once your vehicle occupies the middle of the parking space

It is generally illegal not to leave sufficient space for neighboring vehicles to steer out of the parallel parking line, to park too far from the curb, or to leave too much space between your and the neighboring vehicles.