Parallel parking?

Post Reply New Topic

Ah. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my explanation. I know full well how to include the car in the perspective of the mirror, but I can't see the back bumper because the side of the trunk is a bit 'fatter', thus obscuring my view of the back.


Oh, coasting! I thought you were meaning actually stepping on the accelerator! Yeah, that would definitely take off the whole variance of applying different levels of pressure to the accelerator.

If the back of your car is obscured - mine is too from the driver's seat, then you have to make your best guess based on what you can see. And you do this by practice. Ie you put your car where you think it is right, and get out and look, then adjust for how much you are out. And then try it again.

As you get more practice with your feet you will get more co-ordinated, fortunately. My instructor used to say things like imagine a glass of water on the dash and try not to spill any, or an egg between your foot and the pedal, try not to break the egg (except that only applies well to non-commerical free range eggs, today's supermarket eggs are useless when it comes to any kind of strength test. Maybe you could substitute a bit of the carton. I never tried the egg trick but I did spill a fair bit of water.

However when you're parallel parking, minimum speeds are ideal so "coasting" is good. I always thought coasting was what you did with a manual when you were going down hill and you put it in neutral! Eventually I think your count would be reasonably accurate even if you did apply a gentle accelleration. In this case there is no need and a few good reasons not to. It's not a drag race. And even though there might be a time limit, rushing won't help.

I know this isn't *directly* related to the topic of parallel parking, but it's related to the spatial perception issues I've already discussed:

Any tips for staying within a lane of traffic, in particular on a curvy road where you can't just hold the wheel still, without constantly looking down at the hood to line things up? I know that you can use the left edge of the hood as a guide for the left side of the car, but the problem is that I'd prefer to be looking at traffic further ahead... and if I look further ahead, I have a really hard time guessing at what lines up with the hood!

I can in a car but I rarely drive one these days I drive a chevy silverado 2500 extened cab with an eight foot bed mostly for work it's a bear to just park in a normal sized parking space I can't imagine parallel parking but I can get it within inches of a loading dock or under hoisted materials with ease

I find that where I look, tends to be where I end up going.

And this applies whether I'm walking, cycling or driving a car. The time this is most obvious is when I try to walk along something narrow, like a bit of the curb, or a painted line or a balance beam. I do much better if I look up and ahead than down at my feet.

It is easier if you look ahead and steer for ahead rather than keep looking at things like the front of the car to see if it is still between the stripes.

Again, you want to find some long quiet streets and try this out. Nice wide straight streets often exist in industrial areas - where the factories are. And on weekends these are usually very quiet. Well they are around here.

Hm...maybe I need to retrain myself to walk, and maybe that's why I've had barely any success staying balanced on a bike. Though I don't look down at my feet most of the time anymore, I do tend to look down at the ground slightly ahead of me, I'm just now noticing. How far ahead do you usually look, anyway?

My biggest problem with staying in the lines, both in driving and in walking, is when I'm going around a curve. I'm still not quite sure how looking straight ahead works in that situation, since what's straight ahead may be angled more or less than the part of the curve you're currently taking...if that makes any sense at all.

codeman, i have an idea about the staying in lane problem,(i have a friend who is a driving instructor) he told me this.

(not knowing if your vehicle is left drive or right drive) what u do is if its a road with sidelines, make sure center of hood is close to or near the sideline from the angle of sight from were you are sitting(helps if vehicle has a hood ornament) with an unmarked side street, line up edge of curb with center of hood this way you are on right of unmarked lane in center of lane and not going down te middle.

i cannot garrentee it will work being i dont drive yet but this idea sounds legit(you may want to practice this on an empty area such as a dmv test track or empty street with no cars on sides) to avoid looking like a drunk or looking suspicious and always remember, EYES ON ROAD along with checking hood/sideline to make sure you are in middle of lane so you dont scare the poop out of passengers.

good luck codeman, i hope this idea helps

Yeah... I use that quite frequently; I was just wondering if there was a way to do it without constantly glancing down at the hood, because that can sometimes be dangerous... and I wish more cars came with hood ornaments, because that'd make it significantly easier. ::sigh::

yea i agree codeman, many cars these days they dont have any indication of were centerline is. the only way i will drive is if those little cars like seen on the movie austin powers(police cars??) was legel in trenton nj,usa.

heres another (safer) method, when in car looking at lane, put it into 2 imaginary parts left and a right side (depending on drive of car) put urself in that side of lane.

ex. american cars drive with driver on left in vehicle in right hand land put urself on left half of right hand lane.

hope this works and be careful

Like, right in the middle of that half of the lane? OK, that helps.

Oh, and someone on another forum gave me a great idea for how to judge how far away I am side-to-side from the other car: using the passenger-side mirror! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I remember reading on some other site that it should be approximately the amount of space that would be taken up by the door if you were to open it.

I also found another site hinting that when the cone just enters the rearmost passenger-side window, that's when I should start turning toward the space. So it obviously is somewhere between the back and middle of the rear passenger-side window, going by what mysteriouslyabsent posted. I'll have to experiment to see what reference point works best. And I've found a number of sources concurring with mysteriouslyabsent's visual cue for when to straighten the car as well, so that's good.

codeman

I haven't really thought about distances. It does depend a little on how fast I'm going. I know if I'm on a bike and cycling at night, I need more distance than my headlight gives me. - like about five bike lengths would be better than two or three.

With walking I guess I scan a bit. I will look straight forward ie eye level to the horizon and scan back, I guess I will pay most attention to the ground about five body lengths in front of me. I look at my feet a bit more around the house because there are more things to accidentally trip over. When walking outside, I guess I don't scan much closer to my feet than I have to so I can recognise uneven pavement and dog turds. If I come up to a curb, I tend to pay it close attention because I've stuffed my knee and if I don't step up with the uninjured leg I hurt myself. So I don't look in any one direction except where I'm going for extended periods of time.

If I'm on something narrow. I pay all my attention to the horizon or any spot I can focus on at eye level that is in the direction I want to go. I guess if it was curved, I'd have to check down and then pick new spots on the horizon each time.

I know that if you pay attention to the inside of the corner when you are on a treadly, you will crash into the corner. So best to pay attention to the next bit of road you plan to be on, like where you are going. Don't, however take a short cut here and look across the corner, or you will go across the corner. Ouch. And remember, corners are places you slow down, so you have time to adjust for unexpected parked cars or small children just around the corner out of your line of sight.

I did train myself to walk at one stage. I decided to walk with the insides of my feet parallel, "(american) indian style" instead of with the big toes pointing out, "white man" style (probably sailor style). I also remember having to make a conscious effort to swing the opposite arm to leg when I walked. I don't think about it much now. And I don't ever remember having trouble with direction.

PS - Oliver Sacks wrote about something called "proprioception", which is how the mind knows where your hand is when you put it behind your back and can't see it. If you don't have this working well, then you would have to look at your feet to be able to walk properly.

http://hubel.sfasu.edu/courseinfo/SL200 ... ocept.html

You might have to look at your feet when you were driving to make sure they were on the pedals. Eeek.

Hm, maybe I'm not as far off as I thought, then... I was thinking you were talking about not looking at the ground at all. I'm not sure that it's five body lengths in front of me, though, more like a couple.

Yeah, that's the biggest problem I'm encountering... finding the right spot to look at so that I do automatically follow the curve.

Hm. I never had any real problem learning how to keep my feet pointing correctly, but I still have trouble with the arm-swinging thing unless I consciously think about doing it. I also am constantly told by people that I'm standing crooked. And directions are still one of my trouble spots.

I may very well have that to a mild extent, though not to the extreme of anyone described in that article... I'll have to have someone do the whole thing with spinning me around in a chair with my eyes closed to make absolutely sure. (If I recall, from my own little self-experiments, I could feel that I was spinning but had no idea as to how much.)

I can at least feel the 'bump' of the pedals, with the brake being a bigger bump while the accelerator is more slight, so I don't have that particular issue, at least!

Codeman

I think that all you need now is to get out there and practice heaps and experiment with various techniques until you find the ones that work for you, remember a new technique might not work the first time so try it a few times, say five to give it a fair go.

A deserted car park would be ideal for this.

Good luck and clean paintwork.

I'm only 11, but I am not in a hurry to grow up.